The 4.88 mega thread!!

Yea I never heard of it either and I’d hate to drive around with a loud humming noise. If it is super minor and not noticeable maybe I’d consider it.

 

Not a thing. REM polishing is not noisy at all. I've been running mine for well over a year and have not had a single issue and if anything, this gear set is more quiet than the factory gears. I know ECGS is a legitimate company but in this instance it sounds like their are feeding you a line of bullshit

 

One of the many benefits is reduction to harmonic vibrations and noises so it’s definitely an odd statement for them to make.

 

Feeding a line of bullshit
OR
They work on 100s if not 1,000s of gear sets that have had REM polishing done over the years and in their experience of working on all those sets a small but noticeable fraction have had noise issues. That costs them money in warranty work so they decided to not offer it anymore. Maybe they are known for being a quality company because they care about their quality control? Just cause your 1 set of gears don’t make noise doesn’t mean that the company is telling their customers bullsit.

 

Yea I’m not familiar with the process and am no gearing expert so I didn’t want to question him. I did find it weird that when I first asked them about REM polishing, they told me they used to offer it but “weren’t making money off it” since break in cycles were so easy. That’s when I offered to buy the gears from them, have them send them to be REM polished and then assemble my 3rd memeber that way I can maintain their awesome warranty. He said that sounded like it wouldn’t be a problem and said he would call me back. When he called me back today he brought up the noise issue and how they don’t warranty it because of it, and it made shy away from REM polishing, so I wanted others feedback on their gearing noises. Now I’m more confused then ever lol

 

I to have REM polished gears. Zero noise and smooth as butter.

 

The shop that installed my gears is considered "best of the best" by all local people and off-road shops. (Even ARB tech had good things to say about them.) Their take on REM polishing was that it is is a complete waste of money for non-race applications. They did the three initial 20-min heat cycles themselves, and then said to drive normally (ie. don't abuse it) and not tow anything for 500km - that's it.

Food for thought.

--

Granted, they did mess up something quite critical during my installation, but I believe that was an honest mistake and not from any lack of knowledge. They also made it right in the end.

 

Who installed your gears? Wouldn’t mind the heat cycle being done for me before I pick the truck up.

 

The shop is located in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. If that's your region, shoot me a PM and I'll share the name. I don't want to post it publicly to avoid the association between the shop's name and the problems I've had, as I do believe it was a one-off event.

 

I just upgraded to 4.88s. love them!

Lloyd's Transmission and Drive for anyone in Tucson

 

Did you have 4.30 in there already?

 

yes, i have the 6MT so i had 4.30. just sold them yesterday!

 

I’m on basically stock size Cooper tires and like the 4.30 gear.

Enjoy the upgrade, from a fellow Wildcat 1989-1993

 

Well, all the more reason to have them REM polished. If you’re going to do it, then go balls deep.

 

Yup, I bought mine REM polished and have no noise issues whatsoever.

 

Everything we do is a waste of money.

 

Did you bring your own gears, or do they sell the gears for the Tacomas? i am in socal and looking for a reliable shop to get mine done.. Thanks,

 

Speak for yourself. My lightbars are AN INVESTMENT!!!1111one!!!!

 

I had the shop source gears from Nitro. I figure letting them get a bit of profit is worth being able to have them fix any potential problem later on. They can also get an ARB locker if you need it.
David

 

I'm sure you'd like to think that I based my statement off of a single use case however it's quite the contrary. I am by no means new to gearing, off roading, rock crawling and off road racing applications. I have seen a ton of trucks do REM polishing, none of which reported any noise. Of the applications I've seen REM polishing on, which are many, none had issues, at all, ever.

Perhaps their stance is more of a financial one in that it's not as profitable for them to offer the service. After all, it requires them to purchase more gear sets so that they can ship them off to a third party which takes time, meaning they cannot sell what they dont have in stock. Perhaps it was a supply chain issue for them? Hard to say but the science of REM polishing would indicate that the its outcome would actually reduce noise by smoothing out all surface areas.