[Fot] gearbox legality

[Michael Porter]

Bill Babcock wrote:
> Toyota gearboxes are as common as belly buttons, and most have  
> minimal wear on them. The Japanese have interesting licensing and  
> inspection laws that ensure the domestic cars turn over frequently.  
> The drivetrains are frequently exported to the US. It would be  
> unusual to rebuild one--you can get a replacement for next to  
> nothing. I paid a hundred bucks for two from 2TG toyotas--of course  
> that was four years ago. I pulled them apart to check the typical  
> wear areas and they were indistinguishable from new.
>
>   

What Bill says is probably true of the transmissions today.  However, 
this is not precisely true of the Celica/Supra/4WD 5-speeds of 
yesteryear, so be careful from whence the transmission comes.  From the 
late `70s until around the mid-`80s, the 5-speeds had a tendency to fail 
mainshaft bearings.  Toyota was aware of the problem and decided it was 
cheaper to just informally extend the warranty on the transmission than 
to do a mold and machining change to modify the case for a wider roller 
bearing at the front, and continued to use a ball bearing, which wasn't 
up to the loads.  Oh, and if someone tells you their transmission came 
out of the diesel truck and is therefore stronger, that's not 
true--those transmissions were the same as the above.

All that probably does not apply for anything made beyond the mid- to 
late-`80s, but there are still lots of the older transmissions in 
junkyards, so it's worth remembering.

To a lesser degree, the same was true of the Corolla 5-speeds of the 
time, but they didn't suffer the same rate of failure because they just 
couldn't be pushed as hard. Even so, in the sixteen months I was at a 
Toyota shop in the early `80s, I did do a bearing replacement on a 
Corolla 5-speed with about 30,000 miles on it.

All that said, though, they're a much better starting point than the GT6 
gearbox....


Cheers.

-- 


Michael Porter
Roswell, NM


Never let anyone drive you crazy when you know it's within walking distance....