Recently, a long time customer came in because she had lost the use of 5th gear in her 2003 Tundra 5 speed transmission. The truck has been immaculately cared for since she got it and the transmission made no noticeable noise, so we were sure no serious problems had occurred. As it happens, Toyota 5 speed transmissions have had a common failure for a long time that is related to a plastic ball socket in the shifter.
When the truck gets old the plastic deteriorates and the shifter drops further into the transmission than it is supposed to. Eventually the transmission housing interferes with the shifter and it cannot move into 5th gear. There is nothing wrong with the transmission, just the shifter mechanism.
A simple test for this issue is to lift on the shifter while moving it into 5th gear. The shifter is spring loaded down so some effort is required, but if the vehicle goes 5th gear, this could be the problem. The repair costs are reasonable. This arrangement has been used in cars and trucks from approximately 1977 to recently. Some of these include the Toyota Celica, Corona, T100, Tacoma and Tundra. Happy Jap’s would love to help you with this or other transmission problems.
This is a description of CV joints, or constant velocity joints. CV joints are a higher tech and smoother version of the old universal joints that do essentially the same thing. The advent of front wheel drive cars, coupled with the movement toward smoother, more vibration free drive trains, CV joints became necessary. The down side of CV joints is that they require a clean and lubricated environment, and this requires a flexible set of bellows, also called a boot. The boot keeps dirt, water, and other contaminants out of the joint while keeping lubricant in. It also allows the drive shafts to flex with relation to each other. The problem with the boot is that when it fails, it perforates. This allows all the lubricant to leave the joint and allows contaminants in. At best the joint must be dissembled, cleaned and a new boot must be installed. At worst, the contaminants will destroy the joint and the whole assembly will need to be replaced. Some money can be saved by catching the failure during the window that the boot is damaged, but before the joint is. A healthy remanufacturing market has, however, made it economical to repair if the joint is damaged. Either way, a clicking or clunking in the drive train during sharp turns in low speed parking lot maneuvers can be fairly economically repaired. Give us a call, or email.
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