Regearing and powertrain warranty

This is why I chuckle every time someone brings up MPG or tries to act like their 21mpg is possible even in a stock taco where I live. It's not.

I live in the mountains! 90% of my drive is mountains. But seriously, s5 (s mode in general) nets better results than to allow the hunting sometimes.

But man, OP, you could probably get some results searching around the 5.29 and 4.88 mega threads and asking there is anyone has been denied, but as others have stated... it's the risk you take in regearing. If they are going to deny a warranty claim due to regearing, they would probably do it for a simple lift, or many other things. Some just look for a reason to deny it... others (my dealer) is the one doing the work for the same price as any other shop in town and not going to raise an eyebrow over anything. I'd have to do something seriously fucked up to make them go "why and how?".

Find a shop, get your gears. If you are not tuned right now, try that first. I was waiting to get my 5.29's in before tuning but the wait is so long I decided to tune first. Others have chimed in they also tuned first and then retuned after gearing, and it was a great choice. So I'll take their word for it.

 

Look, if you increased your tire size they will deny your drivetrain warranty. They will deny your warranty for whatever they feel like and its up to you to prove why it shouldn't be because dealers dont give a f*ck about you. Find a trusted dealer and go to them for warranty work. If not wait until the warranty period is up before doing any mods to your truck.

 

How many regears here and how many reports of blown driveline or transmissions?

Id say it’s 1000 regears to 1 report of a driveline warranty. Play the odds and get it done.

4.88s make the truck wake back up.

 

Yeah, unless the OP has 33s or bigger, regearing for the purpose of being able to use your overdrive gears more in the mountains is just gonna make 5th feel more like the 4th he already has now. It’s a helluva lot cheaper to just move that gear shifter over to the left and get the same basic result, but with much more control over when it shifts… It’s literally what S mode is for. I mean yeah, you wanna run 35s and a tune isn’t enough for you, sure regear away. But this thread just reeks of someone who has buyers remorse and should really either learn to drive this truck for what it is, or take advantage of the highest resale value in the land and get something else.

And as far as warranty, unless he grenades his regeared diffs and tries to warranty his aftermarket gears thru Toyota (which of course they would tell him to take a hike), they aren’t going to even notice he regeared if the truck is in there for anything other than a blown diff.

 

Tuning is definitely a good option to get some transmission logic that makes any sense at all. Even in sport mode this thing shifts up asap so I am often getting 4-3-4-3-4-3 repeat in S4 on cruise control. And cruise goes away in S3. It holds gears the longest if I go drive with ETC, but as soon as it has to downshift to 3, it decides to go all the way to 6th when it gets back to speed and gets into another shift repeat cycle. So tuning would probably fix those shenanigans. The fact they gave us two overdrives makes the 4:88s and 5:29s a pretty practical option. I want to go gears to get the most out of all the ratios provided. Plus it would make the bottom gears a little more pep. I will probably do the gears myself, but the complete 3rds and clamshells from east coast gear ($700, and $900 complete) also sound like a pretty good option. Hopefully my local dealer doesn't suck. When I asked them if I would keep my warranty if they did the work, they said "only if we did it when it was new" so that doesn't sound promising.

 

Be prepared to wait. I called ECGS about 5.29's (complete and not) and while they have the rears, they don't have the fronts. Granted, mine is also factory locker. 6-8 months time frame. That was 5.29's. Not sure about 4.88. Maybe you can call them tomorrow and let us know. It would be pretty awesome if they still had 4.88's readily available.

 

Yes, buyers remorse for sure, but it's a better truck in so many ways. Can't buy a new 2nd gen. Ranger or bronco might be worth a look, but I like almost everything else about the truck so I will probably just do gears and the truck will probably never need the warranty. I was just hoping to see what I was up against. The dealership would probably give me less hassle than some of the people on this thread.

 

East coast gear has 4:88s in stock. 3-4 weeks to get a complete 3rd/ clamshell out (factory e-locker).They said they are doing '20s and '21s all the time so I think that pretty much makes up my mind. Now just need to decide when to part with the cash.

