Anyone still running a B&M Short Shifter On Their Taco ?

The B&M Shifter came to market in 2006-2007 and was discontinued by 2008. Not enough interest, too costly to manufacture? Both? Who knows why.

URD and TRD appears to be the two main units that are readily available now days.

Curious if anyone [still] has a B&M shifter in their Taco after multiple years of use now that the unit's have been discontinued for more than 8 years.

Looking for some user feedback late in the game...

Thanks.

 

I saw a lot of thread about the URD shifter breaking after a few thousand miles when I looked into it. Decided to stay with the stock shifter.

 

My stock shifter broke at the ball as well last month.

There are a few documented incidents on the forums with Stock / URD/ and TRD units.


Supposedly the B&M and Hurst units are a solid 1 piece from my understanding. I've not seen one in person to confirm. Would like to source a B&M shifter, but if I am unable to I will go with a Hurst unit since they are still in production / available.

 

I can tell you the B&M has a solid one piece shaft.

The ball at the bushing end of the transmission is a different size that TRD and OEM.

Finding parts is difficult. I have some tip bushings for the B&M.

The problem with all of the shifters is they taper down to the ball. At that junction is the weak spot in the shifter.

 

This is the lower end of a B&M shifter.

 

@Coupe Thanks for the information,

You seem to have had a lot of experience with various shifters -- Have you had the B&M, URD, and TRD, side by side? Any pro's or cons you can point out ( aside from the B&M having a non-standard bushing size / ball?)

Also, do you have an experience with the Core/Hurst shifter for the Gen 2 as well?

What are your thoughts?

 

I have not had experience with the Hurst shifters for a Tacoma.

I have used all of the other shifters and modified versions of the B&M, TRD, URD and modified stock.

The odds of finding a B&M are slim, but they do pop up for sale on XRU and ebay. There is an internal spring retainer clip that would occasionally break. Other than that pretty solid shifter. It will be noisy compared to stock.

For the money, an URD SS with a modified OEM shifter stalk is hard to beat for the performance for the price. It will be a little bitchey to put into reverse. If you use it with a unmodified shifter stalk it will be quiet.

A Stock TRD will shift like an URD, but will be quiet like stock. It will also be shorter than the URD with an OEM shifter stalk. The TRD has internal rubber bushings that wear out like stock and will get wobbly. (This is something I can fix). I think it is a little easier to put into reverse than an URD. This also cost more than the URD, but you do not have a bolt on extension on the bottom of the shifter.

If I was on a budget, I would use one of my modified OEM stalks with an URD SS. This will shift firmer than stock and because the core is filled with polyurethane epoxy, it will shifter firm (like a B&M or a welded shifter). It will be noisier than stock, but quieter than a B&M. I can also cut this down to a shorter shifter. 2wd OEM shifters are 11" from the bend. 4wd OEM shifters are 11 1/2" from the bend. I can make these 9 1/2" or 8 1/2". I recommend 9 1/2".

If I had a little more money to spend, I would use one of my modified TRD SS. This will shift better than stock TRD because the core is filled with polyurethane epoxy, it will shifter firm (like a B&M or a welded shifter). It will be noisier than stock, but quieter than a B&M. I can also cut this down to a shorter shifter.

While I have modified several B&M shifters and they shift nicely, I like the TRD modified better.

As you have mentioned there are some cases of the OEM & TRD shifter breaking off the ball. I have installed and modified many, but have only seen one case of this. I am not questioning that it happens, I just think the statistics for failure are small.



In this pic, from left to right.

1. Modified OEM shifter, filled with polyurethane cut down to 8 1/2"
2. Modified OEM shifter, filled with polyurethane cut down to 8 1/2"
3. Modified OEM shifter, filled with polyurethane cut down to 9 1/2"
4. Modified TRD shifter, filled with polyurethane at stock TRD height of 9 1/2"
5. Modified TRD shifter, filled with polyurethane at stock TRD height of 9 1/2"
6. Modified OEM B&M shifter, filled with polyurethane cut down to 9 1/2"

This next pic shows the bottom end of a stock OEM shifter on the left and a TRD SS shifter on the right.



The TRD has a longer extension. This is what makes it shift with a shorter throw.

When you install an URD SS, you put an extension on the stock OEM shifter to make it longer.


This is a crappy pic, but it shows the URD extension on a modified OEM shifter stalk. This was my first shifter to be modified.


This pic shows two (2) B&M shifters. Top is modified, bottom is stock.

 

Thank you for your information! your post alone has more information in it than ALL of the related posts I've seen / read to date (and I read A LOT of back posts on this forums regarding the shifters!).

I'm still holding out for a B&M for the time being... We'll see how desperate I get.

The shifter I got from a junkyard this month ( after the ball on my other broke off) is still very hard to shift into reverse. Everything else shifts much better than with the one with the failing / failed ball.

Is there any sort of fine placement or adjustment to the shifters when installing them that could help rectify this issue?

 

Not that I am aware of.

I do not know if you have changed your transmission oil recently. If not, use a Redline MT-90 or Royal Purple.

 

my son has a 2007 X runner , he has this b & M shifter in his truck , we have been having problems with it shifting into gears smoothly , after taking his shifter apart I found it had this shifter , and I was going to replace the bushings on it and the lower plastic piece as well . I ordered the small plastic piece from Toyota yesterday , Do you think that white plastic piece will fit on the shifter without any problems ?
And I have found a video on you tube and the guy is saying the problem with the shifting is clutch release problem ,our truck is hard getting into gear when stopped getting it into 1 st or sometimes when driving grinding into gear , any thoughts ?

 

I can tell you that the Toyota bushing will not fit the B&M shifter. I have modified several of these and the ball of the B&M shifter is smaller that the Toyota. I have a couple of these left. I will sell them for $20 each (shipping included).

 

do you think This could be the problem with the shifting into gear smoothly ? I didn't think ours was that bad , but what do you think from the photo I loaded

 

Looking at the picture, the bushing does not look that bad. I do not think that is your problem.

I would start with replacing the transfluid. I would use redline or royal purple. It is easy and cheap to do.

 

X2 on the redline.. I use redline mt90

 

Did you ever figure out the problem I’m having the same
Issue. I also have a b&m short shifter

 

Does anyone know if the threads are the same on the b&m vs stock? Or if you know what the thread size is for either?

B&m is having a sale on their tacoma short shifter(under 300) if anyone's interested. I just picked one up, waiting till the weekend to install it.

 

I went and checked the website, the design they are selling is a different design from the one they used to sell.

 

That's a bummer. Would you happen to know if it's better, worst, or just different? I guess it doesn't matter either way since I already bought it. Lol.

Will update once I drive it around for a while.

 

I do not have any experience with the new design.

 

Was going through some old pictures I took when installing my short shifter and realized something that I missed at the time. It looks to me like I'm missing a chunk of metal. Can anyone please confirm this normal or did I have bad luck? I didn't see anything sitting in the well.