Too heavy for highway speeds?

I appreciate all the replies guys.. I bought the truck not knowing shit about anything on it.. an expensive lesson..but I feel a bit better with this community of people having my back.. end goal is a low key overland taco like Tacovendors

 

Id go with 5.29s all day with the 4spd auto. Im running them in my 5spd truck and it turns about 3300rpms on the hwy at 75 with my 33s but it is very peppy. Gas mileage is crap, about 14-15 but i attribute that more to my heavy tires and lifting the truck than from regearing. My truck was a complete dog when i ran 33s on stock 4.10s

 

Regear, enjoy the the truck and consider reversing the DB lift later down the road. Post some pics and welcome to TW.

 

Little update for anyone in my boat. Got 5.29 gears from ECGS installed by them.

Consensus: alot better. Highway speeds with 35s no problem. 2800 rpms at 70mph with 34.5in wheels. Cruise works great not always dropping into 3rd like it used to. Been breaking gears in taking it easy but still definitely worth the money imo.

 

You'll find that these rigs really respond well to regearing and finding ways to give the motor extra mechanical advantage, especially when you add weight, tire, lift, etc.

 

Ah forgot to mention I took off the camper shell and Baja rack. I couldn't believe how heavy that rack was (bought the truck with topper and rack already on).. especially compared to the curt rack I'm familiar with.

On to my next problem: driveline grinding is way worse with the gears, ECGS warned me of this before the install.. gonna try a tom woods CV style driveshaft, which ECGS also recommended

 

Wish I could find out why Toyota used the 4.10 gears for both the Taco 4 cyl. auto. & the 4 cyl. 5 spd. A Taco with 4.10 gears, 5 spd O.D. turns 2533 rpm. @ 70 mph. The same Taco with 4.10 gears but the 4 spd auto. O.D. only turns 2215 rpm. @ 70 mph. If the 5 spd. needed 2532 rpm, why did they think the Taco with the auto. O.D. could run with 317 less rpm. without lugging (straining). A stock Taco 4 cyl., 5 spd O.D. & orig. 4.10 gears, with orig. 30.46 tires runs 2533 rpm @ 70 mph. Your Taco, 4 cyl., auto. 4.10 gears, & 33" tires run 2046 rpm. @ 70 mph. If you change the gears to 4.88 you will go up to 2435 rpm. @ 70 mph., still 98 rpm. less than the stock 5 spd with orig. tires. If you go to 5,29 gears at 70 mph you will be at 2639 rpm. I too have a 4 cyl. auto., 4X4, my normal driving is 55 to 60 mph. & the auto. trans. is constantly shifting. My last 3 tanks of gas I've been driving in 3 instead of D. Gas mileage hasn't changed & trans. rarely shifts. Driving in D, I'm constantly mashing the gas, just to keep my speed. While driving in 3, I'm constantly backing off the gas to keep spd. down. In 3 I'm running appx. 2600 @ 60 mph., I wish it were down closer to 2300 or 2400, but the 2600 seems is way better than the 1850 rpm. it's running at in D. Just my opinion

 

I was in your same boat. I can only imagine they saved money somehow using the same gears and just throwing a different tranny on the assembly line. Driving in 3rd worked perfectly but at 70+mph the rpms were too high for me at around 3500..

Are you planning on regearing?

 

sounds like the truck is lugging because of ur oversized tires, a regear would be needed to improve drivability to compensate for them

 

Because of cost, (having to change both front & rear), probably not. All I've read says the rpm. doesn't harm the little 2.7. My normal driving is 55 to 60 mph., & in 3 is around 2450 to 2550 rpm. & feels great. Shift to D & rpm. drop to 1850, way too far below where the 2.7 makes power, it just starts straining just to keep going. The 2.7 makes max. HP @ 4800 rpm & max torque @ 4000 rpm. My Taco makes far more power, as it gets up to 2200 to 2400 rpm. The little eng. works a lot more reasonable, in "D", when I get out on the interstate, at 70 to 75 mph. at appx. 2300 to 2400 rpm. lot better there than at 60 mph. @ 1850 rpm. A 2.7 Taco with MT, 4.10 gears runs appx. 2550 rpm @ 70 mph. in 5 th gear, that being the case if I run mine in 3 60 mph. is appx. 2550 & hopefully won't be a problem. Would actually like to go to 4.56 or possibly 4.88, but doesn't seem to be cost effective for my use.

