The 5.29 Mega Thread!!

Also the fact that there are more teeth on OEM gear.

 

There would be more teeth on the ring gear of a 5.29 than the stock 3.90, to my understanding, or am I wrong about that?

 

Someone told me you do not need to replace the diff oil after break in if the gears were installed by a knowledgeable installer. Thoughts?

I changed mine anyways yesterday after about 1200 miles of break in and the oil looked clean. Very little metal on the drain plug.

 

I got my gears before moving to larger tires. There aren't any problems at all.

I went with 4.88s b/c I never thought I'd have a heavy rig w/ 33s. Then things kept piling on. My advice--if you plan to go larger tires at all in the future, go 5.29. It's better to have a limited top end for a little while than have limited power forever.

 

Usually it's 500 break in, then change every 15k.

 

If you ever have the opportunity to count them out, you'll see that the stock gears have more teeth on both the ring and pinion.

 

Still need to do it because during break in the gear friction heats the oil more than normal and breaks down its lubricating properties. The fact that the gears were done correctly or not plays no role in that.

 

I was told 500-1000 for the break in. Don't think it has to be a hard 500.

Gotcha, glad I did it anyways! Should I be changing it every 15k if I wheel often?

 

Truthfully, only if you think you got some water in it. I think 30k is fine otherwise.

 

Ahh. I did not know that. For whatever reason I though it would be more on the ring, like it would be on a bicycle.

 

5.29 is a 7 tooth pinion and 37 tooth ring gear in the 8" third member, The 4.88 is a 8/39 configuration and stock (manual) 4.11 is 10/41.

37/7=5.29
39/8=4.88
41/10=4.1

 

I just counted on my 14bolt

41/10=4.1
43/8=5.38

 

What is stronger - more teeth - or thicker teeth?

 

It’s really more surface area contact

 

Just confirming it's 85w-140 for both front and rear diffs -- swapping to LT and gotta top off the front diff a bit.

 

That's what ECGS recommended

 

yeehaw, thanks

 

Front diff install just went up on the channel. So much more work. I will have a fallow up video on the break in process. Currently need around 100 miles to hit the 500.

https://youtu.be/TnRm7S-ha1k

 

So this might stir the pot a bit here but I'm not as impressed with my 5.29 gears as much as I thought I'd be. The truck still struggles like hell to get up hills. It still struggles like hell to hit or maintain 70+ mph on the highway. My MPG's have actually gone down a little since having them installed.

I do have to throw out the disclaimer that I live in Colorado and the elevation here just robs power, and our hills are BIG hills. I'm going to be driving to Arkansas in a month or so and will be looking forward to seeing how it performs at lower elevations because I know how much of a difference elevation can make. My truck also may be a bit on the heavy side but it's certainly not as heavy as a lot of tacomas I see on here. Maybe I should have it weighed. Also, for those wondering I have 315/75r16 tires.

I use ECT mode at all times and it still feels sluggish. Everything I've read says a tune makes even more of a difference than the gears so maybe I need to go down that route, but I just wanted to throw out there for those looking to do this mod that it's not as drastic as a lot of people make it seem. It's definitely better than the factory gears, but it's marginal, especially with how much it costs to do this.

 

you’re not alone. I’m having a similar experience. I regeared to 5.29 a couple months ago and haven’t been super impressed so far. I live in San Francisco so there’s a lot of hills and stops in the city, but I’m struggling to hit 12 mpg when I used to get 14 on stock gears. My highway mpg’s have similarly been worse

the truck definitely accelerates better from a stop and shifts through the gears quickly, but the stock tune shifts into 4th way too quickly which makes the truck still feel sluggish to me. I’m getting tuned next week so hopefully that helps

I’m also noticing on the highway that I’m generally 1 gear higher than I was before the regear, so 5th is now 6th, 4th is 5th, etc. The truck used to be pretty responsive when I dropped into 4th to pick up speed prior to the regear. But now, dropping into 5th at similar speeds feels really sluggish and I really have to step on it (even dropping down to 4th) just to go a few mph faster. That’s been a frustrating experience for me on the highway and was wondering if anyone else experiences that. Hoping a tune will work wonders here as well

I’m on 33s E load and have skids, sliders, bed rack, RTT, and roof rack