My 5th Gear vanished

[alawhitska]

Driving on the highway, 65-70mph.
And then my car is just reving up. I pop it out of gear, clutch back in, nothing, not a grind or whistle.
it still goes into the position with or without clutch and makes no noise.
could it be the linkage?
or has my 5th gear murdered itsself?
clecked fluid and added 4 oz, fluid was nearly full and smells fine.

[dlb]

are all other gears ok? if so, i think 5th is toast and the others are likely not far behind. drain the trans oil and check for chunks of metal.

[TURTCEL]

That is bummer news alawhitska. Guess if you don't have to use 5th often then at least you can hopefully drive it still till the tranny finally gives up the ghost. Hard to tell how long the other gears will last but if the 5th just dropped off like that I would not bank on a long tranny life left.

Where are you located? Check local pull-a-part yards in your area for the best deals. Remember that unless you replace your trans with an '85-'88 4.1 geared diff trans then you wil have to swap diffs if you use an '83-'84 3.73 trans. The diffs are not difficult to swap and would be necessary to keep the gear ratios the same. You can't just interchange the trans of those different years with out causing damage if you don't swap the diffs.

Definitley drain and check the fluid like DLB says but you will most likely find metal particles on your drain plug.

Wish you weren't having this problem but since you are just keep your head and spirits up. A trans fix is no reason to get rid of one of these Tercs, there are enough members out there that are willing to help locate or offer parts if needed. Just keep us informed on what you find and what you need...so we can help.

Peace

[Petros]

sorry to hear about your problems. I doubt it is the linkage, It is likely the fifth gear itself, it is off by itself in front of an internal chamber separate from the main cluster, so when it goes it does not harm the rest of the trans. It is actually fairly easy to fix once you pull the trans, you separate the bellhousing/front diff assembly from the main transmission case and you can see the fifth gear exposed below the front output shaft. It takes a gear puller and a circlip pliers to get the fifth gear off, and than you install a new one on the spline shaft with a soft hammer. These parts are still available, and the same fifth gear assembly from the 2wd trans is also the same as in this 4wd trans. So you can even get a used one from a wrecking yard and swap the parts.

The good news is if you flush the gear oil out (I would solvent flush it) to get all the broken parts out, you can likely safely drive it as a 4 speed.

I would not automatically conclude the rest of the trans is worn out too, the 5th gear can get damaged when someone puts it in fifth rather than revers and lets the clutch out when the car is rolling, it puts a lot of strain on the gear teeth.

[rer233]

seem to remember having the same prob. with a then late model gen 1 terc sr5 2 door- 5th gear just went away. figgered it was going to need a trans, but i talked to a buddy who worked for toyota and he walked me thru the repair. didn't have to pull the trans, just the rear cover. i seem to remember it being a pretty simple repair (maybe a roll pin working loose on a shift fork??) can't remember for sure (too many years and too many beers ago- we're going back damn near 30 years.) any way, i do remember it worked! 4wd may or may not have the same setup (the one i worked on was fwd- natch.) good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

[Petros]

yes, it is possible it could be the linkage. No harm in checking that out before you pull the trans. You remove the center console, the shift lever and than remove the bolts on the cover of the trans through the hole in the tunnel on the floor of the car. You can inspect the push/pull rods and the forks for proper function. the forks are held in with roll pins, and they can back out and cause that kind of problem, though it is rare. Fairly easy check, of they all function normally than I guess the next step is to drop the trans.

[alawhitska]

poked in the fill hole with a magnet on a flexi-rod, no shavings, nearly no dust.
drained and swapped fluid.
thought I was in the clear til it popped out of 1st this morning for no good reason. thinking the whole trans might be scrapped.

[TURTCEL]

What type of gear oil did you use? Interesting that it is all of a sudden giving you so many issues. Unfortunately, none of those symptoms are sounding clutch related, so best luck.

I question the gear oil only because I like to see what members are using in comparrison to others. Does the trans make any weird noises? Usually in my experiences with a bad trans is that reverse will pop out when going bad first.

Are the symptoms that alawhitska is having common symptoms for a bad Terc trans?

Peace

[Petros]

Are the symptoms that alawhitska is having common symptoms for a bad Terc trans?

yup. all the parts are the same age, when one starts to go it puts metal bits everywhere, and the other parts soon follow...

[keith]

Petros answer is the best.