I have a 1982 Toyota Pickup 2WD with 22R (gasoline) engine and W50 5-speed manual transmission.

While driving the truck yesterday, I attempted to downshift into 2nd while turning into a parking lot and I had no 2nd gear! Well, that's not totally accurate. I could not find 2nd gear (I'm sure it's in there somewhere). Upon further (immediate) investigation, I found that 1st gear could not be found either. I managed to get the truck up the hill from nearly a stop in 3rd gear and parked it, at which time I checked and found that 5th gear and reverse could not be found either.

Okay, let me clarify: By "Could not find" the gears, what I mean is, when I went to shift into any of those gears (1st, 2nd, 5th, or reverse), the shifter just flopped around like the linkage was completely absent. 3rd and 4th gear work fine. There was no warning that this was going to happen. The truck is my daily driver, I commute about 100 miles round trip to work 5 days a week, and it has been working fine.

I haven't had a chance to open anything up and look inside yet, although I do have a couple of theories as to what the problem might be. I'd like to know if anyone has encountered this and what happened. I'd also like to hear thoughts/ideas/comments from anyone with any knowledge about manual transmissions (particularly Toyota W-series) regarding what I might be dealing with.

Thanks!

 

Selector fork might be cracked/broken and won't push the sincros into place

 

Selector fork breaking on W50’s is a very common occurrence. Not sure if you can even get replacements now.

 

At this point, replacing the whole transmission might be cheaper then repairing one ...plus, upgrading to another W series transmission is always on the table.

 

Hopefully this is on-topic with some 5-Speed shifting troubles,
I've noticed shifting into Reverse on my truck is quite a hassle. I really have to muscle some effort into it to get it to go into Reverse. What could this possibly be? Or is this an intended safety feature? (Haven't completely read through the owner's manual so I'll scan back over and see if anything is mentioned about this)

 

Does it grind when going into reverse? Or is it just hard to get into gear?
If grinding is the issue check the adjustment of the clutch slave cylinder.

 

Just hard to get into gear, no grinding what-so-ever.

 

Shifter bushing and seat?!? I'd start with that.

 

Got my truck up on a lift and took a peek underneath, I believe some sort of boot underneath the cabin above the transmission is out of it's place but not torn from what I could tell. Might be that. Its a square-looking boot.

 

You should have 2! One above (inside) the cab and one under that make a seal. 4 10 mm bolts.

 

Probably should! Next time I put it on a lift I'll take a picture to confirm this. Thanks for the info!!!

 

Actually you can get to them easier from above! Remove any center console you may have and the first one is under the square plate that holds the shifter boot down. .nd dnt forget to have fun! I ended up painting the bracket and cleaning all the rubber since I was there ...dnt know when I'll be back!

 

'ello again!
Yesterday when I was out going for a drive; when I was warming up my truck and attempting to back out, with the clutch fully depressed and it in Neutral, it seemed Reverse didn't want to go into reverse albeit it was still a smidge cold. It gave me the feedback of not going into reverse when shifting from neutral, and gave an abrupt push-back of me trying to shift into reverse and maybe a grind? Believe this issue might be more prominent, and it doesn't help yesterday I stalled the heck out of it driving it since the shifter felt more "floaty" than usual after giving it a couple bad starts from the stoplight, shifter was quite bouncy but I still need to nail down stop-and-go traffic for sure. Seems only 5th "Overdrive" is a bit stiff but Reverse can be definetly finnicky forgot to add.

If anyone has any info on inspecting the shifter linkages, bushings, and seats? or whatever else is under it, please lemme know since it's December break and I have some time to kill and iron out any kinks still present on my truck.
P.S. don't have a center console and it's a bucket seat. Thanks

 

If you’re running the W50, they’re known for having problems with shifter fork breakage.

W58 is supposed to be a pretty easy swap.

 

Do you know if there's a code anywhere on the trucks that says what transmission is in it? Just want to double check which ones in it.

 

The VIN plate on the door jamb and under the hood have the transmission designation on there. As stated above, pull whatever center console you have and get into the shifter housing.
Could be as simple as the shifter bushing being gone or the rubber boot jamming shit up.

i swapped a W55 in the place of my W58 so i'll assume the W5x transmissions interchange. You may need to pull the tail shaft housing off and swap the the shift selector thing(i have pics in my build thread) and put it al back together. Shouldnt take more than a few hours if you have the paper gaskets

 

There is a build plate under the hood that gives the transmission and rear axle identification. I’ve attached my plate so you know what it looks like. In my case I have the L43 transmission and the GO82 rear axle.

 

Yeah, not seeing any transmission codes on a plaque anywhere, i think your guys earlier trucks are a bit different in identifications than the 3rd generation ones. Do have a VIN but nowhere online so far have I found a checker that displays a transmission one anywhere.

UPDATE: Found out it is a DLX (1/2 Ton) from the NHTSA VIN Decoder, that's handy to know, maybe I'll have a lead now

 

Its on the Trans/Axle line. Should definitely be there. My old '89 had it. Im sure the '83 has it

 

I checked under the hood, no plaque on it, and my door jamb plaque only has the vin, production month/year, vehicle weight ratings, tire psi. Unless I'm looking in the wrong place...