Anyone got any good experience with transmission rebuilders? my old G54's taken a beating long enough, and it seems that limping it home after the fluid run-out on my leaky clutch master/slave cylinders was too much for it.

I replaced those, but my 1st gear is crunchy now, and reverse is next to impossible to get into unless I jam it. I have to force it into 1st or reverse pretty much.

I know next to nothing about transmissions aside from how to remove and install them and don't think I want to tackle this myself, so let me know if you know anything about rebuilders or have any other decent ideas.

right now I'm considering a Marlin unit, or maybe seeing if the guy at the machine shop I use can work some magic on it like he did on one for another vehicle I had.

Have you considered buying a good used one, and just swapping it out? Here's a few I found on car-part.com for you.

yeah, actually I have, but didn't see any Toyotas at the U-wrench-it here.

good idea! maybe I can find something somewhere semi-close by.

With something like this, if it's decent enough, will allow you tear down your old one, and kinda learn it as you go. Mabe rebuild it yourself since you have time, and when funds become available. If you can fix/rebuild it, great! If not, at least you got a little experience.

Check craigslist.com for your area, our 4-sale section, Prate4x4 or Marlincrawler forums for sale sections. You can usually pick up decent transmissions for under $200. Also, you don't have to get a G series transmission, you can also go w/the W series as well.

good idea on the forums.

do you guys know offhand what I can swap in, direct swap, no other parts required?

there's a guy on CL with a stockpile of parts. looks like he might have one. tell you what though, craigslist is dangerous! there was a guy about two hours from here who had a super clean '86 4Runner for sale. this thing was BEAUTIFUL! I just missed it!

Any 22r(e) manual 4x4 transmission will bolt up, including the turbo 5-spd(R151). The W56 series are generally considered to be stronger than than the G(better bearings), and the turbo has a lower 1st gear.

For all the info you need on the transmissions, check out Marlin Crawler and Marlin Trans Tech

I've heard this before, as well, about the W56, but by stronger, what does that mean exactly? as in, where would you find the benefit?

Have a lead on a locally available transmission. unfortunately, it's in roughly the same shape as mine - rough

I'm considering now having the fellows at the local race/machine shop work it up for me. They did a nice job on one for my Mazda Turbo, replacing just what was needed, synchros, seals, frankensteined it with a junk unit I had, so I trust them, and that's saying a lot; I trust very few people with my vehicles.

if I can get the used transmission relatively cheaply, and the shop guys can check it over for me and let me know what I need and it's not too bad, I'll just have it done there. worst case, providing the junk transmission's good enough, I'll pick up the rebuild kit from Marlin for $365. if I can get relatively reasonable labor to rebuild it (bearings, seals, synchros), I figure that's a good deal, and I get to skirt the shipping cost and core hassle.


the Marlin unit is going to be around $1465 w/core and roundtrip shipping, and then I have to wonder if my core's good enough for core refund. not to mention, that doesn't even include the new clutch kit I'll need.


of course, the rebuild kit doesn't include a shift fork, clips & such if necessary; the rebuilt transmission from Marlin does include those items, as well as new heavy duty shift seat and shifter socket. apparently the forks see a good bit of wear, as well, so...

I guess as long as I don't need to start buying gears and such...

thoughts, recommendations?

Only replacing the worn items isn't always the best thing to do. You could get lucky and be fine for years to come, or be pulling it out in 6 months to replace the worn parts that you didn't the first time around.