Regearing worth it?

It will give you more torque at the wheel and it definitely wouldn't struggle as much.

I love my taco but I knew exactly what I was getting into when I bought it. They are dead reliable, underpowered, and hold value like nothing else except a 4runner. Having a manual helps alot in the underpowered catagory.

 

Regearing does not add power. All it does is change you gear ratio choices which can improve driveability, but it does not improve performance. If you want a sportier feel (i.e. higher RPM), use ETC, s-mode, or buy a truck with a manual transmission.

I will certainly agree that gear ratios matched to your truck and driving habits can improve your driving experience, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking lower gears make your truck more powerful.

Short of forced induction, the 3.5 will never put out significantly more power. The only other ways to increase your performance are reducing weight, air resistance, and rolling resistance.

 

I recently drove a new f150 tremor with the newest version of the 3.5tt. Blew my mind how much power and torque it has, would I trust it in the long run? Hell no. Was it an absolute blast to drive? Of course. OP has the wrong truck if power is the goal.

Gearing will help it feel less sluggish for sure, but nothing is going to give you a big power boost.

 

OP, I'd recommend you join some local truck meet-ups and see if someone with a regeared truck will let you take it for a spin... if you were in WA you could hoon mine around.

 

A gear ratio matching the state of the truck isn’t a question of “worth it” like drinking water is something you’re supposed to do, not a question of worth it
Or just don’t drink water and pee yellow

 

The Tacoma has enough HP and torque to do what it was intended to do from the factory. The problem is the gearing (3.91 W/AT) they came with. When adding bigger tires, the gear ratio keeps going down. Re-gearing should be the first upgrade done on these trucks. It's expensive but the old saying of "buy once, cry once" holds true to this. My preference and recommendation to anyone running any tire bigger than stock is to re-gear 5.29.

 

To your question of regearing for better towing. On my 2015 I went from 30" tires to 32". It was sluggish and mpg dropped about 10-15%. I got regeared and it drove WAY better. The mileage stayed the same as before the regear, but wasn't sluggish.

However, on the east coast speed limits are slower so no issues. When I started towing a 3000# trailer, in 4th, as per manual the rpm's (about 3300 I think) were fairly high even when towing about 62-65. My towing mpg on it was 12mpg vs 19'ish not towing. As such, you may want to use one of the rpm calculators to see what your towing rpm's will be before making your final decision.

ps On my 2021 I left stock size tires on. Now towing at about 2500+ rpm and still around 12'ish mpg towing vs 20 not towing

 

I am curious about Re-gearing with 4.88 for 265 75 16 on an Manual gearbox.

Of course, the 'bang-for-the-buck' incentive is low Compared to someone going to 35"s (which id never do...)
(- Although it actually would make better sense than going to 35"s...)

I am not fussed enough to spend the necessary dollars on this (at least I dont think so at this time!) but I am wodering if there is anyone out there who has this set up.

 

Going from MT stock 4.31 to 4.88 with a nominal tire size increase I don't think you're going to get the ROI you want on regearing. The nitro gears site has a whole chart recommendation. But honestly their suggestion is 4.88 for 33 and under.

 

I get that gears don’t add power. But they give the placebo of more as the ratio is higher. It’s not so much that I need more “power”, but the way the truck drives just annoys me. The slightest incline, or wind and it has to downshift and really get up into the RPM’s to maintain speed, and then half the time it just stays in that gear (which may be a problem with my tune).

I’m tuned with KDmax’s latest version at the moment but thought about switching to OTT to see if it could alleviate a few gripes I have that I think are tune related. I think it’s pretty safe to say that OTT is the better tune. I’m not sure I would see enough difference for the price of switching though.

 

4.88’s here for my rig it’s great. Wouldn’t change a thing. I’m not heavy also running pizza cutters

 

My truck usually empty as I typically just commute to and from work.

 

IDK how people state "my stock geared truck on 33/35s drives similar to stock"(blowing smoke up yer ass), i must have a totally different truck as that is not the case i experienced(sarcasm). The statement is not possible, id say its more of a "i mod'd my truck before thinking about driveability". 5.29/4.88 Gears will make these trucks drive as they should, 4.88 for 32s...5.29s for 32s+(265s+). If you carry weight(sliders, skids, racks, bumpers, camper shell, etc) then you will want gears/tune. I run KDMAXX and 5.29s on 265s(w/ full skids, sliders/shell/racks/bumper) and the truck has power to move. Towing with gears/tune is night and day difference, controllability of the vehicle is drastically better. Tunes will provide better shift points, tailored to the gears installed. Overall, gears and tune are some $$, but they turn the truck from "meh" to "i can keep up with traffic without gear hunting'.
Once you head down that rabbit hole, suspension upgrades come over the horizon to a tune of more $$. Taco owners know the shortfalls of the truck, hence why many are regearing/tune to make the truck more user friendly.

 

Did you put on 35s for show, or to tackle more difficult trails? Will those trails tear up a full-size truck?

 

It was purely because I wanted to. The truck doesn’t see hard offroad use.

 

Oddly enough the truck really isn’t much different from stock. It’s different but not by much. 33’s to 35’s was not noticeable at all. I didn’t take a hit in mpg and driving it actually seems slightly better. With 33’s I’d get hunting issues in certain gears more often and 35’s it holds gears better.

 

I don

Gears do add power. Through mechanical leverage. Or at least restore power lost by a bigger tire on a stock ratio that doesn’t have enough leverage to turn it. That’s why crawlboxes exist.
The struggle to move on bigger tires with stock gearing and worse fuel economy is noticeable. It lugs in every gear.

that’s why cars with low power have a better ratio to compensate. Or P71 interceptors. And rehearing being a common car mod, including muscle cars and lemons races as a cheap way to boost acceleration without significant work such as forced induction.

 

Im unsure if this is sarcasm or your reality, bc there is over 300 pages on this forum alone pertaining to gears/tune needs on these trucks. Everyone’s different, but a stock gear/tune on 33s/35s has drastically different driving characteristics. Im assuming you’ve upgraded brakes to assist with the 35s?

EDIT: just saw OP upgraded tires for looks and not off-road performance, guess tune/gears/brakes isn’t required for the freeway/parking lots usage.

 

My 6mt truck on 33" E-load mud terrains drives just fine with the stock diff gears. There's only a 7% difference between a 32.6" and a 30.6" tire. It pulls a 2300 lb boat down a flat hiway at 70mph in 6th gear without complaint. The MT is geared lower overall compared to the AT. 5.29's on a AT give a final gear ratio about the same as the MT with stock gears.

If I were to do anything with gearing, I would put in a second transfer case (or one with a higher ratio). This is likely to never happen.

 

Braking actually isnt bad at all.