The 5.29 Mega Thread!!

Awesome to hear!

 

JoeCOVA

Thanks for providing so much information on your re-gearing. I'm seriously considering re-gearing my 2017 A/T Tacoma TRD Off Road to 5.29 as well. My one hesitancy is this:

Driving on level ground with no headwind (31.7 diameter 265/75/16) my truck, with stock gears, stays in 4th gear. If I re-gear, I'm worried that this will persuade my truck to shift into 5th gear but not 6th. So, I'll have spent $3,500 and the end result is at the same speed, I'm turning 2774 RPM's instead of 2972, a change of 200 RPM.

Honestly, I'm not concerned about MPG. What I wanted to find out is the groups opinion (consensus, hopefully...) on whether my truck will stay in 5th most of the time, or will the re-gear allow it to finally hang out in 6th, at least most of the time.

I've added rock sliders, bed rack, roof rack, front and rear bumpers, winch, and skid plate. Lots of weight and a little wind resistance.

Anyway, if I re-gear and all I get out of it is a 200RMP drop by going into 5th but not 6th, I'll save my $$$ and just drive a few MPH slower.

Any thoughts / experience?

Thanks again.

PS The below numbers are just approximations...

 

I'll let Joe address how the automatic may function in those situations, but a huge and main benefit of the gears is the overall performance. Your performance will be much better all around. Even if it does hang out in 5th in lieu of what it would normally do in 4th stock, you'll get much better performance in all the other gears in general. So I wouldn't look at it as spending $3500 to drop 200 rpm, and look at it as you added 35% of gear reduction which will provide a huge boost in performance across the range. There's a lot more to it than simply the final drive ratio on the highway (depending on which transmission gear is selected).

Comes up a lot in the manual transmission side of the forum too. Folks mention regearing and often get shut down due to "we have the same gearing as if the automatic went to 5.29s, so our gearing is perfect"......yes, in 6th, but only 6th. The rest of the performance in all other gears would be worse than an automatic on 5.29s, so not exactly equivalent, and there is merit to regearing a manual, even on stock tires. All that means is on the manual, you have to compromise more between higher highway rpm and better low end performance. I did that by gearing my own to 5.29, eating the higher highway rpm and enjoying much better performance.

I will say I do find it odd that your truck stays in 4th gear and not ever 5th or 6th in stock form. 6th I'm not surprised, 6th is truly too tall for this motor to use even in stock form. I am surprised, that it doesn't use 5th though. Does it NEVER use 5th, or just doesn't most of the time? Maybe it's due to the extra weight? That is for sure a lot of weight, and the automatic, at least from my limited experience, seems to favor downshifting at the slightest need it feels to do so.

I would be surprised if you geared to 5.29 and your truck didn't use 6th ever. Maybe not all the time, but I would think it certainly should most of the time. If not, I would certainly think a tune could straighten that specific behavior out.

 

Thank you for the response! It is greatly appreciated. I should have elaborated, but I worry that I tend to talk too much. I understand the full range of gears will benefit. However, I honestly have no issue with anything other than the frustration that my truck has six gears yet I drive from Reno to Elko and back at 3000 RPMs. Very frustrating for me. It will shift into 5th on a slight decline, and 6th going down a decent hill. It certainly functions. Just the same issues most people encounter with A/T stock gears who've gone with bigger tires and/or added weight. I am absolutely convinced that the stock ratio isn't 'terrible' for a completely stock truck. No added weight, stock tire size. But, who keeps their Tacoma stock? So I think you're right, I think it's all the added weight. If I felt confident that at least driving on level ground with minimal headwind, I could stay in 6th, I'd do it tomorrow. I'm just not sure. Guess there's really no way to be sure...

 

Something to keep in mind, is that 5th and 6th are pretty close. 4th and 5th are a lot further apart. From your own clip, 5th is at 2050 in stock form. 2050 is pretty rough for anything high speed or high load. Meaning hills, or 70 mph, or whatever other condition, may be why the truck doesn't want to be in 5th. Especially with added weight.

