Opinions choosing new gears.

I am about to re-gear since I lifted and installed bigger wheels/tires. My past lifted trucks were square body Chevys with built engines. One had 36x14.50 with 4.88 gears and the other had 35x12.50 with 4.56 gears. Both drove great but I liked the 4.88 a tad better.
I don't drive the Interstate (almost never) and only drive a set route to and from work - the dog park after work - then home. A total of about 13 miles per day.

I am trying to choose between 4.88 and 5.29 for my Tacoma with the v6 and 285/65-18 Milestar Patagonia. My tires measure 32.6" tall. Anyone ran 5.29 with about a 33" tire on these? Help me choose folks!

 

I would say if you just stay in town you don’t need to re-gear. Especially for a 32.59” tire.

I’m on 32’s with my 4 banger and I cruise at 80mph all day long.

 

No interstate? What about offroad? Are you running a 5-spped manual or an auto? Is there any chance you will run a tire larger than the current ones? Also, how much extra weight to you typically carry?

These things should be the deciding factors.

FWIW, I went with 4.88s and if I had to do it again I would do 5.29s. Mine is an auto and I am heavy with steel bumpers, skids and slider. I also add weight for our offroad adventures.

 

My truck is an auto, crew cab, heavy steel bumpers front and rear in the near future. I will do some very mild off-road riding when work slows down a little, I very rarely tow a boat but the boat is a lightweight hot-rod bass boat, total weight of trailer and boat is approximately 2100lbs. I have a 2008 TrailBlazer SS that has been modified so this V6 feels like my fathers 2.7l Tacoma to me, especially with the bigger tires. It's possible I may go bigger tires in the future (that's how it always goes right?) but for now I am very happy with the way it sits, looks and rides...just has no 'get up and go' to speak of.

 

I'm on 35's with 4.88's and its perfect. 4.88 or 5.29's might be to little tall for a 32. Personally, I wouldn't even waste the money to re-gear. You probably have 4.10's (I did) and that's just fine, IMO. I drove for YEARS with 32's and stock gears.

 

Regearing for near-33's?

Not worth it; you're on 4.10

 

I have 3.90 's in my truck according to the door sticker, it has decent torque off idle but falls on it's face quick. Before I upgraded the wheel/tire package it had better acceleration, I know the gearing should be changed to help keep the engine operating where Toyota intended just having trouble setting my mind on a choice.

 

Even 3.90's aren't that far off.

If you're regearing, consider doing it for larger tires and for off-road use.

 

For the little amount of driving you do I don`t see re gearing as a major problem.

If you want off the line performance swap a built small block chevy and replace drive line as it fails.

 

Another data point for you:
99 3.4L 4.10 Manual Transmission.

~ 4350 lbs with armor
~ 4800 lbs with armor and bed packed for a 5 day trip.

275 70 R17 (32.2") BF Goodrich KO2.

Truck mainly used for off roading.

I drive to trails over high mountain passes at 70 mph at less than 4000 rpm if I remember right. 20 MPG highway ~13 on trails.

The 4.10s do fine on trail and off.
If I ever ruin the 4.10s, I will replace with 4.56 to restore the “off the line” performance that I had with 31” tires and to crawl a little slower over rocks on trails.
Hope that helps.

 

Just going to leave this link here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-350-tacoma-and-4runner.772536/#post-27594862

$2,350 for front and rear re-gear from Sibi Built in Santa Ana!

 

with 5.29s, 5 speed, and 33s my truck was very zippy but highway RPMs were very high -- 4000~ at 80. Weight is around 5,000 with tools and spare parts

4.56 or 4.88 might be a better choice with the auto and 33s depending on your driving style

 

As others have said, 5.29's with <33" tire is going to be WAY over geared (or is it under, I never remember, lol).

I'd only consider 5.29's if you're planning on 35's in the near future.

Check this out:
http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html

Enter all your info here from your stock setup, and then mess around with the gearing and your new tires and see what gets you the closest to stock numbers (for the RPM vs. speed numbers). You're not going to get exactly the same, so err on the side of slightly lower gears if you plan on off-roading it.

My bet is you'll end up with close to 4.56.

 

If you offroad a lot, I would do 5.29. Since you don't do any highway driving, it will be great for offroad and city driving. I would have done 5.29 if I didn't have to commute on the freeway. With 33's and a 33 tooth speedo gear, my speedo mph is 2 or 3 mph higher than actual speed (verified by Dragy).

With an auto I would never put 4.56. 4.88 is minimum.
Also regearing will save your drivetrain. Don't let the "I offroad fine and daily drive fine with 4.10 and 33's" guys steer you in the wrong direction.

 

If i wanted to regear, had an auto and spent most of my time off road and in town, hell, I'd go 5.29's even if I was on 30.5's.

 

Stick to 4.56 or 4.88 max for that size tires and the little off roading it sounds like you do.

mines a 4 cylinder 5 spd, but the gearing affects would be about the same for the sake of this discussion. I swapped to 5.29s last year while running 33x10.50s and it was a bit low for that size tires. Was at almost 3k rpm at 60 mph so highway driving was pretty much a no no in my book. I’m not one that’s willing to listen to the engine screaming for long periods of time. Bottom end was good, but I was in 4th gear by 35 mph. I have recently switched to 35”x10.50s and the gearing just feels so much more suited for these big tires. Rpm dropped to 2500rpm at 60 mph so I gained a bit of highway ability back.

Honestly, I felt the stock 4.10s were great with the 33”s for street driving, was just to high for off-roading, but that’s on my 2.7 manual. The 3.4 auto should handle it even better.

 

Thank you all for the suggestions and info, I appreciate your time and opinions. I spent some time on the grimmjeeper website and according to the info there, my truck would only be turning 2711 RPM at 70 MPH with 5.29 and 2501 RPM at 70 MPH with 4.88, not a big difference that I see. The only concern I would have with the 5.29 would be the smaller diameter of the pinion gear. I don't do any rock crawling or heavy load hauling or anything that might put a sudden shock load on the pinion where the smaller diameter might cause a problem that I can see.

Thanks again everyone, I'll figure something out and see how it goes!

Slimm

 

The smaller pinion being weaker is a myth. Plenty of people on 37's running 5.29's have been okay with heavy wheeling. I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

5.29’s > 4.88!

 

You'd be surprised what a couple hundred rpm will do...

Okay, it seems to me like you're stuck on the 4.88/5.29 bandwagon because that's what your old trucks had. You CANNOT compare the axle gears you've driven in your square bodies to the Tacoma. Different transmission, different engine, different everything. These are no frills pickup trucks, and you certainly can't compare it to anything with an SS badge, lol. By design, these trucks simply don't have a lot of that "get up and go" you seem to be used to.

These trucks are perfectly capable off road 100% stock. With no heavy wheeling, and no heavy hauling, I see no real reason to divert significantly from what your stock overall ratio was. 4.30's are very likely going to put you pretty close (~2200 at 70mph) to what it was stock which is still slightly lower (lower gear, higher rpm) than stock.

If you want more "pep" off the line, lower gears will do that, but lower gears also make it like you're running around with your overdrive off.

If it were me, I'd wait on re-gearing until you either get bigger tires or your off-road adventures start taking you on more technical, slow speed rock crawling trails.

Also, you have a Doublecab, not a crewcab.