Transmission trouble - upgrade?

LilRed · Dec 22, 2017

Hey everyone!

I would like to know your opinions and suggestions regarding your experience with our transmissions.

My truck just hit 150,000 miles and the transmission and clutch started acting up.
Reverse and first are almost impossible to shift with the engine on. 2nd gear would pop out and have some difficulty shifting into. 3rd-6th, no issues.

I took it to a local performance transmission shop (I trust these guys) and they said I would need to replace both clutch and transmission. I basically want to know what my options are and make the best use of my $ for this expensive fix.

1. Replace with factory parts - they come with 5 year 100,000 Mile warranties - $7,000 (includes required labor for valid warranty)
2. Upgrade (URD) - T56/conversion kit and twin clutch? - ~$7,800 (+ shipping and unknowns of install/ does not include labor, maybe do it myself if it is relatively straight forward install) (I reached out to URD for parts quote)
3. Sourcing my own T56 and using URD for conversion kit and clutch - I do not know anything about transmissions and I would need a lot of help from the XR community and my local car club friends on this...
4. Open to any suggestions

Your help and suggestions are greatly appreciated. As of right now, I can't afford to get this done until February so I have some time to weigh out the options.

shane881510 · Dec 23, 2017

I’d go t56 and never look back again. The factory trans are the biggest crap part of the truck. I’ve went Thur two and both are crap. I’m going t56 as soon as I can.

LilRed · Dec 23, 2017

Thanks Shane!

I've reached out to URD and Gadget responded with what I need for the T56 conversion. I think that's the route I'm going to go. All options are just so dang expensive. Thanks for the input. I consider myself lucky to have 150k on the original trans.

I'm also worried about the additional costs on top of the conversion that will needed to be factored in to get it running.

shane881510 · Dec 23, 2017

Yea it’s not cheap at all. Only reason I haven’t do it yet.

x-runner kid · Dec 26, 2017

I say go with option 4 if money is tight buy a good used stock trans and swap it yourself. The t-56 is the best route to go if you have the money but that’s the most expensive. I plan to keep my eyes open for a t-56 that’s not too spendy and if I can get that then I’ll buy the conversion. I also plan to keep my truck forever so it’s a investment to myself more than anything.

NHXRUNNER · Dec 27, 2017

You don't have any local transmission shops that would be willing to do a full rebuild? I would imagine that would be the cheapest option.....but if you can swing it the T56 is the permanent solution

LilRed · Dec 29, 2017

Yeah I am working on getting the funds in order to do the swap. I think I have been sold on the T56 for a while... even a few years ago when everyone was paving the way for the T56 swap. I'm with you @x-runner kid , I plan on keeping this truck and would like to make the best investments possible within reason (or my budget haha).

@NHXRUNNER I was looking for a shop that will rebuild transmissions, so far most only want to replace it. But I have a few more places to call next week to see if they can quote me a rebuild.

NHXRUNNER · Dec 29, 2017

LilRed said:
Yeah I am working on getting the funds in order to do the swap. I think I have been sold on the T56 for a while... even a few years ago when everyone was paving the way for the T56 swap. I'm with you @x-runner kid, I plan on keeping this truck and would like to make the best investments possible within reason (or my budget haha).

@NHXRUNNER I was looking for a shop that will rebuild transmissions, so far most only want to replace it. But I have a few more places to call next week to see if they can quote me a rebuild.

FYI if you use the @ symbol before the username it will actually tag the user and send them a notification....I've updated your post to reflect that.

As for your rebuild/replace, if I ever have to do it, T56 will be the only way

LilRed · Dec 29, 2017

@NHXRUNNER : Got it thanks.

I think I am going to definitely buy the URD twin clutch, URD T56 Conversion Kit and MGW Short shifter.

Still on the fence with the URD T56 Transmission. I feel like $4100 is a bit more transmission than I need. But at the same time, it looks like a headache to piece together the right transmission from other sources.

shane881510 · Dec 29, 2017

Don’t forget u have to also swap in a diff with 4.10 or bigger gears. It’s a large investment but worth it. As for the transmission. If I’m not wrong As long as it’s a t56 from a 98 and up it will work fine. Older models ain’t as strong but still same bolt pattern and housings should also work. As long as U have the clutch disk splined for the trans it will work.

LilRed · Jan 12, 2018

The shop I took it to was able to put it back together so I could park it at my apartment complex until I got the funds together. On the drive home, in sixth gear, going slow on the interstate I heard loud clunk and my shifter pooped out of gear. Shifter would go into all gears but clutch was completely unresponsive. I was almost home too. To me it seemed like a clutch problem rather than the transmission but I do not know a lot about drivetrains. I figured it wouldn't hurt to take it to another shop and get their opinion.

GOOD NEWS! It was just the clutch. They took care of it for $1k. Strange how all the symptoms pointed to more than the clutch. Everything seems to be running well and I have been driving for 3 days now. Thank you everyone for the advice, but I'm glad I didn't have to make a major financial commitment. Thanks again!

NHXRUNNER · Jan 13, 2018

Good to hear your back on the road

Chris Griteman · Jun 30, 2018

Hey I'm new here and I was also looking at getting urd's t56 for my 05 tacoma but I was wondering which clutch package i should go for with it my xrunner(alex) is n/a at the moment but i eventually want to put the mrk3 supercharger on it just asking to get more info than i have. Thank you

spicciani2 · Jul 2, 2018

What is needed to install the t56?

https://automotix.net/usedtransmiss...lbzbZ2f1nCe1Aw0gV_pBQLNy6Lbp7izBoCW_kQAvD_BwE

NHXRUNNER · Jul 2, 2018

http://www.xr-underground.com/threads/t56-write-up.53299/

lingenfelterm · Jul 4, 2018

If you decide to rebuild, I rebuilt mine, replaced the clutch and upgraded the throw out bearing (both URD) all for 1850 dollars. I have most of the part numbers needed listed on this thread. http://www.xr-underground.com/threads/replacement-synchronizers.54339/page-2

Chris Griteman · Jul 11, 2018

I will look into rebuilding the trans and see if that works or just look at getting the t56 I read your story and while I dont have the money for a rebuild it will be way cheaper than getting the t56 with the diff I was looking at

Aspen_S/C · Dec 2, 2018

lingenfelterm said:
If you decide to rebuild, I rebuilt mine, replaced the clutch and upgraded the throw out bearing (both URD) all for 1850 dollars. I have most of the part numbers needed listed on this thread. http://www.xr-underground.com/threads/replacement-synchronizers.54339/page-2

Thanks for this, my truck now has 190,000 on it, 135 with the SC so it is getting tired and I want to budget for this. I pretty much keep a pop up camper on it full time so it has seen some *hard* miles including a ton off road.

I'm happy to say I am not hammering on it as much as I used to...the new "Monster in a Tuxedo" as of last month is a 650HP Audi RS7 with an APR stage-1 tune, what an effing Beast, LOL!

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