4.88’s and 32’s - honest opinions from a shitposter

That's what I was thinking. 4.88s skins like the sweet spot for 33s. I don't have a lot of extra weight on my truck and only go off road for hunting.

 

33's w/5.29's on an automatic are basically identical RPM's in 6th gear at cruising speed as a manual taco with stock tires. If my memory serves me right there is a 15rpm difference between the two at 70MPH.

This is the setup I have and chose this based off stock tire rpms from a manual taco. I love it! Only time I think 4.88's would be better is if you don't live in the mountains and/or spend lots of highway time above 75MPH.

 

I'm in a manual. And I've been through this with jeeps and 35s before, but I didn't mod anything on my second gen Tacoma. Oddly enough, for jeeps 4.88 is what's best for 35s, though plenty of people run them on stock 4.10s just fine. If only jeeps were as reliable as Tacomas... And didn't cost so frickin much

 

Gotcha. Is your truck tuned? May want to start there to save some $$$ and it might not make you want to even regear.

From my understanding, it's the two overdrive gears on the Tacoma that put the rpm's way too low for this 3.5 engine. It sounds crazy putting 5.29's in a truck w/33's, but I don't feel it's over geared. My neighbor has a Jeep with 37's and 4.88 gears and made it sound like 35's would be perfect for those gears as well.

If I keep my highway speed's at or below 65mph I easily get 21-22mpg on the tank average consistently. I also have the KDMax Pro tune that matches the gears perfectly.

*Just remembered the manual doesn't have a massive jump from 4th gear to 5th and then only tiny difference in rpm between 5ht and 6th gear. Also 1st is longer on the manual compared to my 5.29 auto 1st gear. So take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt. It's only the highway cruising speed that basically is identical.

 

Not tuned yet. Trying to decide between tuning now and regearing later, or saving up sooner for the regear. So this is good feedback for me. Thanks man.

 

No doubt. See my edit above *.

If you tune now and still want to regear, a tune will still drastically help with low end torque, throttle response, rev hang, more natural control of the clutch/shifting because of tuning things they do that's above my pay grade. Read up on some threads and KDMax. You can always get an updated tune for your specific gears if you decide to change at no cost once you've already paid for a tune. The auto is another story though as the stock shift logic was absolute poo. Would have traded it in if it weren't for a tune/regear with how I use my truck and living at elevation.

 

Thanks OP!! Fantastic write-up!

 

Nice write up OP! I will just link this for some more information. FFWD to 12 minutes for Q/A with Sibi who contradict some of your findings. Take it with a grain of salt, but I wouldn’t discount the advice from one of the most reputable shops in the country who do 8-10 regears on Tacoma’s per week.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MeyoGsVXpEo&t=781s

 

I think I'll definitely need to wait on the tune then... Unless you know of a tuner in Kansas? Would be a pain in the rear to have to drive out of state twice for a tune and then the update.

 

I have no idea sorry. You can buy the VF tuner software and tune yourself after buying a tune. That's what I've done and have tried at least 10 different tunes. The KDMax forum has locations of tuners around the US if you want someone else to tune for you. I believe most of them charge around $300 to tune. Much cheaper than a regear. I know several people who tuned and it was good enough for them to not regear. I chose to regear because 2 years ago when I first tuned my truck, the tunes were not nearly as good as they are now. I drove a buddies with stock gears on an auto with 33's and a new tune and was blown away how much better it drove than mine with a tune from 2 years ago.

 

How much is the VF tuner? How does that work with downloading and installing the tunes on your own? Thanks man.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/kdmax-pro-xt-tune-by-paparee-and-twtaco.713699/

Read this 1st page it has all the info and links for VF tuner.

 

I appreciate the compliment. One can’t really contradict my personal findings, as they are my personal findings, so are in essence 100% correct, for me at least.

What is missing in all these re-gear vids: Actual miles in the truck in all weather conditions, not just “ghee whiz” comments, immediately after a regear, with no long-term time spent driving the darn thing.

My opinions are coming from a fella who has driven his 3G Tacoma daily, for the last 5 years, including very long road trips. I am not running any sort of Tacoma-based business. My truck is not a bloated “Instagram model” Tacoma. It’s mostly a practical build.

I stand by my statements that 5.29 is likely too low a gear for a mild build, like mine, on 33’s, for people with similar goals and uses as mine.

Some thoughts:

-Comparison of gear ratio between autos and manuals is totally irrelevant due to the nature of the torque converter and the torque multiplication it gives you. It’s really not what one should be using as an argument for the correct ratio.

-People focus far too much on RPMs at top speed while ignoring what a ridiculously low 1st gear does to the driving experience during normal daily travels. There is a happy medium between torque and acceleration. It’s not all about torque.

Anyways…….maybe not the most popolar opinion, but if I had to do it all again, and it was a readily available option, I would have gone 4.56. In some ways I think I need to step up to 33’s to correct the gear ratio! How’s that for a laugh?

 

What do you consider to be a ridiculously low 1st gear though? And in an automatic that shifts itself, what is the frustration you have with it being 'ridiculously low'? Not picking, I'm genuinely curious how you got to this opinion, as I have a manual with the 3.98 1st and 4.30 gears, which is actually right at the equivalent final drive ratio as your 4.88 3.60 1st setup. some people say the stock manual 1st gear is too low but I'd have to disagree....it can go out to like 35 mph. For a truck, that is not short at all. Even a bone stock auto truck (stock tires I mean) with 5.29s can wind 1st out to 32 mph. A truly low 1st gear to the point of being annoying is in the 5's and starts to be a granny, which is still not really a problem until paired with deep axle gears. At that point, yes it can be annoying but it really only affects the manual trucks still, not really the autos since the autos shift themselves anyways. And at least in my case with the overland tune, my redline is now 6800 which raises my max speed even higher if needed.

I guess I'm not seeing what you consider to be the downside of 4.88 and why you would rather have 4.56 instead. Even on 4.88 and stock tires, you're able to wind out 1st to 34 mph if needed, so I really don't see what the complaint is with finding a happy medium in the low range. That already is a happy medium to most.

Anything else in the mid-high range can really only be improved by a lower ratio unless you gear so deep that you ruin your highway cruise, which on the auto and any reasonable tire size, simply is not possible even with 5.29s.

 

I'm recently considering a gear change in my 3rd gen.
My installer claims they won't use Nitro gears (do in fact to too many complaints on the whine).
So, they want to use Yukon gears. Claimably, these don't whine? Can anyone confirm? Or speak on the quality of Yukon v. Nitro?

 

I thought they're both the same thing from China? I know pretty much everything Yukon is Chinese. Not sure about Nitro but thought they are too.

I ordered Revolution 4.88's for mine since I know they always are and always will be from Circle K gears in South Korea. Their reputation is stellar. However, they have been out of 5.29s for a long time.

 

Sibi recommends Revolution to everyone.

 

I would certainly count on them being the best option for the highest chance of success. People have complained about noise on all of them but that's kind of the nature of the beast with a high 4's or 5's gearset. Revolution seems to have the least amount of complaints.

Also I see so many complaints on the stock gears anyways to the point that I kind of discard noise complaints in general. My truck is certainly not quiet but it's no worse than any other solid rear axle vehicle I've driven, as far as gear noise is concerned.

 

Appears now both 4.88 and 5.29 are out of stock. :-(

 

I got this kit.

https://www.revolutiongear.com/prod...9_gear_package_front_rear_gears_and_mini_kits

I have pretty low miles on my truck so I am reusing the bearings. They typically can be reused just fine below 50K and in good shape. The 5.29 version of that kit is out of stock though.