What gears should I use?

Hey guys I’m getting ready to suit my truck up with some 35’s but am wondering what gearing I should use? I’ve heard talk about 4.88 and 4.56 with 33’s? I currently am running slightly smaller tires than a 33 with stock gearing but haven’t really noticed a need to regear with the 33’s as I do a lot of my wheeling in 4lo. But I know I’ll need a regear with 35’s so my truck doesn’t shut itself. Anyways, what gearing should I go with?

 

I'm happy with my 4.88 gears.

 

There are lots of people that have asked this same question. Search "5.29" or "4.88"

https://www.tacomaworld.com/search/15971602/?q=5.29&t=post&o=date&c[title_only]=1

 

Also how tricky/difficult is it to do the regear myself? I usually do all the work on my trucks but tearing into the gearing makes me a little uneasy.

 

Luckily for you, @Timmah! just released a great video with the folks from ECGS that details the rebuild process:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/toyota-8-rear-differential-regear-rebuild.776518/

I watched the whole thing yesterday- it's incredibly informative. If you watch through that, it will give you an idea of whether or not you're comfortable tackling the job.

 

If you purchase the pre-built 3rd member (rear diff) and Clamshell (front diff) from a place like ECGS, you can just swap them out. I did this and swapped mine out in my garage all by my lonesome in a weekend, approx 15 hours at a leisurely pace. I would recommend watching Youtube DIY videos of the swap, just take note of the tools required as there are a couple that the average Joe would not have in their tool box.

As for gear selection, I would advise using the tire size calculator under “mods & tutorials”, enter the oem tire size and your desired tire size... then calculate.... at the bottom there is a gear ratio chart and I would recommend targeting a gear ratio on the edge of “factory Ratio/Increased Power”… I would stay in the green.....

https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc

 

Yes, like Andy said, watch my video to understand what it takes. Setting up gears is an art that you get better with repetition. A DIYer can do it, but it takes being very detailed and patient to do it right. If you don't have the time or patience, just order prebuilt diffs from ECGS, send them back your cores and call it a day.

 

Auto or manual? Which engine?

 

It’s the manual v6 3.4L

 

I just ordered some 4.88 gears a couple hours ago after seeing that’s a pretty popular opinion.

 

I have a 2.7 manual and went 5.29s and feel it’s about perfect with my 35”s. 4.88s might be ok with the 3.4, also a bit better if you do much highway driving.

As to the regearing job, I’d never done gears before and managed it. It wasn’t to bad, I just watched a bunch of YouTube videos and read some write ups. It’s been a year now and they haven’t blown up yet, so I must have done ok. I used nitro gears and they basically dropped right in with all the factory shims. I only ended up reshimming the rear pinion a bit.

 

thanks for the insight. I’ve decided to Bite the bullet and have a shop do it. Just because of my tendency’s to forget to do things. Like I installed my suspension lift when I redid the entire front end and forgot to tighten the top mounting bolts and forgot to torque the lower ball joint lol. Stupid stuff like this has happened with other stuff to do I’d really hate to have it all put back together and have a thought pop up like “shit did I tighten that”. Cause I know that’s gonna happen.

 

you do what your comfortable with. Trust me, I thought long and hard about it before deciding to give it a go myself.

 

Here is a tip. Get a paint pen or nail polish from your wife and mark a line down the nut or bolt after you tighten them. It will show you which bolt you have not tightened and if it ever starts backing out, the paint would not line up.