Manual Transmission - 4.88 v. 5.29 - Go!

Ok, I know there's a ton of these threads battling back and forth on Tacoma re-gears but after reading the Super Re-Gear thread for what seemed like an eternity and even used my limited searching attention span to find the answers I am seeking, but i'm still up in the air.

BLUF: My Taco is overladen for the 4.3 gears and can't get it's fat @$$ up hills... So here's what I have on it so far:

- Princu Roof Rack
- Relentless Off-road steel Bed Frame
- Tepui truck mounted tent
- Decked bed storage system
- CBI Offroad Adventure Front Bumper
- Warn 12000 Winch
- CBI Full Overland Skidplates
- Relentless Fab High Clearance Rear Bumper with Swingout Tire Carrier
- 33" Falken Wildpeak AT's

Possible future upgrades:
Gas Tank Skid
CV Joint Protectors
maybe 35" tires at some point
Unicorn Fairy Dust

BTW I give Zero F---ks about MPG... There's a reason I was in the Navy and it wasn't ESGs or Teslas. Plus this Fat Bottom Girl isn't a Porsche so.....

Also: I have a DD and this is for 1/3 Overlanding, 1/3 Groceries about 20 miles away and 1/3 Weekend Camping trips.

So the $5,000,000 question or rather the $4,000 question is do I do the 4.88 or the 5.29 I am leaning for the 5.29 but I want some other degenerate opinions on the subject. Is the 5.29 too much for an MT, or like Goldilocks Just Right?

Send IT!

 

I'll start off by apologizing for not fitting your category with having an AT vice MT. While I do not have a MT, I do have mine regeared to 4.88 with a KDMAX Pro XT tune done a few days ago before driving to Montana. I was very happy with the results with both going up hill and the slight boost in mpg. I chose 4.88 because I knew I wasn't going to do any heavy towing that would need that extra torque at the start. I think the driving (pun intended) factor would be your future desires. I see larger tires are in your future so it maybe prudent to go with the 5.29 if you're gonna also need the extra torque in the low end. If I am off base about anything above let me know as I am always willing to learn. Also check out this thread for some more guidance: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/4-88-vs-5-29.667903/ It has some good gouge as well as getting down to the nitty gritty of it all.

Take care brother and thanks for your service!

Edit: Forgot to add that run 17" rims with 33s.

 

Thanks for yours! Even though it appears you're possibly a brown shoe, but I won't hold that against you if you are

Yeah I am pretty sure I scowered that one and pretty much everyone I could read and it didn't scratch the itch. Then again I was up until 0200 reading it so maybe I was just tired, hell if I know. So I posted this. Thanks for the info my man.

 

I've always heard it is good to go with more than you think you need.

 

5.29. Just the fact that you have any tire larger than stock makes 5.29 the way to go IMO. I’m going 5.29 on the 1” larger 31.8” tires. For 33’s or more it’s a no brainer, factor in 35’s and weight and it’s not even debatable.

4.88 on 35’s is worse than stock 30.5’s on 4.30. Add in the weight and it’s like you’re running 33’s on stock.

 

I’d recommend the gear calculators available online. I spent a lot of time with them before deciding (4.56 for 32.8’s on my ‘02 AT 4 speed Tundra)

The general advice is 5.29 for AT when heavy / upsizing tires to get more of the advantage of the overdrives. But with MT, we have a lot less with 5th and 6th. You want to see your RPM’s at 75-85 MPH to know. My Tundra only has 4 gears so I picked on OD mostly. Thankfully the v8 has nice torque so it doesn’t need higher RPM’s nearly the same.

If you don’t need to go past 65-70 MPH in this rig, you have more flexibility. And if you’re committed to doing 35’s or bigger, that’s a good push to 5.29.

But you want to know, on 33’s with MT and 5.29, if you do typically cruise at 75-80 for those groceries, what will your Tachometer would look like. Before you regear. As 35’s may involve some work and/or time.

The smaller pinion gear is maybe the only other thing to think about. And the ECGS bushing if you don’t already have one.

Gut feel is you have a good case but 5.29 for MT is not for everyone.

 

I'm currently running exactly this while I prep for 35s and would not recommend it as a goal, especially in Texas with flat higher speed highways.

 

I already drive in 5th 99% of the time on the highway. The regeared 6th will be right about the same. I drive 70-75.

