The 4.88 mega thread!!

Hey guys, making this thread primarily because of a lack of available information regarding 4.88 gears for the 3rd gens. Hopefully all the have done it can also chime in to share their experience/stories so that those who are looking to make this upgrade can get some good information from those of us who have done it.

I made the change back in April and wanted to gather as much data as possible in order to determine the true benefits. Part of that data collection meant running the truck in multiple configurations, i.e. with RTT, fully loaded with bikes, gear and RTT, no RTT, long road trips, low elevation, high elevation etc, you get the point..

Please note, fuel economy will vary based on your location, elevation, setup etc. But, my goal was to try and eliminate some of the guess work as this upgrade is most definitely a bit of a financial commitment.

Now, on to my setup; Truck as it stands today.... 2017 TRD OR 4x4, DCSB. I am running an Icon stage 6 lift in the front and Icon stage 2 RXT in the rear. Tires are E rated 285/75 R17 Toyo MT. I have sliders, aluminum skids and a winch as well as a host of lights. While I have tried to keep the weight of the add ons low, it is added weight nonetheless. When I put the Toy MT's on, I new that I had to get gears. just wasn't an option anymore. Truck hunted for gears, had horrible fuel economy and generally was a bit of a chore to drive. So, knowing that gears need to be setup properly, there was only one shop near me that I trusted enough to tackle the project, SDHQ Offroad. These guys are a premier shop with an unmatched commitment to quality, so they were the obvious choice for me.

In the early stages of doing my research, Serena at SDHQ mentioned that they have all of the gear sets that they install REM polished prior to installation. So, I dug a little deeper into the process. Find out more here; https://weddleindustries.com/services/house-rem-polishing-process-weddle-industries

In a nutshell, REM polishing strengthens the gear-sets while also effectively eliminating the standard break in procedure, which was a huge bonus for me considering I didn't necessarily have the time to work the the proper heat cycles, oil changes and the like. If you do gears, I would highly recommend having this done. As an added note, SDHQ has Nitro 4.88's in stock, already REM Polished and ready to ship for both the e-locker and non e-locker differentials.

Onto my observations; Overall, the truck is vastly improved, accelerates easily from a stop, keeps RPM's low and more importantly, doesn't hunt for gears anymore, like at all.. Cruising on the freeway at 80 mph, my RPM's hover just above 2k while the truck is parked in sixth gear. And when I stomp on the skinny pedal, the truck moves. Just has a lot more get up and go than it ever did in stock form.

Next up, MPG's. Here I am going to post multiple scenarios to give somewhat of a cross section as to what to expect.

I live in Scottsdale AZ. at an elevation under 2k feet and on average I see 18 to 19 mpg with mixed highway and around town driving. That's without the tent because I do not keep in on all of the time. With the tent on, driving around town I see about a half a mile per gallon drop.

I do travel to higher ground to go camping or mountain biking etc. Take for example Flagstaff, AZ. Sits a bit of 6k in elevation so it's a bit of a climb getting up there. With just bikes, I see about 17 mpg going up the hill and about 16 with tent, bikes and a few hundred pounds in camping gear.

Now onto even higher elevations. I took two road trips to Colorado this summer, Crested Butte, Ouray, Durango, Telluride, Aspen and Winter Park. Up there, I was seeing approximately 20 to 22 mpg which was awesome, and another indicator that I need to move to CO!! Ha ha.. That was just bikes, no tent.

Truck has no problem hitting 90 plus mph, even loaded down and again, revs stay low unless I am really on it trying to pass someone.

So highway driving is cool and all, but what about offroad..... Well, on my most recent trip I really got to put it to the test tackling Pearl Pass from Crested Butte to Aspen. Definitely not an easy trail and there are a few sections where 4lo and the locker got a workout. With the 4.88's in 4 low, wow, truck has torque and can easily get itself up and over rocks with very little driver input, similarly, on steep, long hillclimbs, the truck walks right up without having to put your foot to the floor. So from a trail perspective, gears really were a HUGE improvement in the trucks performance.


If you couldn't tell by now, I am more than happy with my decision to take the leap and go to 4.88's. I use my truck and use it often so I wanted it to be comfortable and enjoyable both around town and on long road trips and the gears definitely achieved that goal.

One thing is for certain, if you go this route, choose a shop that KNOW's WHAT THEY ARE DOING and does gears frequently, I cannot stress that enough. Further, if I were to do this again, I would again choose to go with the REM polishing for that added piece of mind. As I stated previously, if you want to eliminate the guesswork, you can order pre REM Polished 4.88's directly from SDHQ. They are on the shelf and ready to ship..

