5speed

T100 Newbie needs advice.

I wanted to upgrade my 85 Xtracab , 202k, to a truck with a better ride for long trips, and able to keep up with the 90 mph demons on I-15 in San Diego - something reliable, 20+ mpg, good ride, and under $10k. Research from Consumer reports, fueleconomy.gov, and epinions.com convinced me that:

Fords are reliable gas hogs
Chevy gets decent gas mileage but fall apart
Dodge is junk,
Compacts have a stiff ride
Tundras are the king, but too big and expensive for my needs
Only the T100 might fit

I spent 2 months searching the USA for a white 2x4 T100 with a 5 speed. 9/10 ads I called were already sold. Internet auto buying sucks, but I had no choice with the scarcity in California – most here are 4x4, automatic or black.

Saturday I located a 95 T100 in Simi Valley with 101k, Courtesy Chevrolet was asking $7600 . 3 hr drive no problem! The body was nearly perfect and undercarriage pristine. Looked stock except for oversize offroad tires and alloy wheels. The honeymoon ended with the test drive. The handling seemed Ok, but:

The V-6 was noisy on acceleration (Camry of trucks?)
The ride was punishing on the freeway (Offroad tires the culprit?)
The clutch was stiff and low, just awful (Broken clutch bracket?)
5 speed was stiff and hard to shift.

I had planned to offer up to $7k if I was in love, but due to these problems and my inexperience with T100s I told the dealer I couldn’t offer more than $6k green today. I was shocked when they took the offer because I felt it would sell easily for $6500- $7k on looks alone. So I need to figure out if I can fix these issues. :pat: Any T100 vets have any experience with these? Do I need new everything or just some tweaks?

Perpetrator

Check the rubber grommett on the firewall where the steering shaft passes through. Several T100 owners have had theirs deteriorate and that apparantly lets a lot of noise through.

Check your air pressure. I bet the tires are over-inflated. The sticker on the doorjamb will tell you the proper pressure for the stock size tires. The rears can be lower if you're not carrying a load. All four can be lower if the tires are larger than the size listed on the sticker in the doorjamb.

I guess the stiff clutch is normal. Last week I drove my brother-in-law's Accord 5-speed. The clutch action was very light. When I got back in my T100 the clutch action felt so heavy I literally thought something was wrong.

You do bring up a good point about the clutch bracket. It is EXCEEDINGLY common for the clutch bracket to crack, which causes the clutch action to feel like poo. Fortunately, it is easy to fix. With about $70 in parts (clutch pedal bracket, master cylinder backing plate, 3 plastic pedal return spring bushings) and about 1-1.5 hours of time you can get it fixed. BTW it is a "new and improved" bracket.

About the 5 speed transmission being stiff and hard to shift: This is also a common complaint. This is the same transmission (R150) used in the Tacoma, 4Runner, Tundra (been in the pickups and 4Runners for several years). Apparantly the tranny doesn't like using a GL-5 lube, rather a GL-4. The problem is-it's nearly impossible to find GL-4 lubes anymore. I guess the GL-5 lubes are too slick for the synchronizers and, thus, cause slow sychronization and, thus, slow shifting. Apparantly the best results have been experienced by using Redline MT-90, if I'm not mistaken. There was a recent topic about this in the "4Runners, Trucks, and SUVs" forum. Some even suggest over-filling by a half a quart or so. Check it out.

Finally, I frequent another T100 forum that is much more active. Has a great wealth of info there.

4X4 Wire

5speed

Thanks for the fantastic solutions - my expectations were exceeded. I found some other forums and it seems that the clutch bracket/firewall defect is epidemic, and may be the main cause of clutch failure and transmission difficulty. I go to Simi Valley tomorrow to "pickup" my T100!

Tire size question:
I want a car type of ride so I can sell my Audi 200 and take the T100 across the US. My truck has monster truck tires which are coming off...The stock tire size is 215 75 15 with optional 235 75 15. What is the biggest tire size w/o hurting power, braking, and cornering?

5speed

The plan to smooth out the ride is to buy OEM Alloys, use 235-75-15 tires and sell my BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A 30.5 x 31 on Eagle Alloy wheels.

I'll use Monroe sensatrac for the smoothest ride.

I already replaced the clutch bracket, The original was cracked and flexed a least 1/16 in when shifting. I paid $61 with my business discount at Toyota.
Next is the steering wheel seal.

jimbo74

a 235/75/15 is about 2" smaller in od than a 31x10.5
it isnt much of a difference but is still a good amount.... i never noticed it when i made that jump with my explorer. however it had 3.73 gears and an lsd with a torquey v6 so it wasnt a huge loss.....

i dont see how oem alloys will make the ride any smoother.... unless there is a problem with the current wheels and the oem wheels are brand new

sounds like what you want is a highway tread.... firestone destination le is a wonderful highway tire.. lots of new design in it.....

also with regards to the tranny lube.... i have heard about stuff called GM synchromesh, and apparently its awesome stuff.... i have heard its far superior to gl4 even which in toyota trannies is the recommended... gl-5 has too much sulfates and is too slippery for its own good, and actually over time might hurt the synchros.... here is a link i have saved on the synchromesh: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...4&page=1&pp=25

jimbo74

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/tranny-fluid-additive-synchro-prob-27133/#post257995 here is the one that says about the synchromesh

Perpetrator

The biggest difference will probably be due to the fact that you'll be going from a LT (light truck) rated tire to a P (passenger) rated tire. The LT tires are much more heavy-duty (more plies, tougher sidewalls, etc.) and thus, much stiffer. The P tires shoud be a much smoother ride.

Thanks for the tranny lube links. Still on my "To Do" list (I'm currently running Mobil 1 synthetic in the tranny and the synchronizers are slow). Perhaps I'll get to it when my wife goes out of town next month.

5speed

Adjusting my clutch and installing the the heavier clutch bracket made the clutch perfect and cured the shifting problems as well. I'm lucky it was a 1 owner chick's truck who drove it on the freeway. (101k) .
Even so, I love a great shifting transmission, so I may install synchromesh fluid just to see if I get an even better shift.

Tires - since I want a passenger car type of ride I may buy the Avid Yokohamas from Tire Rack. The load rating between the Geoloander and the Avid is only 150 lbs. Oddly, the P rated Geolander for 235/75/15 is higher than the LT - go figure. I picked up the original T-100 alloys last week and they look fantastic. The tires on them gotta go though!

Even thought I haven't acheived the smooth ride yet, I'm lucky with gas mileage, 25 mpg and 26 mpg on successive tanks. If Avids have low rolling resistance, I might hit 30 utilizing my downhill coasting techniques on the san Diego hills. I've found no specs for tire energy efficiency, but I know Michelins are the best in that department. There are areas on San Diego freeways I can coast 4 miles and slow down only 25 Mph thanks to Energy MRX4's. I got 45 MPH one way to Tijuana (probably a tailwind) and 40 round trip in my BMW 328i, which is not a slow car. Of course it would be more fun to get 30 mpg in a truck than 40 mpg in a car.

Perpetrator

The politically correct term for that technique is "Latin-American Overdrive".

Glad you got the clutch squared away. You don't want the firewall itself to crack.

5speed

jimabena74 - SHoulda gone with Firestone Destination LE in the first place, the Yoko Avids destroyed my T100's ability to corner. They are on order, Yokos will return on the 30 day trial.