What part of it do you not like?

edit: don’t you have an automatic? If so 5.29 on yours would be like mine is from the factory. I’m going even crazier than that because I don’t like how mine is factory. I will be revving around 2900-3100 on the highway post-regear.

 

5.29....makes my taco feel like a semi truck thou....

 

If you don't care about fuel economy, there is literally no reason to not go directly to 5.29 other than maybe 1st being a bit too much of a granny gear. You have a lot of weight and aero drag so that extra torque from a regear is going to go a long way.

5.29s, 0.713 6th and 33" tires is basically the same as the 1995-2004 Tacoma V6 5 speed with 29" tires, 0.838 5th and 3.91 gear ratio. So it can't be that bad.

 

33’s with 4.88 is 100 more rpm than stock (2550 at 70). Considering the extra tire weight and leverage, call it even (running 33’s on 4.88’s vs the stock 30.5s and 4.30).

Add in the extra weight added to the truck (rack, winch, bumpers, future sliders, yada yada) and all of a sudden he’s back to a loaded down stock truck which will feel worse than stock. Stock is already only adequate, not really stellar. Loading it down starts to suck.

Then throw in the idea of 35s which he may or may not do. If he doesn’t do the 35’s, then he’s basically loaded down stock forever. If he does do 35’s, then 4.88 will be inadequate simply due to the tire size (compared to stock), from there add in the extra vehicle weight again and he’s significantly worse off than stock. Factor in that 4.88 is a relatively small change from stock and costs about 2.5-3 grand, and it just doesn’t make sense. To me, nothing but 5.29 makes sense for any of the factors on his truck, looking at it logically. Yes, he will rev a tiny bit higher than stock but if he doesn’t like that, then he should probably prioritize lowering weight first to make the truck less of a pig so it doesn’t need as much rpm and gearing to get out of its own way.

My plan of 5.29 for myself on 31.8” tires is just for power. I wouldn’t recommend it to many others but in this thread considering all the factors, the 33’s and weight already makes the 5.29s the right choice in my eyes. I am not thinking of my use, but his, when I say 5.29 here.

 

Where did you get these numbers from? I just drove from VA to MT and back and at 70mph I was at 2200 rpm at best. I hit 2500+ around 81/82.

Do you have an experience in running this setup yet? I'd be interested in the outcome on a Tacoma.

 

I know what the stock numbers are and I can calculate what the numbers on 4.88 and 33’s would be. We are talking about manual transmissions, the automatics rev much lower.

I don’t yet but I know I’ll like it. My 6th gear will basically become what 5th gear is now which is how I drive the highway all the time except road trips. Every other gear will be improved in a major way, especially 2nd and reverse. I’m scheduled for February and already have all the parts.

 

Ah, yeah! My bad, I forgot the topic was on a MT vice AT.

I'd be interested in how this ends up, if you remember could you post an update or PM me? I'd appreciate it for my own personal learning.

 

Thanks to all your guy's input, I think the 5.29 will be the one I go with for my MT setup as it will provide the flexibility for the 35's if I decide to go that route. Even if I don't I don't really care as I will at least be able to make it up hills with that fat bottom girl then. When I get back to the PNW I will update with how she drives after her "boob job" is done.

 

33" tires
*pi (distance covered per revolution)
/4.875 (final gear ratio)
/0.713 (6th gear ratio)
*2550 rpm
/1056 (inches per minute converted to miles per hour)
= 72 MPH

 

Sure, if I can ever figure out a solid way to video my cluster without buying an expensive GoPro, I’d like to do some video comparisons of driving around and shifting so people can see the speeds vs rpm with both setups.

 

I would suggest bare chested with duct or gorilla tape your cell phone to your chest as you drive

 

I’m interested in seeing the results. I have a 17 mt Offroad 4x4 an have a full dirt king lt and spring under kit going in. Also with a custom built tire rack being made for the bed. And have 17 kmc 445s with 35s with 2 spares. With all that extra weight I was leaning toward 5.29 but haven’t pulled the trigger so I really wanna hear the results

 

If you have a manual transmission like myself, the only option is 4.88. I had my manual regeared at Nitro Gears shop in Cashmere, WA. I have plenty of weight as well and the regear is awesome. I also got the KDMAX Overland Torque Tune or whatever their most recent version is. I have low end torque and can pass anyone on the freeway now. The 5.29 is only for Automatic transmission.