Cam gears for V6. Add power AND mpg

Just finished replacing my gears. No issues. Took my time with plenty of breaks to double check my self. Start to finish about 4 hours.

First drive and the truck seems to be slightly quicker to power on the low end of things.

Time will tell....

 

Mid week bump. Anyone installing this weekend?

 

Count me in for GB3, please!

 

Got ya down

 

I'm going to give it a go. Going to go pick 5 gaskets and a PCV valve this afternoon. Trying to figure out what else I should do/replace/inspect while it's all torn apart. Any suggestions?

 

Don't forget some gasket maker for where the engines front cover meets. Usually about an inch of it per location.

Spark plugs while you're in there is never a bad idea. If you're real ambitious, you could check your valve clearances.

 

Ahhh...gasked maker. Thanks. Almost forgot. I'll have to see how long it's been since I did my sparkplugs.

 

Not installing this weekend, but hopefully within the next few weeks. Waiting on all the consumables to arrive, and a helping hand to be available. any last tid bits? Can I use red RTV over the Toyota gasket maker Or black RTV? Pretty sure it will be a smooth process... I hope lol

 

I'm trying to get a little better performance when towing my travel trailer. It seems like this plus the intake spacer is a good way to help the low end and maybe even make 5th gear usable again without completely re-gearing the diff. Nothing else special about my truck or how I use it, so is it a worthwhile investment for both?

 

I use the black permatex gasket maker for oil. No problems for me, it's readily available and rated higher than the Toyota stuff.

I can't speak for the intake spacer personally as i haven't tried one myself. The spacer works my shifting the powerband lower if memory serves.

The gears on the other hand will indeed help with your towing and ability to hold gears.
If you have to pick one, I would recommend the gears, reviews of both side by side trend to the gears being the bigger change. Of course take my advice with a gain of salt since I'm selling the gears. I encourage you to look into both and draw your own conclusion.

 

Right away I noticed it idles smoother/quieter. The RPM's are lower at 75 mph than before. Is it a back to stock tire size difference? No. But it does feel more powerful/alive if that makes sense.

Going towards my house is a steepish incline with a 65 mph speed limit. Before this the truck would kick in to overdrive but it would hunt. As in OD then drop it then kick into OD again with no input from me. Now it doesn't kick into OD on that same stretch unless I'm really on it.

I have 33's, plate front bumper, steel skids, sliders, hitch tire carrier with full size spare. She's a heavy girl lol. I had been logging my MPG for some time manually because I knew I was gonna do this mod. It averaged 14.7 over the last 6 tanks according to mileage/gallons.

I haven't gassed it up since the cam gears, it's been just sitting mostly. Once I get through at least 3 or 4 tanks I'll report back.

The install was wicked easy, though I did have an extra set of hands. The process is time consuming as there is lots of clips and connections on the intake manifold. Go easy on the install on the valve cover bolts and do it with a manual tool. I snapped one of the first ones off (damn milwaukee 3/8 ratchet) . I'll have to address that in the future but for now it's not leaking at least. The Mercedes engine mount tool they talk about in that thread made torquing the cam gear bolts super easy, glad I had it.

I do recommend buying new gaskets for the job. I got both valve cover gaskets, plenum gasket, throttle body gasket, PCV valve and FIPG for around $80 from McGeorge Toyota online. At 155k mine felt a little stiff compared to the new ones but not brittle yet. Also did the spark plugs while I had the intake manifold off and everything apart. I was pleasantly surprised with how clean everything was under the covers. I did notice a bit of oil in the plenum under the intake. None on the oil plugs. I may install a catch can just for peace of mind.

Sorry for the rambling post, just things that came to mind once I started typing. Feel free to ask any other questions.

 

Looking forward to see what difference ya get in mpg.
Thanks for the review

 

I am in. I will PM you also.

 

Last week of GB 3 bump. Get in while you can. We've got enough people now

 

I’m in for the group buy #3. Pm sent

 

got ya down

 

Ran the second tank and mostly highway...it was hard to stay below 70mph and got 258 to the tank. Not good at all...I also removed the inner filter that’s in the filter box thinking it would get more air in the intake and think this affected it because the truck felt differently. It was almost as if the pedal felt too “soft” and it was searching for the next gear or overdrive to kick in. So my advice is don’t go experimenting lol. I’m the city I saw a gain of Atleast 1-1.5 miles per gal. Good luck to all.

 

How many gallons for 258? There could be a wide MPG difference if that was 16 gal vs 20 gal. Just trying to get a number that is easier to compare with other data.

 

Thank you.

 

The truck took 17.5 gallons when I filled it up. I also have a 3” lift and running 33’s on a double cab with no camper and a bed matt. All else is stock.