r154 pops out of first, time to rebuild

[suprajztwenty]

all was great the other day, then i jump in today and it grinds out of first intermittently (more often than not though) a quick searching tells me my thrust washer is more than likely blown out.

looks like 80 bucks for the marlin upgrade and whatever the cost of seals and such wont cost too much...so if im gonna go through the pain and suffering of getting in there i wanna do it right for the future upgrades i plan on.

so, while im in there id like do a full rebuild and i plan to upgrade the 1-2 fork and anything else mandatory to hit around 600 wheel.

flame at will if you feel it necessary...but im just looking for a general parts list and maybe some tips/tricks when i get in there.

ive got a torch and a press but ill need a gear puller, any expensive special tools besides snap ring pliers/dial indicator/mic etc?

my main question is about marlin's site, im searching r154 rebuilds and i see r150 and r151 which one is for me?

thanks in advance.

 

[MNBmk3T]

DriftMotion makes a billet 3-4 shift fork too. Get that!

 

[suprajztwenty]

i noticed it but not sure if ill REALLY need it for how i drive. worth it for shift feeling?

 

[Nick M]

If you grind in first, and it pops out of first, then the synchronizer ring clutching teeth are rounded off.

 

[Beals]

full marlin crawler upgrade with 3-4 gear is around 650$ and it will have to be for a "r154" it might be under a 4x4 transmission though as they use them for off-roading because of the abuse they can take. To send your tranny shipped to them and have it completed is like 1700$.

 

[suprajztwenty]

im not nervous about doing it myself...the only thing im nervous about is upgrading something i didnt truly need or worse, not upgrading something thatll break a few years down the road

 

[suprajztwenty]

ok guys, heres my list from driftmotion


can anyone tell me if theres something im missing here, or from another site before i check out please?
also, if theres something on the list thats cheaper from another site please share.

 

[suprajztwenty]

i decided im going to go to marlin direct, the only reason being is the rebuilt kit. the kit that driftmotion sells is factory toyota where marlin sells the heavy duty stuff in their kit. the only part ill actually need from dm is their 3-4 shift fork. hell, marlin even sells the snap ring pliers i was going to need. one stop shop.

the more vids/pics i see on rebuilding a toyota trans the easier it looks...im ready to have a working car again.

 

[suprajztwenty]

this is how its coming


everything went great on the input and counter shafts. after i got the bearing off of first i found 5 pieces of thrust washer (thanks for the help there guys). if you look close at the 1st gear clutch hub you can see a taper on it, it and the front of first gear got into it with eachother and gawled up both horribly, bad enough to melt the first gear bearing spacer (plastic/nylon ring) to the point it turned black in a couple spots (ring is installed on back of gear just for the pic, im not installing it this way)

for now i stopped and zip tied all the gears together in order until i can track down the 2 extra parts.

can anyone suggest a toyota dealer to get my parts from?

 

[Nick M]

A better picture would be nice. The clutching teeth all look rounded. Their job is to hold the gear in place. When rounded, it pops out of gear.

 

[suprajztwenty]

teeth are fine, sorry no closeups were taken.

everything but the front of first gear and the back of #1clutch hub (where these two parts make contact is gawled and ill have to buy both parts and a bearing spacer because of it) all other parts spec out great.

 

[emericaskater285]

I believe the gears are pretty pricey to buy separate, unless you can find a prats transmission.

I bought my teflon washer from my local dealer. I think it was like a two day wait or so.

Also my parts order was around 650 shipped from DM, this was just right before they released the new 3-4 shift forks, so I did not get that sadly. I think the teflon washer was pretty decently priced from my local dealer, which is pretty crazy, because they are usually very overpriced here.

 

[suprajztwenty]

yeah i looked up the epc and looks like i end up spending anywhere between 150-250 for the hub and first gear combined cost.

we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

i got all my parts from marlin crawler directly, they had a 4th/july sale and i saved 10%...that only left the 3-4 fork and stake nut to get from DM but the bad thing with that is they sent me a mc 1-2 fork by mistake. ill get ahold of them tomorrow i hope and see if they have a good source for spare trans parts before i start calling around.

 

[seoul4korea]

any update on this?

