A brief overview of rebuilding my R154. As of right now I haven't installed it but it seems to rotate well and shift into all the gears smoothly so I'm confident it's good to go
Heads up guys, “www.thesuprastore.com” carries the upgraded 1-2 and 3-4 upgraded shift forks for the r-154 I also picked up the billet thrust washer, billet bearing plate and a few other goodies to rebuild my R-154. In addition I found a complete gasket, bearing and seal kit plus an R-154 synchro kit at “www.cobratransmission.com” hope that helps someone.
Would you know be able to give me alil help? The r154 before i put the front bearing cover everything was working but after i put the front bearing cover i couldn't move the main shaft in any gear but 4th. If i loosen the bolts a bit on the front cover everything works again.
Okay we have the new gear set and box ready but how hard of a job is it? worth taking to a gearbox specialist or giving it a crack? Comp is on saturday eeek. Thinking... copying the one that is coming out like for like (We killed 3rd gear completely)
Thanks for posting! Based on your disassembly and internal work, perhaps you can think of why my trans is acting weird?? I'm gonna copy/paste my writeup I put on the Marlin Crawler forum; thanks in advance for reading! I bought a car with a turbocharged 2JZ-GE. Previous owner had broken the W55 trans and swapped in an R154 he said came from Marlin Crawler. Claim was 5000 miles on the trans. I've not found any evidence of the previous owner lying about anything, and the trans looks brand new - so I believe it was recently redone. It seems there are 1000 different tailshaft/shifter variants on the R154. Not certain which this one is, but nothing was chopped/welded to make the shifter fit... It has a Ralco shifter installed. The problems: Regardless whether engine is running or not, the shifter doesn't go into ANY gear easily. Kinda gives feeling like trying to select gears when the clutch is not fully disengaging - really gotta force it to go. But again, it feels this way engine running or not. Also, I've checked to be sure the clutch is in fact fully disengaging. It is. Selecting 2nd, 4th and reverse feels particularly vague (engine running or not). Kinda gives feeling like you haven't moved the linkage far enough to have moved the shift rail fully. While the feeling of 1st, 3rd and 5th isn't "sweet", it does provide positive feeling that it actually went in. Not the case with 2nd, 4th and reverse... Changing up into 4th from 3rd, or changing down into 4th from 5th - you must be VERY deliberate and shift like you really mean it to successfully engage the gear. If you don't, it'll feel like the it went in (as well as it ever does, anyway), but when you re-engage the clutch sometimes you get a grind, other times it'll kick the gear out. Both of these symptoms indicate to me the 3rd/4th dog slider is not fully coupling with 4th gear. At no time does the transmission grind when attempting to select gears. The only grind I've experienced is upon re-engagement of clutch after *thinking* i'd selected 4th. When selecting 4th while driving - if you do not immediately attempt to engage 4th (whether changing up or down), it becomes impossible to select. Example: Say that 60mph in 4th gear = 2500rpm So you are coasting down a hill at 60mph in neutral... If you blip the throttle to 2500rpm, dab the clutch and attempt to select 4th - it won't go in regardless how much force you put on the stick. I've tried this 20 times and only been successful once. No amount of rev-matching, double clutching or force seems to work. Don't know what i did that one time that made it actually go. The trans has fresh RedLine oil in it. I've made sure my clutch is fully disengaging. I've ensured the shifter itself is not restricting the internal shift rail's travel. I've ensured the little ball/bushing on the bottom of the shift lever is fully engaging the receiver on the end of the shift rail. Doesn't seem like a synchronizer thing because I'm experiencing no grinding when trying to select gears. Doesn't seem like a bent/broken shift fork because 2nd, 4th and R all have the vague/undertravel feeling. And if the 3/4 fork was bad - wouldn't I be experiencing 3rd gear strangeness too??
Interesting, if Marlin Crawler did rebuild it then I honestly don't have any clue why it would be acting up like that. As far as I know, they do pretty good quality work with good quality parts. Did these issues pop up over time? Were they present when you bought the car? Did the owner have any comment on how problems like that could pop up in 5k miles? The only thing I could possibly think of would be worn shift forks. The Forks use different parts for shifting into different gears, for example shifting into 4th uses a different face of the fork than shifting into 3rd gear does. If the fork wore out to the point where it couldn't push the gear slider ring enough to fully seat it, I could possibly see it doing something like what you're describing You can kind of see what I'm talking about here on the Marlin Crawler page, it's the picture showing the 2 forks side by side with the red arrow pointing to the wear area www.marlincrawler.com/transmission/shifter-parts/shift-fork-r-series-1st2nd-gear
Thanks for reply! Swapped a stock shifter onto the R154 and noted the shifting arm inside the housing is NOT centered within the shifter hole when trans is in neutral. Rather, it is shifted forward. It is possible the forward offset is causing the shifter itself to not be able reach far enough to fully engage 4th. I've also read that the shift fork retaining bolts have been known to come loose in the r154 - resulting in a sloppy fork and inability to properly engage gear(s). Regardless, it sure seems this trans to needs to come out and be looked over. Hopefully it's just a worn/bent fork or something loose - and not a failed component on the mainshaft...
