Trd Quick Shifter - Corolland: the Toyota Corolla Forums

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this forum and live in Chicago, Illinois. I own a 5-speed 1999 Toyota Corolla LE. My first mod was the installation of a TRD quick shifter kit. I had previously driven my friend’s 2004 Acura TSX and my Brother’s 2005 Mazda 3s and liked the smooth short throws on both of these shifters. Therefore, I decided to change my stock shifter. However, after installing and driving with the TRD quick shifter, I noticed it was hard to put the car into 1st gear, from 1st to 2nd gear and 2nd to 3rd gear. Overall, the feeling isn’t smooth at all. It feels like I am grinding gears (stiff). The throw is shorter by about 15% - 20% percent; however I don’t think this compensates for the horrible feel when shifting gears. I was wondering if anyone else had a similar experience with the TRD quick shifter and if they found a solution to alleviate the problem. The kit did not come with instructions, so I installed the aluminum bushings in between the shifter housing and the bolt mounting holes on the sheet metal of the center console area. Is this right? What can I do to make shifting gears smoother? Should I buy a different shifter or bushings?

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You could try different bushings - like the rubber ones on the stock shifter. Unfortunantly - most short shifts will give you that tight, notchy feeling - some people like that, some don't. Also you have to run it in a bit - break in the new shifter - might feel terrible now - but will loosen up after some time and start to make sense.

I've used TWM shifters in the past - really short, really low and I notice that it was much harder to shift, since the leverage I got from the OEM shifter was decreased with the shorter shifter - but switching to a weighted knob and waiting until it was fully broken in - made it feel much better than stock.

You're also comparing an Acura and Mazda to a Corolla shifter - I've always noticed the Corollas are bit "looser" and might not take a short shifter well.

I would try swapping the bushings out first or at least lubing the bushing that you have in there now. You might also want to check the shift control cables - makes ure that you don't have any binding or too much freeplay in the cables. Can't tell you if they need to be loosened to tightened up - a good shop manual should tell you the amount of cable freeplay - you might end up loosening one and tightening up the other.

Good Luck.

Would a synthetic manual transmission fluid improve shift quality with a short throw shifter?

I am using Specialty Formulations MTL-R 75W-90 (http://specialtyformulations.com/index_file/product/mltr.htm) synthetic in my 05, but I didn't notice a wild improvement in shifting over the old fluid. Of course, the old fluid was still brand new.

Probably not - but it might make it easier on you in colder weather for general shifting. Most of the extra effort in shifting with short shifter is with leverage issues. Even the better made shifters that reduce throw but not overall height still have less leverage than the standard fare that usually comes with the car.

Thanks for your reply fishexpo101. I will try changing to the rubber bushings this weekend. default_cool

Make sure the base shifter plate is in the same location it was before you started. If you are acually grinding gears, I'd either find a fix or swap back.

Are the shifter cables adjustable? If so, I might be able to point you to some directions that may help you. It's for another car, but the ideal should be the same.

you know, i've been having the same problem. my stock shifter feels notchy and gets stuck in-between shifts so i often miss-shift. i noticed that when i tried to move the shift control arms on the tranny, the arms do not align right. say i move one arm over and try to move the other one from side to side, i need to wiggle it to get it to move from one position to the other. it seems like they are not aligned right. i'm gonna try to adjust the cables and change the shift control arm and shifter base bushings to see if it makes a difference. maybe this is a common problem??

Would a synthetic manual transmission fluid improve shift quality with a short throw shifter?
I am using Specialty Formulations MTL-R 75W-90 (http://specialtyformulations.com/index_file/product/mltr.htm) synthetic in my 05, but I didn't notice a wild improvement in shifting over the old fluid. Of course, the old fluid was still brand new.

I would try Penzoil Synromesh transmission fluid. Also, make sure you installed it right. If you are having trouble shifting after the install, it sounds like something is out of wack.

I installed the TRD quickshifter in my 01 LE. It's been working great haven't had a single problem with it for 5,000 miles now. I just examined the stock shifter before I removed it. I made mental notes and installed the quickshifter with same stock aluminum bushings and other hardware required. It's disappointing that the quickshifter didn't come with directions.

In your case it sounds like something isn't installed correctly. Fishexpo has a good point--check the bushings.

In fact, you should probably spend some time to look everything over to make sure nothing is loose, etc.

Also, I have tried regular and synthetic gear oils. There was no difference in shifting smoothness or tranny performance.

well i figured it out.

try this: when youre going about 30 or so hold the clutch and try to put the shifter in 1st - wont work, but you can muscle it in there(just dont release the clutch your motor will die) - its the way that the transmission is designed. you have to muscle it to get it into gear especially if youre downshifting. How do i know? my dad just bought an 06 corolla and its the same thing on his and his is brand new and hard to shift. I wish there was something we could do to get smooth high-end car shifts but its just not possible. So if you get a quickshifter expect some muscle to go into your shifts.

I would look for an aftermarket slave cylinder and replace it. I had this problem in a different car and it turned out that the shifter is working faster that the slave can componsate. This deffinetly changed how it felt.

well i figured it out.try this: when youre going about 30 or so hold the clutch and try to put the shifter in 1st - wont work, but you can muscle it in there(just dont release the clutch your motor will die) - its the way that the transmission is designed. you have to muscle it to get it into gear especially if youre downshifting.

1st gear at 30 (I assume mph) won't kill the engine... but it'll be just about redline. The reason you can't get it into first gear easily is because the gear you're moving would need to go from perhaps 2000 rpm to 6500 rpm to so do. Doing that is the synchro's job but the corolla isn't exactly a racing car so the synchros aren't all that great. You should be able to do it by double clutching though (which is always a good idea for hard downshifts).

Nooo! don't try and put it in 1st gear at 30mph! you will screw the synchro! If you must do it, then double clutch it--gear in neutral, clutch out, rev to ~5000, clutch in, gear into 1st, clutch out, keep revs at 5000 unless you want some serious engine braking!

As for your stiff shifting problem, could it simply be that the stick is shorter, hence you have less leverage and need to apply more force??