Topic: tranny making lous ticking sound

[superyota]

i just picked up an 82 toyota pickup, not sure what tranny it is, but i know its a 5spd.  rear drive line was off the truck when i picked it up so i drove it with the front hubs locked.  right as i turned down my street, the tranny started making a loud ticking sound, almost like a bad rod knock sound.  it does it in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and reverse.  no noise in 4th.  i know 4th is direct drive so it makes me think something happened to the tranny. also when its in 4low it does it even faster, being its going through the gears even faster.  havn't had a chance to drain the oil yet and check the end of the plug for shavings and what not, but if anyone has any ideas of what it could be, it would help me out.  i was also wondering if it is the tranny, how hard would it be for me to tear it apart and go through it?  thanks

[RN37DD]

 did you hook up the rear drive line yet or were you still on the front axle? I have a L45 and L52 apart right now and i don't think they're hard to deal with. it just depends on what's broke and the $$ for parts.

[superyota [OP]]

no, it was still on the front axle.  i guess i should just start tearing into it and see what i find.

[RN37DD]

I'd hook up your rear axle and test drive it. just in case there's something else going on. it's probably the tranny but you want to make sure things are going right with your t case too.

[superyota [OP]]

i'll give it a shot.  thanks for the reply.

[freeze365]

I'm thinking input shaft in the tranny.  Had the same thing happen with my 5spd in my 81.  The gear on the input shaft lost a tooth and sounded the same as yours. You've diagnosed your issue pretty good...it is a direct drive and because it's not happening in 4th it's an issue with the input.  You could rebuild it if you're good with trannies but rebuild kits are really hard to find, otherwise go with the Marlin HD tranny or a bone yard one.  The Marlin HD has a beefed up input shaft for our trucks and it'll take a good beating.  I ordered one a while ago and it's pretty solid!

[toyotanner]

pull the drain plug maybe it was ran dry and needs some lube.

[superyota [OP]]

thanks guys.  i'll check the fluid first and see what it looks like.  maybe some good fluid, and if that doesn't work, i think i'll probably go with the marlin tranny. 

[Jagdverband44]

 What it sounds like your tranny is experiencing is a bad case of gear lash. This occurs with a piston engine because the power comes in pulses and the force applied upon your gears is not fluid like in an electrical engine. Gear lash is a common occurance in cars that use lightweight flywheels due to the decrease in rotating mass and due to this decrease the pulsating force has less weight to exert itself upon. Instead of the pulse from the engine power being dispersed into the flywheel, it gets dispersed throughout the rotating mass of the three shafts in the transmission, in which there is a small amount of circumfrential play. This play increases as your transmission wears and clearances between internal contact points become wider. By not having your driveshaft connected, you have a point in your transmission that does not have any rotating mass to balance out the pulsating force from the engine and it is most likely that what your are describing is gear lash. The R series engines are very pulsy engines in their power delivery, they run very much like Diesels exempt the combustion process. That is one reason why they run so long and have relatively low red-lines; Toyota had to beef the internals of the engine to balance the pulse nature of the engine out with weight and in turn they created a very strong and long running engine. The R series engines run so long because they are over built. As for your problem, try putting a driveshaft on and you should be cool, if the noise does not go away, it may be time to build up a new trans.

[superyota [OP]]

thanks, i'll give it a shot.