GroovesAndLands hey what’s up buddy? Did you ever figure this out? I’m having same issue with my trans. All marlin crawler v2 billet setup. I’ve switched back and forth between stock shifter and short shifter, stock shifter is a bit better just long throws but currently have the short throw in it but about to remove it again. Did you find internal damage and what part exactly? I only have about 1500miles on my rebuild and want to save it sooner rather than later if I can.
I bought a rebuild kit on ebay for a little over 100 dollars and the thrust washer I picked up from driftmotion.com. I got fortunate that none of the gears or counter shaft teeth were messed up. I don't think you can actually buy those parts anymore.
I just search on ebay "Prius Battery Module" and pick whichever one seems to fit my needs the best www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2060353.m570.l1313.TR2.TRC1.A0.H0.Xprius+battery+module.TRS0&_nkw=prius+battery+module&_sacat=0
oh, haha my bad. My mind was somewhere else when I responded to your comment. www.driftmotion.com/searchresults.asp?Search=r154&Submit= Search this page on drift motion for anything R154 related you need. You can always google the toyota part number if you think you can find it cheaper somewhere else Or here's a rebuild kit that you can pick up off of ebay. www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=r154+rebuild&_sacat=0
your 4th gear synchro ring flattened due to wear and disconnected from the synchro keys
Heads up guys, “www.thesuprastore.com” carries the upgraded 1-2 and 3-4 upgraded shift forks for the r-154 I also picked up the billet thrust washer, billet bearing plate and a few other goodies to rebuild my R-154.
In addition I found a complete gasket, bearing and seal kit plus an R-154 synchro kit at “www.cobratransmission.com” hope that helps someone.
Thanks for the link to Cobra Transmission. Curious, how has the bearings, syncrhos held up from it?
hey man the only thing i wanna replace is the input shaft bearing how would i do just that and what would i need?
my gearbox started making a loud whine any ideas
Would you know be able to give me alil help? The r154 before i put the front bearing cover everything was working but after i put the front bearing cover i couldn't move the main shaft in any gear but 4th. If i loosen the bolts a bit on the front cover everything works again.
Bruh! Did you find the issue??
Exact same thing happening to me
@@shadowlexus7154 nope
Okay we have the new gear set and box ready but how hard of a job is it? worth taking to a gearbox specialist or giving it a crack? Comp is on saturday eeek. Thinking... copying the one that is coming out like for like (We killed 3rd gear completely)
Speedtek Auto Racing make close ratio uprated transmission kits for the R154 and Nissan Skyline RB25. good for 700+HP
How do you connect the extension housing shaft to the gearbox?
Thanks for posting! Based on your disassembly and internal work, perhaps you can think of why my trans is acting weird?? I'm gonna copy/paste my writeup I put on the Marlin Crawler forum; thanks in advance for reading!
I bought a car with a turbocharged 2JZ-GE. Previous owner had broken the W55 trans and swapped in an R154 he said came from Marlin Crawler. Claim was 5000 miles on the trans. I've not found any evidence of the previous owner lying about anything, and the trans looks brand new - so I believe it was recently redone.
It seems there are 1000 different tailshaft/shifter variants on the R154. Not certain which this one is, but nothing was chopped/welded to make the shifter fit... It has a Ralco shifter installed.
The problems:
Regardless whether engine is running or not, the shifter doesn't go into ANY gear easily. Kinda gives feeling like trying to select gears when the clutch is not fully disengaging - really gotta force it to go. But again, it feels this way engine running or not. Also, I've checked to be sure the clutch is in fact fully disengaging. It is.
Selecting 2nd, 4th and reverse feels particularly vague (engine running or not). Kinda gives feeling like you haven't moved the linkage far enough to have moved the shift rail fully. While the feeling of 1st, 3rd and 5th isn't "sweet", it does provide positive feeling that it actually went in. Not the case with 2nd, 4th and reverse...
