The 5.29 Mega Thread!!

Anyone on waiting list for 5.29 at ecgs? Been waiting since May

 

Well, I swapped gears for towing. We live at 500ft and tow up and over 4500ft regularly. I was expecting more midrange power while climbing instead of revving super high in the RPM's to keep up with traffic climbing. Honestly I can't feel much difference at all. I've been working with my tuner and we have it at it's best but, It feels almost stock to me. (By stock I mean factory gears with a tune.) Where it really sucks is flat hwy towing with a headwind. Either it's bogged down and suffering to keep 55mph or cruising along at 70mph pulling 4800-5000 rpms. I guess the best way to describe it is buying a new more expensive bed because your back hurts every morning and now with the new bed, your back still hurts. Hopefully the wife will buy a Suburban and we'll make that the tow vehicle and my truck will be my daily. I'm also considering going back down to 265's instead of 285's to gain a little power back.

 

I ordered mine April 8th and it took about 5 weeks to get them. My salesman said they're supplier is not getting them the gears fast enough. (this was for complete built swap out units)

 

Thanks

 

Gears wont give you satisfaction if you expected the performance results of the magnuson or some turbos. I don't say this often, but I don't think the Tacoma is what you need if you often find yourself towing a 22' trailer. Maybe consider the new Tundra? Stay within the fam.

 

try running thicker fluid..

 

Reading through this thread is confusing me between 4.88s and 5.29s lol

 

Best thing is to try and stay objective looking at your tire size and what RPMs would be with 4.88s vs 5.29s then getting them installed PROPERLY.

Lot of BS in the 4.88 and 5.29 threads.

 

You would be correct on all accounts. Just be happy you're not running 315/75r16's. Between that tire size and living at 6,000ft, my truck is a turtle.

 

Have had my Nitro 5.29s for a minute now. Been loving that my truck gets it done now. I also installed a tune which, brought it even more to life.

Over the past year after the install, the truck has developed a whine around 70mph, on deceleration or lifting your foot off the gas completely. It can sound like a whine or even pitches up so high sounds like your running your finger around a wine glass.
I did change the rear springs to Deaver Stage 3 which most certainly changed things from an AAL.

My thought was the Pinion Bearing. It’s possible my backlash wasn’t set properly or the crush sleev got over torqued. Thoughts?
@JoeCOVA

 

All possible. Difficult to diagnose without tearing it all down but my guess would be backlash. Most is .006 to .010 but wouldn’t surprise me if installers get “close enough”

What’s getting me thinking though is that this is a new development but your bearings should be ok.

 

Good chance that your gears were not setup correctly, I'd bring it back to shop who setup your differentials

 

I would have already gone if I didn’t live 7 hours away.. apparently to them it’s “normal”

 

Here is my 40 love the mustard!

 

I'm surprised elevation is talked about more. I finally got the chance to try my gears at low elevation and WOAH. Truck feels better than I ever remember it. Running 35's and 5.29's and it finally feels good now. I live in Colorado and my truck normally feels like a turd but I'm currently outside of Wichita Kansas and the truck feels so responsive, holds its speed on hills, and actually has pull when you give it gas. The difference between 5.29's at high and low elevation is much bigger than the difference between 5.29's and factory gears. It's finally a real pleasure to drive.

 

@6,000 ft elevation, you've lost ~18% of power as compared to sea level. Definitely plays a drastic role.


Maybe go twin turbo?

https://youtu.be/L7ZFc_6CTGE

 

Hey Everyone, there is so much info here and obviously most relates to the A/T guys based on the masses. I seen a few posts stating the 5.29 gearing to too low for the M/T crowd. I did the calculation (KPH sorry down south)with stock 4.3 to 5.29 on 35's and the RPM's don't seem that excessive, especially when you consider the 3.5L engine makes most of its power/torque above 2500-3000 rpm anyways. I understand why highway driving might take a MPG hit but other then that is the 5.29's on a MT that out to lunch? below are 2 graphs showing 4.3 to 5.29 gears both on 35's and my current setup 33's to 35's.

4.30 Gears to 5.29 Gears on 35's


4.30 Gears on 33's to 5.29 Gears on 35's


RELEASE THE HOUNDS.
Any first hand experience from the MT crowd might be appreciated.

 

This is currently where I’m at do I jump in on the new group buy for a regear or should I get it tuned first and see how I like it I’m kind of leaning towards the tune but then that would mean that I would have to get it re-tuned to set it to the 529‘s. I’m also looking at getting the new Tundra so maybe it will hold me over long enough and then sell doesn’t make too much sense to keep dropping money to eventually sell it in the long run.

 

If you're going to get the new tundra why spend money on the taco?

 

honestly for the drivability aspect I love the taco but think it’s time to jump to a full-size. And I already have a stupid amount of money in it so not wanting to drop “big dollars” on it so a tune seems more reasonable.