Regear a 5 lug?

The truck below is mine, 2010 2.7L access cab, 5 lug, 4 speed auto.



I have recently relocated to Hot Springs Arkansas and find myself downshifting to third on uphills. I haven't brought my boat up here yet, but am worried how it the Taco will do towing the boat in the hills around here. Also, the highways around here are 55mph except for the interstate of course (which I don't drive much), and a short bypass that is 65 mph.



Thinking about a re-gear but I don't even know what the stock gearing is on these, much less what else is available. Also don't know how a re-gear would affect the speedo and computer?

Has anyone done this?

 

Plenty of people have, you have 4.10s. There is a local member here with a 5 lugger and 4.88s and he is very satisfied, your mpgs will drop of course but it will pull like a v8. Also there is a piggy back module you can use to recalibrate your speedo although I'm not sure you need it for just gears. Someone else will chime in with a good answer I'm sure. Good luck.

 

For 2005+ 5-lug trucks, the automatic transmission trucks have 3.58 and the manual transmission trucks have 3.31 gearing in the rear end. The next higher ratio available is 3.73 which is what comes in the 2005+ V6 trucks. Then there are 4.10 gears which come in the 2005+ 4wd/Prerunner 4 cylinder trucks. 4.56 and 4.88 are available from aftermarket retailers like East Coast Gear Supply or Randy's Ring and Pinion. Dakota Digital makes an electronic box that adjusts the speedo to be correct, although I'm not sure if it works for the odometer.

I regeared my 5-lug manual to 4.10's after lifting and larger tires. I replaced the speedo gear with one from a 4 banger 4x4/prerunner to correct the speedo and odometer. I don't know if you can do that with automatics. I haven't had any adverse affects and it's been about 2 years since I did the swap.

 

The model code on my truck is TRN225L-CRPDKA

Did a search online and found that it has the 3.58 ratio axle

The 4.10 gears sound like they would do what I want. Couple of questions.

Are the rear gears in the 5 lug axles the same as the six lugs from the Pre Runners and 4x4's?

Will the 4.10 gears work on the stock carrier? This won't always work on Ford and Chevy trucks.

 

To my knowledge the rear axle spline count is the same. I'm not sure if 4.10 gears will fit in the stock housing or on the stock carrier. I was lucky enough to find a complete third member for my regear. It had been built for a Sequoia. The axles slid in no problem but the pinion flange on the Sequoia is different so I had to have that swapped out. I'd call East Coast Gear Supply and talk with them. Sometimes they have used 4.10 ring and pinion gears for sale. I think they could build a third for you to swap.

 

Good friend of mine is parts and service manager at a Fort Worth Toyota dealership. He's going to check it out for me, including the speedo and computer issues.

 

Easier. Not cheaper. Once fuel hits $6 a gallon you may recoup the cost in a few years or so. Most likely not. To make sense financially once fuel, tires, insurance, etc are factored in - you'd probably need to trade in the truck for two vehicles. One a cheap tow rig and your daily driver be a 2002 Civic (which is a good vehicle).

Put all the cost in a spreadsheet. There will be a point in which it reaches a critical mass over a period of time.

I'd first try towing the boat. Just take it easy. If it's ok get a transmission cooler. If not regear with a transmission cooler too. Consider a LCE header for more torques. It can't hurt even when you're on the hills without your boat.

I'm just guessing in my head with round numbers. If gas currently cost you $.14 a mile, it may go to $.18 with a regear. I don't know how much a regear cost but let's say it's $1000. If a cheap tow rig cost $5000, you'd need to drive 100,000 miles to break even on gas alone. It'll get worse when other items are included. The tow rig is going to get worse mileage and may not make it 100,000 miles of towing. These are just round numbers. Put yours in a spreadsheet. $4000 will buy a lot of gas.

First tow the boat but take it easy. You want to make good decisions before you spend money. Go from there.

 

#1 I wouldn't buy any Obama Motors money pit with YOUR money.

And there are other reasons that I like this Tacoma. It sits low, low enough that my 5 foot nothing wife can access stuff in the bed. Try that with almost any other pickup. My son has a 4x4 Taco double cab, I'm not willing to trade my 25-28 mpg for his 18-20.

#2 You assume that a re-gear automatically means worse gas mileage. That is not necessarily true.

Years ago, we had a GMC Safari van, and my buddy had a nearly identical Chevy Astro van. Same year model, same drive train, except that mine had a 3.42 rear end and my buddies had a 3.73. His van got consistently BETTER gas mileage than mine, once we even drove both vans on a trip and they got 2-3 mpg better mileage than we did, at the exact same conditions.

If I do re-gear the truck and don't like it, all I have to do to change back is to bump the tires up a size or two.

Towing the boat in third gear netted 18 mpg the only time I've towed it far enough to figure mileage.

#3 My boat weighs 2100 pounds, tow capacity is 3500. That means the boat is 60% of the tow capacity of my Tacoma. The 2.7L motor is a great motor, but nothing runs at it's best being lugged all the time. Also, almost any full size truck with a tow package runs a lower rear end ratio. If I can do the same, why shouldn't I?

At 55 mph in OD my truck is turning 1800 rpms. 63 mph is 2000 rpms. The speed limit around here is 55 mph, and I drive 60mph on these roads. I rarely drive on the interstate or anywhere over 60 mph, maybe 1 or 2 % of my mileage is above 60 mph. I can't see where I'll be taking a big hit in gas mileage to re-gear.

As far as resale value, that's really not a concern either as it will be a very high mileage vehicle when I get rid of it.

 

Do the math on virtually any transaction that involves buying a different vehicle to save money on gas.

It's almost impossible to recoup the extra costs.

20+ years ago I went the other way, I had a 2 year old '87 Ford Ranger, I traded it for a '77 Ford F-100 that was paid for an didn't require full coverage insurance. The Ranger got 25 mpg and the F-100 got 10.

Either the difference in insurance costs OR the difference in property tax paid the difference in fuel costs for a year, never mind that I wasn't making payments anymore.

Yes, gas was cheaper then, but so were the trucks. The Ranger cost about $4000 and the F-100 was $1000.

 

I've owned mostly full sized Chevy trucks through the years, and I never even gave bed height a thought when I bought my 5-lug, but the low bed has turned out to be one of my favorite things about it - and I'm 6'. Very convenient.

 

Well it turns out that I was worried about nothing.

Today was the big day, I towed the boat from Fort Worth to Hot Springs, a little over 350 miles. Toyota got the gearing pretty much right on this one, I might go a little lower on the rear gear, but not much.

I towed in 3rd gear (4spd auto) at 65-67 mph.

No problems on any hills on the interstate.

I was able to run in cruise control, but I would shut it off on long uphill stretches so it wouldn't downshift to 2nd.

I averaged 16.7 mpg for the trip.

Once I got off the interstate in Arkansas, I had some steeper hills to contend with. No problem, I was going slower now, max of 60 mph and other than being slow to accelerate, no problems at all.

All my worries about the 4 cylinder Taco were over nothing, it did great.