The 5.29 Mega Thread!!

As far as I know ECGS is still doing business as usual. You could get the built diffs sent out to you and return your cores after the swap

 

I just talked to the shop doing the install today about it, and I'm going to wait. TBH, I'm in no rush I was just kinda shocked. Good things come to those who wait I guess... and it gives me time to save up for the massive dent those Mickey Thompson Baja's are going to put in my wallet, lol.

 

Fair enough. I just dropped mine at the shop today for 5.29s. It’s a lot of money but every change I make to the truck makes it drive worse and it has never really driven all that well. I’m trusting the people that claim it’s a significant improvement. Here in Utah we have a lot of 75-80mph speed limits and driving on them is a nightmare of constant downshifting to 4th and 5th.

 

Same here but 70mph usually. That was my main reason for considering 5.29's. The hills/mountains and wind alone will kill even higher MPG vehicles. Pretty much no matter what I do I'm at an average of 15/16 and it was about the same stock even - I just had a heavier foot. I'll probably just keep the tires I have now for the winter set and come NEXT spring ('23) I'll have my "35's" rocken. I think they are actually 34's... 315/75R17 but I may go with 16's instead. Either Summit or RRW's.

 

I had the KDMax 6.0 tune with the sport throttle prior. After the regear to 5.29 it was WAY too jumpy. I had them upgrade me to the KDMax Pro with the normal throttle and 5.29 gear setting. It drives great now.

 

I was going to wait and tune after the gears but if it's going to be that long then I'll tune now and retune after install.

 

You'll probably still be in 5th most of the time. When I cruise out to moab loaded down I'm in 5th if I'm trying to go 80. Gears don't change the fact that these things are bricks.

 

Except that one long downhill from Vail on I-70, I think John and I got 18mpgs but then it flattened out and brought us back to earth in 5th.

 

Yep! I'd rather it stayed in 5th than hunt or need to be floored to down shift.

Hey just wanted to clarify, I reached out to ECGS. They do have the rears but waiting on the fronts from Yukon or Nitro is going to be about the same time frame.

Thanks for all the help everybody. I'll report back when I know more.

 

These guys are sourcing them from somewhere. Take a drive out to Cali this summer and hook it up

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/premier-west-gears-re-gear-promo-special.755704/

 

That's strange. I ordered F&R 488s with ARB lockers Jan 16th from ECGS. They arrived about 2 weeks later and I'm about wrap my break-in period. I wonder if they have 488s but not 529s? I'm also 2nd gen so it could be different but still surprising.

 

Maybe. When I first got here in November the wait time was estimated 3 months. In that timeframe it's gone completely bonkers. I remember seeing a 6-8 month time frame on one website, but I can't recall who. That's when I started digging on estimated times and was met with almost a year. Could also be that I'm 3rd gen as you said, and have a factory locker.

Yea lots of places with MANY more options than me, lol. There is basically two shops in the bigger "city" (it's a town) and 1 shop kind of close to me in ID but I wouldn't go there. I am really contemplating reaching out to someone in WA and making the drive for some help tucking the 315/75R16's when I get them. Got some goodies to buy from DRT Fabrication first though

 

Me as well.

Currently running OVtune and it's not great at all. Even with 5.29 the shift points and throttle response are garbage. Better, but nowhere near the potential of this hardware. The truck should drive somewhere closer to ECT mode, IMO

 

Yea I haven't tried a tune yet but instead went the ECT always on mod route. Honestly I think the truck feels pretty good like this. Been running it this way for over 2 years with no issues.

 

Same here - 5.29s with the ECT always on mod (no tune) and it feels pretty decent. Better than it did with 285s and stock gears (maybe even better than stock tires & gears but it's been so long since I've had that config).

Biggest problem for me is the speed limiter kicking in at 93 MPH. I usually commute/cruise around 70, but it becomes a problem when you're passing one of those shitheads that speeds up as you're trying to overtake and you need that quick blast to xxxmph.

 

I'm on the OVTune 2.0 and honestly yeah it's not that great. It's nice to be able to change the speed limiter but not worth all the money I spent.

Now I'm faced with the choice of paying for yet another tune that may or may not be any better, or getting a supercharger lol

 

I ran 2.0 on 5.29 gears with 33's for a year and now run KDMax pro tune. 2.0 was way better than stock for me, but it does like to upshift and keep revs super low, so I get that it's underwhelming when you put gears in thinking it will change the driving more. KDMax holds gears longer and adds more throttle response. Really makes these gears shine. That being said. I did get slightly better MPG's with 2.0 in city driving, but for highway, KDmax has more torque down low to hold 6th and 5th gear up inclines that it would kick down to 4th and rev with 2.0. So my highway mileage is better w/KDmax. I'd say spend the $300 or whatever it is for the tune, I don't think you'll be needing a supercharger after trying it out.

 

Very insightful. Thank you!

 

I may just keep hitting the ECT button until the ultimate tune comes out. I'd like to try that before buying another one but god knows when it'll ever be finished.