The 5.29 Mega Thread!!

Going to try & make this short & sweet...Had my 5.29 Nitros installed in fall last year, everything ran & functions perfect. Did my 500 mile fluid swap front & rear. Again everything is just fine. Drove up to Lake Tahoe for a weekend about a month after doing the fluid change. Strictly HWY driving (no trails no 4WD) came back home & have oil allll over underneath from the upper control arm, strut, cv, frame, cross member all over the wheel well. Followed the trail of fluid up to under my hood to the breather tube. Figured I may have over filled my front diff. So I popped the fill plug to have any excess fluid drip out & even jacked up the front passenger side of the truck to tilt it over to help a little. Cleaned it all up, been good since then. No more drips or oil covering the underneath...drove back up to Tahoe again this past weekend. Again strictly HWY driving, park in the parking garage. Come back the next day & small puddle gear oil under my truck coming from my front diff breather tube again...at this point I can’t understand what’s making this happen besides the high elevation. Sounds dumb but I don’t know what else could be making this happen. I don’t have issues when I’m in my hometown & drive every day with my truck and nothing happens. But when I go high up in elevation it’s spitting out the breather tube....any ideas guys?!?

 

What fluid?
Do you have a front locker?
Aftermarket breather and lines?
Did you even use 4WD at the passes?

 

My front diff fluid...85w140
No front locker
No aftermarket parts either
HWY’s were clear so no 4WD necessary.

2019 TRD sport 4WD DCLB

 

Has to be because of altitude then. I can't see any reason beside the air pressure being different that would allow oil to travel up the breather.

 

I would drain for a goodly while and refill just to bottom of fill bolt, normal fill level with 75W-90.

Altitude I suppose. Seems quite odd.

 

That’s thee only thing I can think of. Pretty weird for that to happen but I’m an amateur at this. Learning as I go. Glad I’m not the only one who thinks that

 

I live at 7k feet. Been through the passes in CO. Alpine loop Omogene etc.
I haven’t had any blow out like you.

 

Odd, I have never seen it blow out in elevation

 

The passes are higher than that for sure. 9K-10K+. But still yeah, unless overfilled and over heated shouldn't blow fluid. XXW-140 will cause the differential to run really hot. Frictional heat from overly viscous fluid in a differential is a real thing. No sense at all running 140 in the front. Buys nothing.

People never listen to me though.

 

I have Nitro 5.29’s with 35’s - 2017 Tacoma... Driving down the street 40 mph my gears blew out out, and destroyed a bearing and the pinion. Gears are only 7 months old... Shop that installed them is telling me its a freak incident and no warranty. One month ago I was on a road that require 4WD but nothing radical... they claim I must have done something then and it finally blew up...now they ant $2500 for new gears to fix.... my gut says BS...Thoughts anyone?

 

nitro has a year warranty i think

 

What's the name of the shop? I had a customer that came from Hawaii with about the same issue. When I go to open his diffs up, the pinion crush sleeve, wasn't crushed.

 

What fluid where you using?

I have my doubts about the order of things. My guess is the bearing shit the bed first then the gears "blew out".

Freak incident? That is exactly what a warranty is for. They are full of pus. Stand up to them. And contact Nitro.

 

Here's what I encountered from the Hawaii guy.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3N1Ji7gHNj/?igshid=1lrxt74aauhc9

 

Maui Off Road ....

 

I'm just starting to go down this road of regearing. I called NutHouse industries today for an appointment and quote. They said they stay away from Nitro due to issues recently and more lean towards Revolution or Yukon. Interesting point considering this conversation

 

Warranty is literally FOR freak incidents. As in something unusual happened like a defect or error during installation.

According to them when does their warranty actually cover stuff? Lol JFC

I'm not familiar with this skill but I remember seeing a carrier chewed up like that and someone said it was because there was not enough pinion preload causing excessive play in the pinion that allowed it to get pulled towards the carrier. Does that sound about right? Just picking your brain to try and learn a little.

I went with yukon and got their Y.E.S. plan, not sure if it's actually worth it but it was a selling point for me

 

What did you pay in total on the package and install? just trying to get an idea of where this shop ends up. Thanks!

 

Man oh man, I couldn’t be happier with my 5:29’s on my 2008 4.0 vs w 5spd AT on 35’s. My truck is my DD & although several dudes said “MAN YOUR RPMS ARE GONNA BE SCREAMING WITH 5:29’s, AND THEYRE WEAK, THEYLL BREAK BRO” all false. All wrong. Local legend ZUK did the gear work, I pulled and plugged my diffs and it all went really well. I also did REM polishing to the rear ring & pinion.

Btw at 70mph Im at 2550 rpm in 5th. It’s beautiful. I confirmed this speed with GPS. I am so darn giddy to be able to wheel the truck with this powerful gear selection. I did a HARROP front e locker also.

 

Here are some nerdy pics of Zuk setting my gears with his nerdy and utmost precision and years of experience. He’s the man.
http://gearinstalls.com/index.htm