Saving Private RPM
A short introduction here. My daily driver is a 1996 Toyota Rav4, 2-door, 5-speed, 4-wheel drive. Manual locks. Crank windows. No sunroof. ABSOLUTE bottom of the barrel base model. I love this car to bits. It is hands down my favorite car I’ve owned, and its a great car to run around in. It’s old, it has it’s fair share of clunks, rattles, dents, noises, etc. Those I can deal with. But there’s one thing that’s a bit more integral to the car that I have always wanted to change.
The first-gen Rav4 was never designed for speed. It is shaped like an eroded brick, has a wheelbase too short for its own good, and has an anemic 2.0 4-cylinder 3S-FE engine that was rated at 120hp when brand new. (and this one has 200,000 miles on it). Being marketed as a pretty decent off-roader, it was sold with very short gears. The E250F transmission was factory installed with a very short 4.933 final drive, and shorter gears than most of the other Toyota E series transmissions. I like the short final drive, and an extra short first gear makes this a great crawler. But this is my daily. I drive this 240 miles a week, mostly on the freeway. At 80 miles per hour, and in 5th gear, this engine turns nearly 4000rpm. (and still manages 24mpg).
Cue the research. The E250F has a .775 5th gear. Many other E series (including the E153 in my MR2) have a .731 5th gear. Now, this is great news, except that there are two types of E series transmissions, narrow case and wide case. (There are 4 types but that isn’t important here for this discussion). The high torque applications, that being V6 or forced induction applications, got wide cases. Cars like the Camry V6, MR2 Turbo, Celica GT-Four, etc. The narrow transmissions are for lower torque applications, mostly NA 4cyls. Like the Rav4, Scion tC, Matrix XRS, 2.4L Camry, the list goes on. Browsing the wiki pages about the E transmission will leave you finding one thing: the E351 from a 2AZ Camry. This is a narrow case transmission with a .731 5th gear, and that looks to be the best case scenario to lengthen 5th gear on this green machine.
So I knew there was a good chance it would fit, but not for certain. There are many changes to the E series, far too many to get into here, so its definitely possible that this Camry 5th gear won’t fit the Rav4. Doing some more research, I noticed the E350 from the first gen Scion tC also has a .775 gear ratio, like the Rav4. Do a little digging, and hey! The Scion tC and the Rav4 actually share a part number for 5th gear, despite being across different “generations” of E series. I know people have installed the Camry 5th into a tC, so I’m positive that this gear will work in the Rav4. So I order it.
Here we go. A 41 tooth driving gear, and a 30 tooth driven. Doing the math, 30/41 = .731, exactly what I was looking for. The Rav4 came with a 31/40 gearset, so this is just one tooth longer. For those of you playing along at home, part numbers are 33428-42020 and 33336-42020. You need a new stake nut, 90179-20012, and some Toyota transmission FIPG, 00295-01281. Order it from wherever you get the cheapest shipping, I paid somewhere around $250 all-in.
I procrastinate a bit, and I take measurements of the gears. I make a CAD model of them in case I ever want to make a custom gearset, I have the nominal gear blanks ready. In that time I do some more research. By now I’m used to seeing “5th gear repair kit for Rav4 40 tooth” and “5th gear repair kit for Camry 41 tooth”. Some suffer from 5th gear popout so that’s a regular maintenance item. In my searching I stumble on something. “5th gear repair kit for Avensis 42 tooth”.
42 tooth.
That’s different.
Avensis. That’s Europe only.
I don’t have any way to access EU parts diagrams. Well, through the official methods. Luckily sites like ToyoDIY exist that catalog international parts lists. I do some digging, and as it turns out, the Diesel Avensis was sold with an E354, which was a manual narrow case transmission… with a .690 5th gear. I knew this was it. Now, how the hell do I order the parts?
Megazip.com feels sketchy but it’s a perfectly reputable place to buy OEM parts. Luckily, they show both gears I need in stock. I order them, a fair bit pricier than the Camry parts. That makes sense, they have to upcharge to ship things internationally. I end up spending about $330 on this. Again, for those playing at home, part numbers are 33336-20090 and 33428-20080
About a month goes by. I’m worried because the other big international parts supplier (amayama) showed one of the gears as out of stock. I get a message from MegaZip. The parts were delayed, but they are available. Big relief. A while goes by, and I finally get the parts.
Those of you with keen eyes will notice the 29 and 42 teeth, so you know it’s a different picture than earlier. Or the Japanese text gives it away. Why did my EU only parts come from Japan anyway?
Minutes after FedEx drops these on my door, I start the install. Figured I’d make a bit of a walkthrough on it. Yes, it’s possible to replace without removing the transmission.
NOTE: Please check the “Write Ups” page of this website to check if there are any changes or any additional information that has come to attention.
Drain transmission. There are two (2!) 24mm drain plugs you need to remove, one is visibly draining in the picture, the other is on the bottom of the transfer case. If you have a 2wd car, you won't have a transfer case to drain. (Side note: this may be possible to do without draining the fluid, if you only jack up one side of the car. But c’mon, when was the last time you changed it? it’s time)
Remove 5th gear cover. There are 10 12mm bolts to remove. I recommend a small impact gun with an extension. There is one more 12mm bolt holding the shift fork onto the shift rod, remove that too.
Remove the 5th synchro hub C clip. Two screwdrivers, one on each end of the C, and a light tap with a mallet will pop it right off.
Remove synchro hub. I just used a harmonic balancer puller, and some M8x1.25 bolts right in the hub. Careful, the synchro may fall apart. It’s pretty obvious how it goes back together but it’s not the easiest thing to do.
5th gear is now free to come off. be careful, there are roller bearings underneath, don’t lose them. (IF YOU ARE NOT REPLACING THE DRIVEN, SKIP TO STEP 9)
Remove the staked nut. I recommend a stubby 1/2” impact gun, that makes it easy without having to double-engage the gears.
Use a gear puller to remove the driven 5th gear.
Install the new driven 5th gear. I used a big socket and a solid sledgehammer to get it all the way down.
Reinstall driving 5th, synchro hub, and shift fork. Again, big socket and hammer. Once that’s in place, reinstall the shift fork bolt (17 lb*ft), and now is a good time to install the staked nut (90lb*ft). If you need help holding the shaft in place, put the transmission in 4th gear and have a friend press the brakes HARD. Stake the nut, and then reinstall the synchro hub C clip.
Clean, FIPG, then reinstall the 5th gear cover plate. Use blue loctite on the bolts, torque to 22 lb*ft.
No pictures for this step, but refill the transmission with proper fluid. In the case of the 4wd Rav4, use GL-5 75W90 WITHOUT any LSD additive. Best oil I’ve found for this is Redline GL-5 75W90NS. HAS to be NS, not the regular 75W90. Takes 5 quarts. Just order 2x gallon containers. If your car is anything like mine you’ll want to top it off at some point.
All said and done this took me no more than two hours. It would have been shorter, but I also wanted to flush the transmission with proper GL5 fluid, so that added some time. At this point, you’re done! Drive your car with a new and improved 5th gear combination. I will add a short update in a few weeks with some new MPG averages and add any additional thoughts on this.
