Hello all, I am new to the Toyota pickup world and loving it. I just bought my first 1989 Toyota pickup 3.0 a few weeks ago.
AWESOME!! Welcome to the world of reliable, simple, and easy to work on Toyota trucks!!
A few weeks after driving it, first gear started to pop out of gear, so I put a new shift seat bushing and cap in. I guess I'm not one of the lucky ones because this did not fix it.
You didn't mention heavy duty so I'm assuming you used factory Toyota parts? We make Heavy Duty Shift Seats (
link) and Sockets (
link) which can help shifting issues in
some cases, but if it is an internal issue, then changing to our HD shift parts will not fix the problem. Short of this, you'll have to open up the transmission to see what is worn out (usually equals a transmission rebuild).
The good thing is that you have the strongest 5-speed transmission that Toyota has ever offered amongst Hilux, Hilux 4Runner, Tacoma, T100, and Tundra trucks. Also, finding good cores is less challenging than other applications (also means that rebuild specialists like Marlin Crawler charge less for your core -- more info
here).
Does it have a body lift on it? Sometimes with a BL they do not go all the way into gear and the boot will make them pop out of gear.
This is what I was going to suggest first. Make sure nothing is contacting the shift handle or boot. It could even be a wasted engine mount(s) or transfer case mount causing the drive train to move more than it should throwing the shifter right into the cab and causing it to be pushed out of gear.
Check your engine & t/case mounts and report back!
Regards,
BigMike
