Toyota Repair: 89 5-speed truck, earlist, shift mechanism

Question
Hi Ted,
I was hoping you might be able to give me some possible causes of my transmission problem. I have an '89 toyota pickup with a 5speed manual and 22-re engine with 160,000. I just got it last week and have only driven it a few days.  It started poping out of third gear the other day, usually right after it shifted into third and the cluth engaged, but it has also poped out while trying to drive in third gear after letting up on acceleration and getting back on it.
It does not grind while shifting into gear, and you can feel in the shifter that it is not engaging fully into third gear. it seems like all the top gears (1-3-5) do not feel like they engage as far as the lower gears (2-4-R).
I was hoping there is something in the shift mechanism that might cause this so it would be an easy fix and not going to the junkyard looking for another transmission.
Thank you so much for your time and look forward to your response at your earlist convenience.
Justin

Answer
The shifter bushings are probably worn, remove the console and then the shifter, remove the small shift boot and push down and turn the silver retainer, this will compress the spring and by turning it release the shifter from the shift tower.
There are two bushings, if you are going to do this yourself get the parts from the toyota dealer before starting work, there is a small bushing at the end of the shifter and what looks like a ring made from teflon that goes inside the shift tower. This ring may have disintegrated.
Let me know if replacing the bushings solved the problem.