Regear or supercharger?

Long story short, I'm looking for some more grunt for towing a 3,500lb trailer off road. I have 285s with an AT and stock 3.73 gearing.

Plan was to regear to 4.56 but I'm concerned that'll cause pretty high RPMs when towing on the highway and I have to keep it in 4, which has led me to the supercharger option.

I know it is a deeper rabbit hole but I'm beginning to think a little boost will be a better solution and should be sufficient with factory gearing in 4L off road.

 

I4 or V6 ??

regearing is going to run the engine several rpms higher

ALL the Time..........

the supercharger ..........AFTER U get the tune right will be running All the time

the SC will cost more to obtain & get right

many times more than a regear


in for a nickel..............in for a dollar

 

I did boost before gears on my 3rd gen for towing and have been extremely happy with the result. Probably going to be doing gears soon though....

 

Not sure the 'best' answer, but I'd suggest considering.......

Driveability for solving your immediate issue.

Driveability for the other 90% of not towing. (Assume it's a daily)

Potential impacts on reliability

OTD cost for each setup.

Ongoing costs for each setup

Other considerations?

 

Id suggest re-gearing first always. You are already under-geared with the larger tires on there. Do you have extra weight on your truck? You would also want to be properly geared for that. That's a whole lot of extra strain on your trans pushing oversized tires already and the extra rotating weight. Fix that, with the proper gears and you wont be making your trans cry any more and you will have much more torque on tap. Instead of throwing extra horsepower at your undergeared drivetrain, just to over work everything into pushing you forward.

 

@ROAD DOG, 4.0. The supercharger is about 2x the cost of the regear but that is not a concern at this point.

@TacoTuesdayNJ, No concern with running for extended periods in 4 on the highway since I can't tow in D? I believe I'll be close to 3,000rpm with 4.56.

 

BOTH

 

probably supercharger first though, more power is always nice

 

All solid and valid points from @TacoTuesdayNJ , I experienced all of this in one fell swoop after adding new suspension all around, 255/85/16s, and other weight. Front bumper, wench, ARB fridge, bed rack, roof rack, gear and a couple hundred pounds of labradors. Drove it from Texas to Anchorage Alaska and did I ever see my mileage drop. I've learned to pack better, less wind resistance, makes a difference but I never regret that TRD supercharger. Not only does it still make me giggle, but it's a blessing when I'm towing or just running the hills or mountains.
I do plan to add a regearing eventually, so I can get everything out of it, that it's meant to give. It's on a 2011 double cab short bed.

 

I’d do both. Supercharger because you’re at altitude. Gearing because you’ll probably go even bigger on the tires.

Ask in here for more opinions:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ricks-and-mods.518932/page-1947#post-26296206

 

That's the plan. I'm thinking boost now, regear next year, then dive into supporting tunes for the supercharger.

 

Supercharger sounds fun. Tune with HPTuner and @JustDSM

 

This too. He can remote tune for you. Lots of good reviews from the guys in that thread I listed above.

 

An F-150 will solve all of that for you.

 

Solve one problem but create 10 others. No thanks.

 

What are you towing are you at max gvrw for weight? If you re gear you should actually be able to use overdrive again on flat surface.

Off topic. do you have a heavy duty trans cooler?

 

I have a larger aux transmission cooler and monitor the temp when towing. When towing in D the transmission fluid heats up as the torque converter locks/unlocks. It's a nonissue when not towing as my transmission temp on the highway and going over the local passes is always within 10°f of the coolant temp.

My previous camper was 5,500lbs loaded and I have over 6,000 miles of towing that. The new camper is 3,500lbs loaded and it is the same height and width as the truck. I was running 32s with the last trailer and I'm on 33s now.

Truck has extra weight...bumper/winch, sliders with fill plates, skid trilogy, rear hc bumper with a swingout. I also have a shell, rtt, a second spare, and 250ish lbs of gear when loaded up. 50/50 road/off-road use. Road use is daily around town and it sees highway trips with 500+ paved miles a few times a year. I drive it about 6,000 miles a year.

 

I'd do both. If I was to prioritize, regear first, then boost.

 

I would re-gear first, no question.
Less stress on the trans and that's certainly something to consider since you tow so much and have a lot of extra weight on the truck.

I run a 285 Toyo Open Country AT3 which is a true 34" tire. Prior to that, I ran a BFG 34/10.5/17 which actually measured about 33.25" in diameter. That's the last tire I ran on stock gears and holy shit I hated being under geared. The truck was an absolute pig and I didn't have half the weight you have on your rig and I never towed. So I'm not even sure how you're making it right now. With the current 34" Toyos and 4.56 gears it's pretty good. That gets the final gearing (to the ground) pretty well close to stock.

I feel like a super charger will be nice at altitude but as you add air you'll add fuel so expect that mileage to decrease. Keep in mind that if you open the diffs to install gears you could throw a locking diff up front for pretty much no additional labor. Since mine is a TRD Sport (open diffs) I installed a front and rear ARB locker when I did gears and it was the absolute best decision I ever made. Keep in mind, your shorter gearing also helps with descent control when you're offroad and doing really crazy steep downhill sections and need control.

 

I agree with those saying re-gear. Im a little bit surprised you've made it this far on stock gears, to be honest haha

Theres really no reason to worry about running 3k RPMs.

Also, Id probably want to drop the transmission pan clean the magnets and get some new fluid in there with all the towing youve already done