The new 6th gear, however, would be at 2300 in the same conditions. That very well may be enough that the truck chooses to run 6th, post regear, even though it often stays in 4th now in stock form. In other words, the regear might not start using only 1 taller gear, but perhaps 2 because gears get closer together as you get to the taller gears.

While you are happy with performance as it sits, I would bet you wouldn't regret the 5.29s at all, the performance will just be that much better I will say, I have 6 gears also and I do cruise at 3000 rpm now, but that's self inflicted. lol.

Good luck! 5.29s would be the first mod I'd do to an auto if I had one.

 

At 68mph like you posted above you will for sure stay in 6th gear on flat ground with a slight headwind. I have a DCLB with sliders, skids, and 33's w/5.29 gears. I'll have my dirt bike loaded up on a long stretch of road that is ever so slightly up hill with headwind all the time at 65-70MPH and it holds 6th gear. I do have the KDMAX 9.0 tune as well. It will go into 5th if I depress the pedal a bit to gain 5-10mph and then goes back to 6th.
I almost sold my truck because it sat in 4th gear on long highway drives and even going to 3rd gear at times and it drove me crazy. If it did go to 5th or 6th the truck would lose speed, shift back to 4th and continually go through 4,5,6 and back to 4th.

You'll love 5.29 gears, especially with a tune!

 

Thank you both for your input, this was exactly what I was looking for. I'm feeling more confident that after 5.29 gearing, my truck will be able to stay in 6th gear most of the time. Going to call my local gear shop now. Thanks again!

 

Just left ECGS after they installed Yukon 5.29 gears and an Eaton front locker. This break-in drive home is going to take a while but this is the quietest that the truck has been in nearly 5 years.

 

I’m going next Friday to ECGS. Dreading the ride home lol

 

Question for everyone who’s re-geared.. are any of you getting alignments afterwards due to the small amount of suspension manipulation needed to pop the front axles out? Just curious.

 

Nope. I am, however putting the KDMax tune specific to 5.29 in.

Fiesta Mexicana is less than 20 minutes away. In my case, Sanford Toyota was 50 miles after that to grab stock length front dif bolts to remove the old dif drop.

 

nothing in the suspension gets changed

 

Nothing gets changed but it gets manipulated when they unbolt the LCA to make room to pop front Axles out - Any suspension manipulation could cause changes to the alignment(even if its put right back as it was) so was curious if everyone is coming out fine or have noticed the alignment was "off"

 

They just unbolt the piece that connects the lower ball joint to the knuckle/spindle. Doesn't affect the alignment because the LCA itself and it's bolts are not manipulated.

 

How was ECGS in your opinion.... Ive heard nothing but good things. Im also getting Yukon gears which Ive had before with zero issues

 

Thanks Brother Appreciated

 

Top notch.

Many other installers order from them. Very thorough even though I showed up with every question via the forums and years of window shopping. Questions such as the dif drop (removing it ASAP), to my rear breather, etc was not foreign to them. I’m also doing a second flush shortly after the break-in for good measure. They mentioned the top speed limiter after regear and didn’t balk at our ability to tune it out. Although at 6-7k lbs, many of us probably shouldn’t be going above 85 mph.

The switch-pro timed out and I got to help wake the system up for the locker. I’m waiting on a 3d printed bracket to place the front locker switch next to the rear locker. It’s also way harder to accidentally hit on the overhead console.

It’s a completely different truck. Holds RPM up hills. Climbs curbs easily in reverse. Gets into traffic fast. Merges lanes and accelerates appropriately. A few weeks back, I drove through WV and had it up shift 6 times on a short stretch of 4% uphill highway. Recorded it to show a buddy who’s looking for a truck while I pondered my life choices. You’re going to love it.

 

I can’t freakn wait. My truck only has 1200 miles on it and its shift points are awful. I’ve made the regear a priority. Thanks for all the info. I’m ready to join the club. Sounds like you’re a happy dude

Hopefully the 130 mile trip home won’t be too aggravating. Ha

 

If you can get the gears REM polished it makes the break in almost non-existent

 

Life’s been crazy for awhile. I haven’t had time to set that up. I did want to cryo and REM but prob out of time now.