What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Mind elaborating why you’d go to 5.29’s if you’d have to do it over?

 

plus you have a camper shell, and live in what I presume is a quite hilly area. I think for @kuntry09 he would be better off with 4.88s for his driving style, terrain, etc.

 

Well, I commented that before I read his uses commuting 100+ miles a day is a lot and I recommend getting a commuter car. I live in the Bay Area in CA and when I got my 4.88s it was my daily driver. When I go wheeling I drive to the Sierra Nevada mountains and there some decent grades along the way. With that being said my truck does not feel overly powered and I think if I could do it again I would rather sacrifice a few MPG and have my truck feel Very responsive.
I also have a daily driver now and don’t commute my truck anymore. Which has been one of the best mods yet! I want my truck to be used purely for fun miles! Haha

I live in a relatively flat area but yes I have to drive to one of the biggest mountain ranges in the us when I camp and wheel mostly.

 

FWIW 5.29's are too much for the highway for me. If I get 37's they would be perfect, but I am at 3k at 75mph, and like 3500 doing 85-90. The motor so far has been handling it but it's not preferred.

 

Toasty.

 

I never cared. These engine's love the higher rpms anyways. Peak power isn't until 4.5 anyways and peak torque is like 3300 i think? I never felt the need to go faster than 75 anyways. Any faster and mileage goes to shit, doesn't matter which truck Im driving, if I go 80, I know to not expect good mileage.

 

This.

With 315s, my 5.29s have been perfect on the trail and on the highway, but like Monte, I rarely go above 75.

 

I believe this is from a manual transmission perspective. You trans gear ratios make a huge difference.

If I were able to do it over, I would go 5.29s. Don't get me wrong, regearing to 4.88s is still the best mod I have done to my truck.

 

Yeah I typically keep it in the 70-75 range on the hwy so I don’t think it would bug me.

 

I cleaned everything out of my truck today. After 15+ years as a daily driver and work vehicle, this Tacoma is officially retired at 378K miles. My aspirations of joining the 500K club have been obliterated.

My boss, in an effort to cut costs during these tough times, has pulled the $400/month reimbursement and provided me a company vehicle (which costs them $800/month). I am now the proud operator of a 2020 Dodge RAM ProMaster City van.

 

Mike, so our trucks are close in build.

I was very close to pulling the trigger on 4.88 last year but no place had availability (I checked 4 businesses) to install and the price ranged from $2200 to $2800 for the same brand same gearing.

These trucks, when loaded down, are not speed demons nor do they particularly have lots of power but that is not why I bought it.
With 4.10 and 33"s, my speedometer is skewed and I rarely see anything over 70mph indicated.

Why 5.29?

 

it lowers the overall drive ratio. Since the auto ratio's are taller anyways 5.29s wouldn't be horid on the highway and you'd take a lot of load off the transmission at the same time.

Really 5.00 would be great with the auto and 33s. Shame that doesn't exist.

 

Ben, have you weighed your truck when fully loaded for an adventure. A lot of what I am going to say here assumes a heavy rig. Mine is typically 5800 lbs fully loaded.

In an empty, or lightly loaded truck that has full armor like ours, with 33s, the 4.88 ratio will put the engine power band right back in the sweet spot. It will actually feel peppy again. On the highway, no more hunting for gears or constant downshifting. And because it is in the sweet spot, the engine isn't having to work as hard and your MPGs will actually go up.

I now have over 70K with this configuration.

Butttttt... It could be better. When I am heavy, which is a majority of the time, I wish I had a little more. Meaning, on long highway grades or in 4lo so I could go even slower, or long down hills, use less brakes.

FWIW, on the highway, on the flats it is fine with 4.88s. And for those that worry about higher RPMs, don't. When I am going 70 MPH (according to GPS) I am running 2500 RPM. With 5.29s, that would be ~2800 rpm. Also, a 33 tooth speedo gear corrects mine to pretty close. When the GPS says I am going 70, my speedo reads 72 with new 285/75r16s.

 

IMO, 5.13s would be ideal. It is a common ratio available to other applications, but not for our diffs.

 

So here’s my take away from what you’ve said, and anyone correct me if I’m wrong. For what my truck is and your description, 4.88s should be perfect. Towing trailers it may still struggle a little, but shouldn’t be as bad as it currently is. All the highway driving I do, it should do it effortlessly and like stock. If I were to bump to 5.29s, I would likely be a little over geared (unless I bumped up to 315s...which is possible eventually) when not pulling anything, resulting in a decrease in MPG, but should be good to tow said trailers.

Also, if going from 4.10 to 4.88 would see a MPG increase, would you really see a decrease in MPG going from 4.10 to 5.29? Or would it be a decrease comparing 4.88 vs 5.10?

I thought I had my mind made up on 4.88s but now I’m reconsidering

 

I can't answer the question about MPGs and 5.29s because I don't have them.

The rest of what you said sounds right. I think you will be very pleased with 4.88s until you go up to 35s.

 

I have far less experience than some here, but do have some experience and I think you'd be on the right track with the 4.88s.

 

Unless you want 35s. In which case don't fuck around and get the 5.29s.

 

Yeah, if you're serious on the 35s, I could be on board with that. You've got the experience with them

 

Rear Kings showed up this morning, started the rebuild this afternoon. Need to order my shock relocation kit now.