The 5.29 Mega Thread!!

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

 

Your both right. Seems that the Autos really shone once tuned with gears.

 

Hills will kill mpg, I think I get like 13 mpg going up the ike gauntlet but once i cruise down the other side to grand junction it rounds out to maybe 16-17.

I can drive from Colorado Springs to Grand Junction on a single tank which is about 310 miles and I think my max mileage per tank is about 350 but I would be nervous.

 

That sounds pretty darn similar to mine actually. I'm getting about 13 mpg around town, and honestly the truck feels pretty good around town here in the Springs. Where it doesn't feel great is 50+ mph and on the highway. I've read over and over that this truck makes its power at 4k+ rpms so I probably just have to get used to that. Just feels like I have to mash that skinny pedal pretty far while the truck is absolutely screaming at 4500 rpms to maintain 70mph on a slight incline, or go 50+ on any sort of uphill.

That being said I still love this truck and overall it feels pretty damn good to drive. It's just I saw so many people here acting like 5.29 gears turned it into a whole new truck and that's just not the case at all.

 

I wonder if it's just the weight. I just went 4.88 and it's a completely different truck. I'm an auto with no real weight except a shell and a plywood platform. I run the kdmax tune and am still on 265/65/17 tires right now

 

That was kind of my impression. To me it wasn’t a whole new truck but rather I brought it back to Normal or what I thought normal was.

You could look into a tune if you don’t have one. A lot of tunes adjust the tip-in or how quickly the vehicle responds to pedal input. That’s usually a nice touch. Can’t say I really like any of the tunes but you’ll notice a good tune over a bad one.

You’re welcome to drive my truck sometime