4.88 vs 5.29

just a reminder.
2020 OR Auto. 275/70/18 32”ish. Heavy C4 bumper on front. 5.29 gears installed.

1-4 seem to shift around 1500-1800 on light acceleration. Harder acceleration 2100-2600. Seems to shift into 5th at about 2100. Mileage seems to be best in 4th and 5th around 2100. Today I was not on the highway. I seem to have added 2-3 mpg regular driving if I am around 2100. Will be interesting on a longer trip. Need to wait for the beer flu to pass and a border to open.


Update. May 31 2020
Still loving the decision on the 5.29
There is less searching for gears. I am finding I am using all 6 gears when they are needed. Before the upgrade I found 6th gear was not being utilized very often if at all. I can’t say enough about the mileage improvement even with the bumper and skid plate added. If you are stock or not, I believe gearing upgrade is worth it. 4.88 or 5.29. For the price is it worth it, probably not. For a better truck, hand down yes!

 

Awesome. Thank you. I think the rule of thumb for the best mpg is to try and keep the rpm's below 2k. See what that nets you.

 

no problem

I just drive. I bought the truck knowing the mileage that I would get. Not trying to be get anything extra. I track mileage along with what I get out of a tank of fuel. If it is consistent, I believe my truck is working properly. If something changes I question what happening. I believe it can be an early indication of possible issues.

If you have anymore questions, just ask. I will see if I can help.

 

Just got my 500 mile Gear oil changed. Still happy with the mileage I am getting. Things are really good with the truck. So much happier with the truck.

The one issue I have had, is when I got the gear oil changed there was a guy that just got new OME BP-51 setup installed. Running 285. This sounds to me like a me need more money for something I don’t need.

 

I got a 2" lift up front to level out with the Bilstein 5100's. You may not gain as much with your front bumper, but I'm happy with the ride at that setting. (1.55)

 

guys I just got my 5.29 installed yesterday, my taco is a 2017 2wheel drive V6 AT TRD OFF ROAD I'm running a 3inch lift suspension and 33inch tires. as soon as I drove the truck it felt like my rear tires were spinning , I still have to get the updated version of OVtune with the 5.29 gears , Im hoping it will help with the issue of spinning tires . any feedback will be gladly appreciated.

 

interesting you got this with a 2wheel drive. I have not read anything about wheel spin and a taco without a engine swap .

 

Just went through this myself dilemma myself - looked at 4.30, 4.88, and 5.29. I plan to stay on factory size rubber maybe go up a little on sidewall, but will mostly use my truck for recreation and towing toys to the track. In the end, I ordered 4.88's from ECGS (and threw a front Harrop locker just because I didn't want to have to go back in later in the build and knew eventually I would probably want one).

My rationale on 4.88 was that with the AT, 1-4th are a little shorter than an MT, so would help in getting off the line with a trailer, and 5th & 6th would be almost the same as the MT (slightly taller, but not much) - all tires being equal. I should still be able to cruise down the highway, hit some trails, tow, and get decent mileage. 5.29 on the math seemed too short for stock tires. Its a leap of faith in that I haven't ridden in a truck with this setup, but one I thing I know is that in the stock set up, 5th and 6th won't be of much use for me.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-5-29-mega-thread.557305/

 

This image from this thread is what helped me a lot!

 

@slapntz Did you get your gears installed already? If so, how do you like them? I tow quite a bit ~5000lb and thought those gears might help.

 

Yes - truck was in the shop last week for the rear disc conversion (still battling the parking f@&$€n parking brake) and the clamshell and 3rd member swap from ECGS. The diffs went in with zero issue, are quiet and truck is smooth as butter. SOS front BBK combined with the rear disks made a huge difference in braking performance (as expected).

As far as driving impressions: off the line noticeably more pull/torque. 1st-3rd run out pretty quick, in a good way. On the highway, hunting is dramatically reduced (it really doesn’t anymore) and the truck can accelerate in 6th without a downshift. It actually pulls pretty hard now, especially for a tacoma. 75-80 mph on the highway is about 2100rpm if I recall correct..70 right around 2k. I have stock exhaust so it’s nots buzzy for me, but might be with a TRD exhaust (test drove a stock truck with one - droned for me).

I did gears for the same reason - towing, with no intention of going up in tire size (max would be 255 talls or 285’s). I was on the fence doing gears vs going straight to forced induction. I’m glad I did gears first. 4.88 feels perfect to me and should significantly help when towing. I don’t think adding the supercharger alone would solve the hunting - or be enough of a gain in HP for real towing - 5th and 6th are just too tall. With a supercharger + gears, it should be a very competent tow vehicle (I’m coming from an x5diesel which was awesome at towing). I haven’t towed my trailer since the regear - going back tomorrow to try to get the parking brake sorted... will try to hook up and give some towing impressions but I think it will be night and day. Ultimately I plan on towing an enclosed trailer and car which will land me at the limit for gvwr, and certainly more than I would be comfortable with in a stock truck. I enjoyed driving the truck before but for me, the gears made it even more so.. Still waiting on magnuson for the CARB cert and the build should nearly complete!

 

Anyone in south Texas with 4.88’s and stock elocker want to trade for 5.29. I have a 2018 TRD Pro. They have about 20K miles one them I geared to high for what I will do to my truck

 

Contact @Texoma....he’s near Austin and may know someone. He also does installs and is very good at it. I just got 4:88’s installed by him early this month.

 

If you get to the point where you go ahead and buy 4.88, I can help you with the gear set up. Since you have already replaced your bearings, all you will need is pinion seals for both front n rear, 2 tubes RTV, rear blue elocker connector, and front diff driver side axle seal.

 

How much for a regear at your shop?