 

[suprajztwenty]

its been back together and driving for almost 1k miles. shifts like butter!

i had a complication when installing 5th gear thrust washer. it fell off its key way while i was tapping it all back together and i locked it into the wrong key way on the washer. when i torqued the stake nut on the end of 5th gear it cracked the thrust washer in half.

i wasnt having any luck getting a new thrust washer from any toyota so i googled it. thats whan i noticed a bunch of jeep parts pop up and thats when i remembered watching the ax-15 trans rebuild on youtube because of how nearly identical it is to our trans. the washer from the ax15 looked identical to the r154 so i went to a junkyard and found a 5spd cherokee and got the washer mic'ed out...both spec out identical. 2 subtle differences but only in shape of the taper and a little nub sticks out on the ax15.

 

[seoul4korea]

its been back together and driving for almost 1k miles. shifts like butter!

i had a complication when installing 5th gear thrust washer. it fell off its key way while i was tapping it all back together and i locked it into the wrong key way on the washer. when i torqued the stake nut on the end of 5th gear it cracked the thrust washer in half.

i wasnt having any luck getting a new thrust washer from any toyota so i googled it. thats whan i noticed a bunch of jeep parts pop up and thats when i remembered watching the ax-15 trans rebuild on youtube because of how nearly identical it is to our trans. the washer from the ax15 looked identical to the r154 so i went to a junkyard and found a 5spd cherokee and got the washer mic'ed out...both spec out identical. 2 subtle differences but only in shape of the taper and a little nub sticks out on the ax15.

I'm getting ready to get parts together to rebuild mine,
Other than MC and the rebuild kit from drift motion do you know of anything else that can be done will inside?

 

[suprajztwenty]

the only things i know of are
marlin crawer (mc) rebuild kit (stronger/extra roller bearings and comes with their shift bushings, they also give you a tube of silicone thats more than enough to do the job. you will need a different output seal, the kit one does fit r154.
mc billet bearing retaining
mc first gear thrust washer,
mc 1-2 fork
drift motion 3-4 shift fork

i dont know of any other stronger parts to install...but i got all that i mentioned above.

 

[seoul4korea]

I've been trying to find the MC rebuild kit and I haven't seen it yet. I was planning on getting the MC thrust washer, MC plate, MC 1-2 fork, DM 3-4 fork, Toyota front and rear seal, and the Toyota rebuild kit (I need the syncro's) Does the MC rebuild kit have the syncro's in it?

the only things i know of are
marlin crawer (mc) rebuild kit (stronger/extra roller bearings and comes with their shift bushings, they also give you a tube of silicone thats more than enough to do the job. you will need a different output seal, the kit one does fit r154.
mc billet bearing retaining
mc first gear thrust washer,
mc 1-2 fork
drift motion 3-4 shift fork

i dont know of any other stronger parts to install...but i got all that i mentioned above.[/QUOTE

 

[suprajztwenty]

sorry for the delay, i just got home from work.

yes, the marlin kit comes with the bearings, syncros, front and rear seals (only front will work), i think 1 or 2 bearings come with their own new snap rings, tube of silicone, shifter bushings and i think thats it.

the reason i chose marlin vs toyo was mostly because of the bearings, some have an extra roller for strength. reason 2 is they state that their syncros are a revamped/updated design...though i cant see much of a difference i can say that shifting is VERY much improved over my old syncros (which were still in great shape btw) and reason 3 is because vs the toyo kit its $100 more, but after you consider that it comes with the silicone and shifter bushings (which youll prob buy anyways) its really only a $60 difference and an extra 60 bucks to get stronger bearings and updated synros is a no brainer to me.

are you doing the build yourself? pm me if you have any questions on the build, if you have the tools its not all that difficult, just very tedious.

 

[seoul4korea]

sorry for the delay, i just got home from work.

yes, the marlin kit comes with the bearings, syncros, front and rear seals (only front will work), i think 1 or 2 bearings come with their own new snap rings, tube of silicone, shifter bushings and i think thats it.

the reason i chose marlin vs toyo was mostly because of the bearings, some have an extra roller for strength. reason 2 is they state that their syncros are a revamped/updated design...though i cant see much of a difference i can say that shifting is VERY much improved over my old syncros (which were still in great shape btw) and reason 3 is because vs the toyo kit its $100 more, but after you consider that it comes with the silicone and shifter bushings (which youll prob buy anyways) its really only a $60 difference and an extra 60 bucks to get stronger bearings and updated synros is a no brainer to me.

are you doing the build yourself? pm me if you have any questions on the build, if you have the tools its not all that difficult, just very tedious.

Sounds like a good plan, do you know where I can source the rebuild kit? I've been having trouble finding it (Unless the one kit from suprastore has the correct kit). I'm rebuilding it myself but since I just reported to Guam I won't be doing it till I get back (3 years), but I will for sure PM you. The car is in Corpus Christi right now.