TacoSTIG: PNW MT Build

Build Update: I bit the bullet and placed an order with ECGS! Their black friday sale didn't cover gearing but it helped out with the ARB goods so I decided to add a few extras to the order.
-assembled clamshell + 3rd
-Nitro 4.56 gears
-ARB front locker
-ARB dual compressor
-ARB HD Snatch Block
-ARB 2x 3/4 shackles

 

Christmas hits early this year. Big thanks to @ECGS for all the help getting me setup!

 

YEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!

 

Exciting day man! One thing I didn't consider was the break in process. Dumping new Lucas out after 500miles kinda hurts so I'm debating using cheap oil unless the break in processes benefits from using good oil. I can imagine there's a tad more friction when everything is new so it'll heat up a bit hotter than normal operating temps. This could be a reason to run the lucas from the get go, but then again it may not matter and be a waste of $. Thoughts?

 

Very exciting dude!! I mean I think I paid $8-$10 a quart so I would just go Lucas from the get go. It's what ECGS recommends and I trust them. When you break it down, it's like $15-$20 difference between the cheaper diff oil and the Lucas stuff. You love your truck, feed it the good stuff . That's just my opinion

 

Yeah you're right, 20ish extra bucks isn't bad at all. For some reason I thought the price point was vastly different. Now's really not the time to cheap out on the build, but that day is quickly approaching. Saving for a down payment is beginning to haunt my truck spending habits.

 

I nominate myself for most indecisive build of the year.

So... I made the wrong call on which gears to get. I didn't realize the folks I was using as reference were MT and even then my understanding of what I was setting myself up for was give or take wrong. From the tiresize/gear calculator I saw for more 'power' get 4.88's and for more fuel 'economy' get 4.56's. It should be known I'm a slow poke on the freeway and very rarely if ever hit 70mph on my 24mile round trip work commute. I've always correlated 'slow' with 'economy' so 4.56's sounded like the gear for me. When I saw 'power' I correlated it to going 'fast' instead of correlating it to the feeling of increased 'torque'. This is where my logic went terribly wrong. 4.56's kinda do the opposite, they enable you to go 'fast' on the freeway while maintaining lower rpms. Ah... so this is where the fuel efficiency comes from. Given my driving style, the mtn ridden area I live in, 35's, and my soon to be fully armored tacoPIG... 4.88's would have been the correct call. At the end of the day I do want the POWER being that it means it'll get my ass moving off the line and running higher rpms isn't an issue because I rarely drive the truck like a racecar.

All I can say is that I'm learning a ton, just wish this all clicked before making that expensive call to ECGS. I shamelessly spent months reading deep into the depths of BS/Build threads filled with back and forth info and somehow convinced myself that I knew what I was doing. At least now I can admit my logic was all wrong. Hopefully someone in the same debacle learns a thing or two from my mistakes. Now to face the music and figure out my options moving forward.

 

So can you get your money back/have them swap to 4.88's?

 

We'll see what they say tomorrow, it's rather shitty situation.
-Shipping back to NC,
-Disassembly,
-Reassembly,
-Restocking fee for the 4.56's (if they'll let me return installed products),
-Shipping back to WA,
-Then cores shipped back to NC.

Shipping alone is going to be at least another $300 for all the back and forths and that doesn't include the extra labor etc.
I may be better off selling on this side of the coast and reordering.

 

Sorry buddy. Hopefully they'll take it back and switch everything out for cheap or somebody will pay a fair price to take these off your hands. When I called ECGS I told them my driving style and that my truck had a lot of weight on it. So they recommended 4.88's. I haven't regretted them one single bit. I've heard from multiple people who went with 4.56 originally that thy wish they'd have gone with 4.88's. Wish it was a simple swap that you could do quickly yourself :/

 

Sooo what you are saying is you have 4.56 F&R gears and ARB front locker For Sale?

 

All that with a humble facepalm to seal the deal.

 

Thanks man, I really should have called to place my order vs doing everything online. The short chat I did have with them over the phone was great but I left out a few important questions that would have caught things from the get go.

If I do opt to send them back I'll be throwing some beer $ in the box to keep the techs from swearing my name while they rip the diffs back open. I'd be a tad peeved being in their shoes, brings me back to the years I worked in a shop. I had to uninstall a turbo kit on a kids civic two days after he picked it up from getting it installed. Even though he paid the uninstall labor it felt like I was working backwards and I do recall swearing his name. Undoing/redoing work is the worst.

All in all it's not a big deal, just glad I'm catching my mistakes now.

 

I wish I had the money bro. I'm not quite ready for gears. Sorry about your luck. Mods are like that, live and learn.

 

Well see what they say. But might be worth seeing if someone local wants to pick it up too. Id consider it but not sure if it would all fit or not or whether 4.56's would be good for me or not lol

 

I definitely hear you man. It's all a learning process. That's why these things are called builds! Cuz we are always building them up. It'll all work out bro.

 

would they fit a manual tranny? If so @dakotasyota would want them

 

That's literally excatly what I want/need. You've even got the TRD OR with the rear locker in it just like me. Ugh, I'm trying to close on a second vehicle now and I just really don't have as much money. I'm assuming you spent like $2200 right?

 

No worries and thanks bro. Live and learn sums it up, sure glad I'm catching this now vs after installing them.

Agreed, I'm sure someone out here could use them. The 3rd is for the 8" w/elocker but the front is universal.

They will..., Hey @dakotasyota

"....these are the gears you're looking for." Wait.. what happened to the 4R?!?
It came down to $2430 after core returns, Clam includes solid spacer, new bearings and cv bushings.

 

Do you accept payment plans

If @dakotasyota doesnt want them i might take it.