Hilux Gear Issues After Lift

[bedrockmeat]

Hi Guys,

Can anyone tell me if there is a solution to the gear issues after you lift a 93 hilux. I can still use the gears but they keep popping out of gear due to the extra pressure exerted by the rubber bonnet around the gear stick.

Has anyone tried to heat and bend the gear stick or add an extra length of straight section?

It has 2" of body lift and 2" of suspension.

Cheers.

[TUFLUX]

yer mate, just go ahead and heat the stick and bend it.
i had same problem and did that. works fine now.

[Corindi]

I chopped the centre out of the metal bit under the boot, and removed the lower boot. This also works, but lets a little more noise in.

[boof]

Yeh as above you can bend it or modify the boots I have always preferred to modify the boots

[894runa]

I cut my gearstick and welded in an extra bit, using a piece I cut off from a socket driver extension, as that's fairly close in diameter to the gearstick rod (which is 11mm). I prefer that to chopping the boots or cutting the floor that some other people do, but not saying this is the right way, just the way I preferred. This way you keep about the same height as original.

If you're going to cut and weld the stick, just make sure you keep the angles right, by marking / scribing the stick before you cut it so you can keep the same line. The first job I did ended up with first gear just about out of reach and right up against the radio face! Redid it on the weekend and now it's all good, except for the very bottom boot which just touches it on reverse and also touches on the transfer lever in H2. I will just very lightly trim the big round holes in this boot. The others are fine.

Also handy to have is soap pump pack thingy that you can lube the sticks with to slide those really tight boots up. As Corindi said, the boots are more there for sound and heat insulation. When I took my boots off I found very little mud, just mould. I guess the gearbox itself blocks most of the crud that the tyres throw up. But you definitely need the boots, unless you want to go deaf and die of heatstroke, especially with the old 3L motor.

[eMOJO]

As the guys have said above... I cut the centre cross section out of the metal plate that holds the first boot down and also had to heat and reshape the stick.

All the details are in my build thread.

Cheers
E

[bedrockmeat]

Thanks Guys, great advice.

Its in the shop now being modified.

Cheers