 

I was just being honest. Every single situation is different. If there is a problem, dealers don't have to prove anything and that was my only point. On shifting and gearing? You do you man. Mine shifts a lot and I don't care. I also rarely use cruise control.

 

This has been an enjoyable thread.

You use your truck everyday, do what you need to enjoy the experience. Most of us never use the warranty (I never have with 3 Tacomas bought new) and most of us that use the warranty don’t get dicked around, even modded.

Can either of the 2 who responded that a tech would know a gear swap has been performed with a visual inspection explain how? Pry marks around the pinion seal? 3rd member nuts? I’m both curious and impressed!

 

Since when are drivetrains "upstream/downstream" systems? By that logic changing your tire size would have zero affect on the rest of the vehicle and how it operates.

The entire load path is affected by regearing.

Also, it's not a matter of being denied warranty coverage, but that if you are and you challenge it in court, your truck is impounded as evidence in the case until it's resolved. Most people can't bite that bullet.

 

Thank you. I just contacted them. I might be making the switch to 4.88's... I think the way things are going that's a safer move for me anyways. As much as I want to tuck 315/70R16's I don't think it's in my best interest anymore.

 

The silicone is a dead give-away. They have to reseal the pumpkin and ADD on the front and its hard to disguise. Most driveline shops don't use the Toyota orange sealant.

On the rear pumpkin they use sealant rather than the paper seal, which is obvious as well.

Lastly, many re-gears do a locker, those are reeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally easy to spot haha.

We can sense when it's regeared, many of us have 32's 33's on our midsized trucks.

We aren't trying to void warranties, but if you complain about gear whine or howl, we need to investigate. Not a toyota part? Not a warranty problem. No lawsuit could win that.

 

DUH! The locker. Didn't even think about that.

I do assembly for a living and I'd like to think I'd leave no trace otherwise. Especially after I doused it all with black Woolwax.

Appreciate your response!

 

The gear hunting is completely due to the way the throttle and transmission shift maps are setup. When you're half way down on the gas pedal, you're only opening the throttle about a quarter. This makes the throttle response feel slow - i.e. you need to give it big gas pedal inputs to make small adjustments to power output. The transmission's shift points are also setup based on gas pedal inputs not how much throttle opening you are using. The effect is that unless you're WOT, you can't effectively use more than 40% of the throttle opening. You end up making big gas pedal input changes and the ECU is responding by giving you gear changes.

Gears will only mask the problem. OVTune will make a big difference. (I think they've been banned so I'm not sure if I'm supposed to mention them). Especially if you make your own custom maps (I'd be happy to give you mine) I can do 7% grades at 75mph in 5th gear

 

This is super helpful, thank you. I will use a paper gasket, and go buy some Toyota silicone. Probably hold off on the front locker too.

 

I think the logic was that if you change gears it only changes the speed for things upstream; EG the pinion and forward (driveshaft, trans, etc). Ring gear, diff, axles etc. keep the same speed and are "downstream". But could be wrong on that logic assumption...

 

Lower gears reduce stress on everything pinion and up. Bigger tires increase stress on everything rubber and up. Opposite effects.
Lower gear ratios amplify torque to the ring gear, carrier, and axle shafts, extra load. If those have issues I will 100% be fixing that myself.

 

I see what you guys are saying. I read the OP as "nothing changes upstream" and that's what I based my comment on. Quasi miscommunication, hopefully this helped someone other than me, carry on!

 

hi OP. let me share my story. just had my regear done last november. i have a 2020 3rd gen regeared to 5.29. finished the gear break in change fluids and stuff. december 2021 came and i was going on a long trip( from california to alberta). my transmission didnt work, it wouldnt shift after 2nd gear. i dont know if you follow chloe kuo's channel on youtube. but i had the same problem. i will attach a YouTube link for reference. it broke down in salt lake city. mark miller toyota didnt deny my claim for a new transmission replacement. a month later i got my truck back. turns out it came with low atf from factory. hope this help you with your decision with your regear


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL-OcshleTA