 

Damn dude you have all those rpms down packed lol ! Yeah I drive alot of highway for work so the gear change was necessary, that plus the 35s, and dont even think about climbing a mountain. Thanks for the knowledge regarding the powerband, I need to do more research into our engine

 

Is there a reasonable way to correct the speedometer? A lot of 4X4 Tacos come with 30.46" tires, If I understood right, in post #24, you said you were running 34.5" tires. A speedo. calibrated for 30.46 tires & you install 34.5", appx. 12% larger than orig. When your speedometer shows 50 mph. you are actually doing 56 mph, showing 75, you are doing 84, & showing 100 you would be at 112 mph. I don't want to go to the expense & aggravation of wiring, & calibrating, one of those computerized things into the harness, under the dash. It looks like someone would just make wheel rev sensors for different diameter tires, to replace the orig wheel rev sensor that controls the speedo on the later model Toyotas. No expensive computer to buy or need to wire in or calibrate. Just install a sensor for your new tire diameter & all is corrected. Why do the simple things need to be so dang complicated & expensive? Any help appreciated.

 

You can use a gps or a calibrated ultraguage/scan guage. Probably the easiest method

 

I appreciate the thought, but I'm old & computerized stuff, I don't want to even think about learning that confusing stuff. I have no kids nor grand kids to help me. Years past, it was simple. To correct your speedometer, you bought a little $6 gear, that slid in the side of the trans. that was sized for your tires or gear change. very simple. Today's speedometers are controlled by a wheel speed sensor, at one of the rear wheels. There's no doubt a different wheel speed sensor, calibrated for your tire size could easily correct the speedo. Replace the one calibrated for the orig. tire size with one calibrated for your new tire size & all is corrected. I really rather not try to deal with GPS's, scan gauges, OBD2's & that kind of stuff, just a wheel spd sensor for my tire size would be way better for me. but thanks for the info.

 

Actually your info says you have a regular cab. Not sure if auto or manual but my buddy had a 2010 5 speed regular cab and the speed sensor was on the transfer case. As far as I know the v6 6 speeds and that regular cab have speed sensors on the transfer case. My 4cyl 5 speed access cab uses the wheel sensors so it might be worth your time to take a peek under your truck. That being said, I don’t know if different size gears are even available even if you do have a transfer case mounted speed sensor.

And for the record scanguage/Ultraguage are extremely easy to setup. If you can use a tv remote you can use one of them. If an accurate speedo is that important to you $60 and 15 minutes of your time is a sure fire easy way to get it.

 

Thanks, I'll try do a little more investigating. I have a 2013 reg. cab 4 cyl. 4X4, auto. I always thought all speedometers were driven off a gear on the output shaft in the rear of the trans. I was told by some of the Taco guru's on this site mine was fed off a wheel sensor on one of my rear wheels. I will do more checking to be sure & also do more checking on the scanguage, I think most of that stuff is electronic, & has to be wired in to existing wires & programmed thru a computer connected to another computer on my Taco, if that's the case, It's probably over my head. But thanks, I'll do more checking. Maybe it isn't as bad as I'm thinking. Thanks again.

 

I did a little research and it seems like 2010-2011 ish they all went to using the wheel sensors except the v6 manual trucks. As far as the scan gauge/ ultra gauge goes it just plugs into the obd2 port and it just displays functions that the trucks computer is already monitoring. I’m not sure about the scan gauge as I have an ultra gauge but the only programming is entering engine size, fuel tank size, and selecting what functions you want to monitor. For the speedometer calibration you just drive a know distance, mile markers or gps measured. Then you just adjust the milage the gauge displays to match the actual number you drove. A longer drive will usually result in less margin of error

 

Have you double checked your speedo at a speed trap to see what the real difference is? My 2013 with 305/65/17 tires is dead on with every speed trap I've gone past. I don't know if the previous owner changed anything to read this way since it had 285/75/16 tires when I got it. But it seems like the trucks read 4-5% low when they are bone stock so going up in size a bit doesn't throw them off that much.

 

What kind of fuel economy are you getting on that thing with all those mods?

 

It’s a linear error. The faster you go the more the speedo is off. You can check my mods in my build tread but I’m getting 17-18 givertake