[Maddog 03]

Took my 06 TRD Sport DC in on 7-01-06 for the notorious transmission shudder and the ever-present vibration at speeds from 50-70 mph.
Service mgr. advised that RF & LR wheels were out of balance, causing the vibration. Drove the truck home...vibration still there as before. Back to the drawing board.
BUT....the service mgr. advised when I got there, that the "shudder" in the transmission was "torque converter lock-up" and that it was "normal" (I was afraid he would say that). But after having the truck on the rack for 2 hours, he returned and said that Toyota had been investigating the shudder and abnormal shift patterns of the Tacomas, and were coming out with a "fix" in the next week or two. I was then asked to come into the service area and school 2 of the techs on the air intake fix that causes a loud vibration when backing up on a cold start, that I had fixed on my truck.
As I spoke with the older tech, he said that he personally owned an 06 Tacoma with the same problematic transmission, and he had just returned from a school by Toyota, and at present, they are looking at issuing a TSB regarding the transmissions. The planned fix will possibly include installing a new (different?) torque converter, flushing the transmission fluid, and possibly a re-flash to adjust the shift points of the transmission. Toyota will reportedly advise dealers of the procedures by the 14th of July.
So...for those "naysayers" that choose to criticize folks that claim to have problems with this truck, understand that there ARE some problems inherent to many of the new Tacomas, and Toyota is beginning to acknowledge such.
Now....will Toyota make things right? Time will tell.