Changing up into 4th from 3rd, or changing down into 4th from 5th - you must be VERY deliberate and shift like you really mean it to successfully engage the gear. If you don't, it'll feel like the it went in (as well as it ever does, anyway), but when you re-engage the clutch sometimes you get a grind, other times it'll kick the gear out. Both of these symptoms indicate to me the 3rd/4th dog slider is not fully coupling with 4th gear.
At no time does the transmission grind when attempting to select gears. The only grind I've experienced is upon re-engagement of clutch after *thinking* i'd selected 4th.
When selecting 4th while driving - if you do not immediately attempt to engage 4th (whether changing up or down), it becomes impossible to select.
Example: Say that 60mph in 4th gear = 2500rpm
So you are coasting down a hill at 60mph in neutral... If you blip the throttle to 2500rpm, dab the clutch and attempt to select 4th - it won't go in regardless how much force you put on the stick. I've tried this 20 times and only been successful once. No amount of rev-matching, double clutching or force seems to work. Don't know what i did that one time that made it actually go.
The trans has fresh RedLine oil in it. I've made sure my clutch is fully disengaging. I've ensured the shifter itself is not restricting the internal shift rail's travel. I've ensured the little ball/bushing on the bottom of the shift lever is fully engaging the receiver on the end of the shift rail.
Doesn't seem like a synchronizer thing because I'm experiencing no grinding when trying to select gears. Doesn't seem like a bent/broken shift fork because 2nd, 4th and R all have the vague/undertravel feeling. And if the 3/4 fork was bad - wouldn't I be experiencing 3rd gear strangeness too??
Interesting, if Marlin Crawler did rebuild it then I honestly don't have any clue why it would be acting up like that. As far as I know, they do pretty good quality work with good quality parts. Did these issues pop up over time? Were they present when you bought the car? Did the owner have any comment on how problems like that could pop up in 5k miles?
The only thing I could possibly think of would be worn shift forks. The Forks use different parts for shifting into different gears, for example shifting into 4th uses a different face of the fork than shifting into 3rd gear does. If the fork wore out to the point where it couldn't push the gear slider ring enough to fully seat it, I could possibly see it doing something like what you're describing
You can kind of see what I'm talking about here on the Marlin Crawler page, it's the picture showing the 2 forks side by side with the red arrow pointing to the wear area
www.marlincrawler.com/transmission/shifter-parts/shift-fork-r-series-1st2nd-gear
Thanks for reply! Swapped a stock shifter onto the R154 and noted the shifting arm inside the housing is NOT centered within the shifter hole when trans is in neutral. Rather, it is shifted forward. It is possible the forward offset is causing the shifter itself to not be able reach far enough to fully engage 4th.
I've also read that the shift fork retaining bolts have been known to come loose in the r154 - resulting in a sloppy fork and inability to properly engage gear(s).
Regardless, it sure seems this trans to needs to come out and be looked over. Hopefully it's just a worn/bent fork or something loose - and not a failed component on the mainshaft...
GroovesAndLands hey what’s up buddy? Did you ever figure this out? I’m having same issue with my trans. All marlin crawler v2 billet setup. I’ve switched back and forth between stock shifter and short shifter, stock shifter is a bit better just long throws but currently have the short throw in it but about to remove it again. Did you find internal damage and what part exactly? I only have about 1500miles on my rebuild and want to save it sooner rather than later if I can.
i got a r154 cheap about a year ago and i have no 1st or 2nd have any ideas ?
Shift fork perhaps? 1st and 2nd share a fork. Or it could be the linkage that moves the fork
CtrlAltDefeatTV sounds good I'll bust it open and take a look !
Where did you order the spare parts?
I bought a rebuild kit on ebay for a little over 100 dollars and the thrust washer I picked up from driftmotion.com. I got fortunate that none of the gears or counter shaft teeth were messed up. I don't think you can actually buy those parts anymore.
ok. What should I look for ebay to find parts.? can you link?
I just search on ebay "Prius Battery Module" and pick whichever one seems to fit my needs the best
www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2060353.m570.l1313.TR2.TRC1.A0.H0.Xprius+battery+module.TRS0&_nkw=prius+battery+module&_sacat=0
I don´t need parts for a prius. I need part for my R154 gearbox
oh, haha my bad. My mind was somewhere else when I responded to your comment.
www.driftmotion.com/searchresults.asp?Search=r154&Submit=
Search this page on drift motion for anything R154 related you need. You can always google the toyota part number if you think you can find it cheaper somewhere else
Or here's a rebuild kit that you can pick up off of ebay.
www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=r154+rebuild&_sacat=0
You really showed nothing.