Troopy 5th gear stuffed

i use to have a mq patrol where the 3rd use to pop out when i put to much stress on it eg going up hiils or so but, it was in a 5 speed box in the 4 yrs i owned it i did all sorts of towing including car trailers totalting up near 3 t mark, i used 5th whilst doing so as well, so apart from the 3rd gear poping out the box was fine i brought it like that & sold it like that,!

You could keep driving with four gears, before 85 the old tojos only had four speed boxes, 5th was for slowing down uphill anyway!
Truth be known when you have the box pulled down the other gears will be worn.

Go for a change over box from a Jap spares or gear box specialist it may be cheaper than a rebuild, they can refit the box too.

Good luck TPM

Grant,

If it's only just happened via a big bang (where it won't go in at all) then I would suggest to change the oil to start with, if you have no intention of fixing it straight away. It sounds fairly similar and common to other toyota gearbox probs, but the other 4 gears will probably keep you going for quite some time (I said probably to cover myself).
If you do plan to fix it talk with gearbox specialist (like Gabba Gearboxes Woolongabba) and ask them about building it stronger at the same time.

Cheers Trevor.

Grant,
Head up to Gympie 4WD (???), on the right as you come into Gympie-definantely know their stuff. Think your best bet is to exchange box and transfer for a rebuilt unit, easy-probably best part of $2500 though.
Matt

As previously said your best bet could be an exchange box, Gympie 4x4 as you enter town from the southern side appear to do a reasonable rebuilt exchange, I've fitted a couple of their gearboxes to customers cars in the past and have not had any comebacks.

thanks for the advice guys
I'll start scraping the money together for an exchange box
Dont like the thought of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere with no gears!

cheers
Grant

hello grantb,
i would say you are up for a rebuild or exchange gearbox. what has happened is a known problem with all landcruiser 5 speeds of that era. same thing happened to my 86 troopy(when i had it). at best all you will need to do is replace the bearings. you can drive around with 4 gears. just dont leave it too long as you already have stuffed bearings and the loose metal filings and wobbly shafts cant be good for your box. actually 5th gear popping out is the sign the box gives you that the bearings are stuffed and it is already time to open it up and fix it.

while you are pulling apart the box i would suggest you also do the transfer case. it works out way cheaper to do both at the same time and if you havent had to rebuild the transfer case yet there is a good chance you may need to. so why not get it done all in one go. oh and if your money stretches that far maybe even the clutch can be looked at.

the only other bit of advice i can give is after you get it rebuilt or exchanged, only use 5th for cruising. using 5th under load, up hills or under 80klms guarantees you will stuff up the box again. 5th gear cannot handle the load on it under these circumstances and that is one of the major reasons 5th gear pops out and the bearings stuff up
go troopy
peter