The 5.29 Mega Thread!!

I installed my 5.29’s than flashed KDMAX 6.0 5.29 33’s. Truck felt pretty much like stock gearing with a tune afterwards. Which really wasn’t a bad thing. Better than super high RPM’s etc. Figured hopefully the difference would show up towing over Mountain passes. Well, what I’ve noticed is the same as someone else posted. Instead of running in 4th with stock gears, it’ll know run in 5th but feel more like a dog. Been tweeking the tune and still haven’t got it dialed in. Towed my boat yesterday (small light 12’ Jon boat).
200 mile round trip. 500ft elev. up to 5000ft and back down. Pretty crappy on the uphill pulls and pretty crappy on the flats doing 60-65. It’ll sit in 6th and run such low rpm’s that you have to push the throttle farther and farther and farther until it finally shifts back down to 5th and there is still no power until you force it into 4th than the Rpm’s will rev up to 3500+. Got a new tune this morning and we’ll see what happens. Currently really miss the way my truck ran before the 5.29’s but hopefully I’ll get it dialed in before I haul my BIG trailer for Father’s Day weekend. As far as the Yukons from ECGS go, they have so far been very quite. And the experience dealing with ECGS was good.

 

It’s one thing about gears not a lot of people understand. The ECU programming will still advance the tranny through the gears until it reaches it’s desired result, which is low RPMs for efficiency, in as high a gear as it can get away with, with the bare minimum torque required by the situation. If that used to be third, now it’s 4th, if that used to be 4th, now it’s 5th, and so on. The only time the gears truly show themselves is getting the truck rolling from a stop, and when you are up in 6th and have run out of gears to shift into.

In the middle of the range, the truck will be pretty much like stock, unless you tune, or press ECT etc.

 

Well, I'm geared and tuned and having a heck of a time getting it dialed in but my tuner is awesome so hopefully this week I'll get it as good as I can.

 

A lot of people seem to reach some happiness with gears and tune. Good luck!

 

JoeCova, I posted about the on this thread https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-5-29-mega-thread.557305/page-164#post-25137850
Basically Nitro blamed installer error with the side adjusters, while my mechanic claimed the install was perfect… So typical right?? I’m caught in the middle with no one willing to man up on this one. Nitro pretty much said too bad, so sad… . So what the use of a warranty, IMO Nitro just told us, everyone here…how they will treat you if your gears break…

 

I am also having some buyer’s remorse for getting 5.29’s . I also worry about gears breaking, as it’s happened once already and no warranty was provided by Nitro….I’ve got KM3 35’s and mileage is about 13mpg…35’s look mean and aggressive and that’s awesome, but there are trade offs…On flat highway I can cruise 70 at approx 2100 rpm.
I live at 1000 ft elevation so driving uphill every day I cruise 70 at 34-3600 rpm’s… I also use a pedal commander with gives you different levels of acceleration response and less acceleration lag. It’s a pretty good mod IMO.. Prior to the gears I was running 305/70/17’s … Just not sure the gears were worth it in my case…

 

I'm close to pulling the trigger on 5.29s and 35s and it sounds like a tune is pretty much required to make the re-gear worthwhile. Does a tune also remove (or raise) the top speed governor?

 

I go back and forth on this every day. The 35s look mean, but I'm getting 13 mpg around town and maybe 15 highway. What's weird is, I took 2 trips from colorado springs to denver when I had the factory gears and 35s and I averaged 20 mpg on both trips. For some reason my MPG's went way down after switching to 5.29s. Truck does feel better though. Also find the smiles per gallon thing kinda dumb, because I'm sure as hell not smiling when I can't even go 300 miles on a tank of gas. Filled up yesterday and the truck said 265 miles to empty. That's a full tank.

 

Tunes aren’t required. The forum just likes them.

 

Most tunes will change the top speed and gear ratio values in the ECU. Tunes will not fix your speedometer though, you’ll need a hypertech calibrator for that part.

 

I've got a hypertech calibrator coming this week. Will report back on how well that works.

 

I got the Hypertech when I installed 285s. Works great (gotta have a PC though, the configuration app won't work on a Mac).

 

Posting an Amazon link so it will show up in the products discussed section if others need it later.
Hypertech 730123 Speedometer Calibrator

$203 Hypertech 730123 Speedometer Calibrator

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CAORWOU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_E83WBYAX1G5ZQRHRCG1Z?_encoding=UTF8

 

Question about the 500miles break in gear fluid change... I'm just wondering what color fluid is suppose to be coming out? Just finish my break in and just change the fluid and it came out slightly grey and metallic shine.. slight metal particles on the drain magnetic... Is this right or should I be worried?? Front and rear fluid looks the same...

 

Here is what mine looked like in comparison too new and a close up of the drain plug so you see what mine looked like.

 

Normal

 

This. What break-in and changing is all about.

 

thanks for the help... i was going crazy thinking about it the pass few days.. but im gonna do a 1k fluid change for peace of mind...

 

I planned on a 2k change to re check also and compare the colors again.

 

Quick update. My tuner and I got the Tune dialed in to where my truck runs the best with the new gears. (As far as shifting and acceleration). Towed my 22’ Travel Trailer over Fathers Day weekend and…Boy, I sure was expecting a lot more from 5.29’s. In fact, climbing Mounatin Passes it didn’t feel better than stock. On the flats with a headwind it was a constant lug in 4th or Rev in 3rd. Might just be done trying to make this truck work for what we do with it. At this point I’m pretty bummed I spent the money and time on gears. Glad to hear it made a difference for others.