** Another thing to note is that you will need to recalibrate your speedometer. Mine was WAY off, so I quickly picked up the Hypertech In Line Speedo Recalibration devise and that solved the problem. Speedo is dead accurate now**

Now I guess we can open this up to discussion. Other that have gears, @JTS2014TACO @Lord Humongous please feel free to weigh in and share your experiences. I would have loved to have had an in depth opinion on gears when I made the jump, but that info just wasn't really out there. Hopefully this helps anyone that is on the fence. I cannot thank @SDHQ OFFROAD enough for their impeccable work, guidance and service through this whole thing. I am very picky with who I let work on my truck but I trust them 200% to do anything to it...

 

Good write up. Couldn't explain it better. I'm on 35s though so my MPG numbers are quite less but otherwise solid post.

 

Already another thread on this.

I'll add instead of REM you can have your gears cryo'd. Cryo'd gears last twice as long and are almost twice as strong. I would prefer 5.29 gears but never going to happen. Will stick with 4.88

 

Moderator - any chance of adding these to the existng 4.88 thread and making a Sticky?

 

This was the thread I was thinking of.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/installed-4-88-gears-in-my-2016.455190/

 

okay I don't know squat about REM or Cryo'd processes or what shops offer this service. What is the additional cost to a set of 4.88's for this. References for purchasing?

 

http://www.procryo.com

Price will vary but sub $100. You can probably find a lab or university to do it as well.

You can also cryo brake rotors and pads, trans gears, R&P, all kinds of stuff

 

Awesome thread! I love the gears and definitely have a lot of positive feedback. So happy I had it done before this trip. I have almost 4K miles of towing and trails on them in the last two and half weeks with no issues. Ill definitely spend some more time and organize a better review once I get back home.

 

Thanks Jerry! Good information i am just about to the point i need to have the gears done. So there is no break in period? That would be a huge benefit for me as my truck is my daily driver.

 

Thanks for doing the write up on this @JerryTaco you hit the nail on the head. I love my 4.88s and I would recommend them to anyone looking and @SDHQ OFFROAD is the place to do it at if you are local in Arizona.

 

Happy to help and sorry that this thread is a repeat of another. I should have searched a bit more.

Yeah, the REM polishing pretty much wipes out the traditional break in period which is awesome. SDHQ did do some heat cycling before they gave me the truck back but that was it. I was free to drive it like normal after that. I did change the fluid once but that's just good practice after a gear swap.

It is worth noting and something I forgot to post, after the gears my Speedo was way off. So, I used the Hypertech Speedo recalibrator and now it's dead on

 

Subbed. I almost purchased my gears but will purchase the REM Polished gears instead.

 

@JerryTaco i know we were talking for a while regarding the re gearing but i had heard the SPORT and the OR had bearing size differences in Nitros gearing rebuild kits and was causing chatter in SPORTS due to the kits utilizing the OR bearing size... just curious if you or anyone had heard of this issue coming up and or the fix... i would hate to spend almost $4K on a regear/labor and have to pull it apart again for chatter issues.

 

I haven't heard of that issue but I'll look into it. Kind of weird though because the OR and Sport or different rear ends so I would think that the gears and install kits are different as well.

I'll see if I can get some answers for you tomorrow

 

yeah you would think but with this whole re gearing on 3gens being kind of new still its almost like a trial and error unfortunately so I'm hoping to being some of these things to light for people so "all" information is out there to prevent issues for people aka me in the future lol

 

Very nice write up OP. Good info, and a re-gear sounds like it would help alot of people.

 

Thank you! It's definitely hard to articulate what a difference it made, but the truck is just so much easier and enjoyable to drive. Acceleration is easy, holds speed without issue, cruise control works great now and it holds gear. Plus the added torque is very noticeable both in town but especially off-road with 4wd.


And @Danactive I have a call into SDHQ and they are doing some digging on the bearing question. Chatter could obviously be caused by improper gear setup too. Nitro is by no means new to the game so I wouldn't think they'd offer the wrong install kit, but who knows. Will get some answers for you shortly.

 

Hi, forgive me if my question is stupid, but can you describe the acceleration a little bit more? Does your Tacoma accelerate faster with the regear? And when you had original gearing, what was your mpg compared to now after regearing? Lastly, if its ok to post, how much did labor cost to install these gears? Thanks!

 

If you get nitro gears head up to Baltimore and have witzendfab do install. Talk to kenny. He quoted me $1100 and did a solid job

 

@CaliDevilDoc could have been $1200 I forget