4.88 re gear in a gen 1

Sorry guys total newb here. Am wanting to put 4.88 gears in my 03 3.4l 5speed. Not having alot of luck finding accounts from people who have done it. Just looking for some real world accounts if possible. Or if there is a thread going could I be pointed towards that please. Thanks.

 

I have them in my 95 3.4 manual... what would you like to know?

 

I assume you're looking to regear because you have, or will have, larger tires.

I would first determine what gearing you have now. Look on your driver's door sticker for a code, something like A03A or something like that. Decode using the link below.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oem-gear-ratio-chart.365138/

Once you know what gears you have now, you can start playing around with different gear ratios to closely match what you have now. Or make adjustments if you want lower than stock gearing, etc...


https://www.marlincrawler.com/differential/ring-pinion

Might check this out, too. Seems like pretty good info.
https://www.roundforge.com/articles/410-456-488-529-what-gears-should-you-get-your-toyota/

 

Well allenfab, my truck is like a mini service truck. I'm a caretaker of several estates and have to bounce back and forth between them, so I do a fair amount of on road driving. But once I get to the estates I travel tons of gravel and fire roads. I currently have 4.10 and 265/75r16. Am curious if it is a noticeable jump in gearing or relatively minor? I want to have a little more grunt but don't want to over gear too much. Just wondering how you like your setup? Anything you might have done different?

 

Thanks jbrandt, I have no desire to go with bigger tires than I have, just want the truck to have a little easier time while I'm off road. I don't mean rockcrawling or anything, the roads I travel are only graded once a year so they aren't too bad. But I have 500-700lbs of tools and odds and ends in the truck usually. Also I don't want to mess with the engine trying to pull out ponies that aren't there. So I'm thinking re gearing to 4.88 will be a good compromise. Never really at "highway speeds" either. Small town countryside back road driving mostly. So I'm not worried about losing top speed on a highway or anything like that.

 

Should give the 5.29 a consideration or is that too aggressive? I do want to have a very noticeable difference after this project is complete. Would hate to get done and not really notice a difference.

 

5.29 too aggressive I would say. 4.56 with 33 are about perfect with manual trans. That's what I'm running currently. I had 4.88s with auto trans and it worked great also. I think 4.88 would be a bit deep unless you plan to tow or carry alot if weight often especially on the highway.

 

I have 4:88 in my 3.4 MT. With 285s it was over geared, I'm now running 34s and it's just about perfect, still maybe slightly over geared. I would not recommend them with 265s. 4:56 max, but even that seems like overkill with the tires you're running. Just my opinion.

 

Thanks a bunch trim taco. I DO want to be a little overgeared, my "off road" time is all up or down a hill with my tools and crap in the bed. I didn't think from 4.10 to 4.56 would be that noticeable, but I have been wrong before.

 

What size tires are you running allenfab?

 

Using the marlincrawler link I posted earlier, at 65mph in 5th you run 2385rpm, 4th is 2806. Going to 4.88's you'd max out in 5th at 2832. So try driving around in 4th all the time and see if you'd be happy with 4th gear being your top speed. With 4.88's you'd be running a bit higher RPMs than your current 4th gear.

If all you have is 265/75s (same as me), I personally would not go to 4.88's. 265/75 is *barely* bigger than the stock tire size. I plan to go 4.88's when I get 33's (auto trans), but mine is also a dedicated trail truck.

 

I currently have 4.88's with 255/85R16 tires (33") and a manual 5 speed. Around town and in the hills it works great, but on the highway it strains to get much above
70-75. I don't mind because I haul heavier stuff with me camping, so I like the pep I still have with these gears. That being said, I feel that the 4.56 may have been a better choice overall for what I drive most of the time. It would restore lost power and not rob the top end quite as much. Still, I have no real complaints at all about lowering the gearing as I did. It makes the truck oh so much easier to drive in town and in the hills. Good Luck with your decision!

 

Ok Well thank you everyone. Good input, I appreciate it very much. Looks like 4.56 it is. Thanks for helping the new guy.

 

4.30s from a 3rd gen 4runner could also be an option if you have the elocker rear.

 

I know I'm a bit late, but personally, I'd go for the 4.88's. I installed them a couple years ago, and they are awesome. Here are my write-ups:

No More Lugging - Re-Gear to 4.88's and Front ARB Locker
This is the story of the actual gear replacement.

Breaking in the new gears
Gear break-in is an important step in the process.

​

 

Pretty extensive write up. How long have you had them now? Any regrets? I really want the 4.88 but a lot of forum members recommended 4.56 because I don't really want to go up into tire size. But I would consider tires if I had to.

 

I've had them for 2 years now.

They are one of the best mods I've done for on-trail. By far. And I get a lot of trails in - you can check out all the trips - on the order of 75+ nights/year to see what I mean.

Off-trail, the only "regret" I have is that MPGs on the highway are a bit hard to maintain. I average ~16-17mpg, because with a manual, I'm running at 3000K RPM at ~67mph. I'd rather be in the 2500-2700 rpm range for the best fuel economy since I drive thousands of miles on the highway to get to the places I go. But really, that's not really a regret in my book, that's just me being cheap, hahahaha. Super cheap really, since the actual cost of ~1-2mpg difference is negligible in the overall cost of maintaining a truck.

So - what I'd say is that if you see a bunch of dirt miles, and/or if you've got a heavy truck - go 4.88. If you're really just driving on pavement, then 4.56 will give you a bit better fuel economy.

 

Thanks turbodb....some good food for thought. I am 60% mountainous dirt roads with a heavy tool assortment. I do have OME heavy dakar in the rear, and 2882 coils up front. The truck rarely ever sees 65mph or greater. Since I didn't initially want to upgrade my tire size, But was looking for a very aggressive gearing I think I may try the 4.88 with a 265/75r16. In my mind(which has been wrong many times before) if the gearing proves to be too deep I could bump tire size up to maybe a 285 and mitigate the gearing a little bit. But then a question I would have, would upper A arm (total chaos with a heim) be more pertinent to retain durability of the balljoints. Again, not trying to create a rockcrawler or other such offroad vehicle. This is my daily driver "service truck". Have other trucks, but none of them fill the void a reliable toyota creates. Thanks for yours and everyone else's input. A relatively difficult descision for me personally. Just want to make A good decision the first time.( or at least try to)

 

With your described use, I'd go 4.88 for sure. I think you'll like them.

Any upper control arm (OEM, or Total Chaos, etc.) will be just fine with a 285 size tire. Quite a few guys run those and are happy. Myself, I'm more a pizza-cutter guy. I'm running 255/85R16 - similar diameter to 285's, just skinnier.

 

I'm currently using 4.10 gears in my 04 tacoma with automatic trans. I wanted to find out to what gear I should have it at and I have a 3.5 inch icon lift with 285/75/16 tires when I go up hill I watch my rpms slowly drop 70 to 55