The 5.29 Mega Thread!!

After reading throughout this thread and debating for months on what to do. Figured it was only right to give an update. Current setup is 2019 DCLB auto with 5.29s and 35s. ECGS done the regear for me and was great to work with. Just passed the break in of 500 miles and changed it out today. Far superior drivability in the city and on the highway is the biggest difference for me anyways. Holds gear extremely well with the current KDMax tune. If someone is on the edge of gettting this done I would highly recommend doing so. Thanks for making this thread. Very good info on here.

 

Finally part of the cool kids club. 5.29s installed yesterday by Premier West out of Riverside, CA. Straight Pros. Drove 400 miles with the new gears and no issues.

 

Got my ecgs 5.29 3rd members in, less noise than the factory diffs, 2.7 4wd truck on 265/75/16's i think this ratio is perfect for the 4 banger. Highway driving is no longer a chore wish i did it sooner.

 

@troublemaker same overall tire size as you on 2.7L AT with 5.29. Maybe y’all can discuss the worth.

 

Running another groupbuy (3rd one) with Sibi Built. If you’ve been slacking on your gears, come get them done!

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/sibi-built-2024-regear-groupbuy-now-open.817330/#post-29315351

 

For those that have regeared to 5.29’s. I’m currently tuned on 35’s and while it’s not horrible to drive, it could be better. The tacomas don’t have much power to begin with and anytime I have a trailer behind the truck, whether that’s a utility, small dump or pop up camper, it’s not great, so I’ve been considering diving into having it regeared. Did it make a big difference? Does it make the truck actually enjoyable to drive? My other option is trading it in on a half ton. I don’t need a half ton but the anemic power of the Tacoma bothers me.

 

Yes, it helps. But it’s still gutless lol

 

Huge difference, really improves the towing and 4L performance and makes the truck drive like it should. 5th gear is perfect for towing and 6th is actually usable on the highway again. 1st gear 4L creeps over a lot of stuff at idle.

 

I loaded up the fam, bed full of camping gear and a trailer full of gear for a friend and I didn’t notice a difference on the highway towing it with 35s and 5.29s. Highly recommend.

 

This one is random and probably not 5.29 related but... I just had the JDFab 2.25" long travel and 934 CV and 300m axles installed and I'm getting a grinding only in 4HI. If I'm driving straight at 15-20ish there's an audible grinding and I can feel it in the wheel. I have about ~6000 miles on my 5.29s and I replaced the front diff oil with 85W-140 after 500 miles or so. No sound prior to the work, so I suspect it's related to the axle install and not the diff, but any suggestions?

I know it's not bearing related because it's only in 4HI and I already have an ECGS bearing.

 

Who set the gears up?

 

are you running a stock steering rack or do you have a modified tundra rack? If you have a tundra rack, that’s your issue. 934’s probably making contact with the rack. You’ll need to put spacers between your bungs and the rack.

 

Stellar Built in Sac about a year ago.

Naw, stock rack.

I think I’ll try to get it up off the ground and see if I can replace by manually spinning to see if I can isolate it to one side. That would at least confirm if it’s the gears or an axle.

 

Only reason I see that it would grind in 4wd is either a bearing in the diff is bad, a ujoint on the front drive shaft is bad, or your skid plate bolt is contacting the pinion flange and you only hear it when the diff actually spins.

 

doesn’t sound right. If it wasn’t there prior then the axle install has to do with it.

 

Yeah, I'll take it back to JD and have'em take a look. It's a bit of trek from me so I was trying to diagnose myself, but it's definitely something up with the axle install. If I put it in reverse, I get the grinding sound and the steering hits a hard stop/makes a clunk sound at about 9-10 oclock.

 

Hello, im new here. Its been a long read in this forum about the regearing process and such.
Im from Panama, where the hilux is a dominant force, yet i still chose to buy a tacoma.

This is a short story. I bought a year ago, a 2018 tacoma 3rd gen trd pro with somewhat modified suspensión (UCA and leafs) and 305/70R16 MT chinese (lanvigator) tyres.

The truck was kind of ok, but it felt slow, like something was holding it.
I added a set of arb skid plates and rock sliders, and it got worse with the weight. So, i began researching and found out this forum.

The reason i bought the truck is for daily driving and ocasional offroading. This is not a towing truck, i dont think it will ever feel good towing anything meaningless and driving well at the same time. (The hilux isnt a towing truck either...)

So, instead of buying a diesel hilux (i dont like the looks and its slow) i bought this instead.

Like 2 weeks ago, my mechanic installed the gears and a front arb locker. I also replaced the tyres for 28575r16 falkens at3w. Now the truck feels like a truck should feel. It has more torque when accelerating and it regained 6th gear at highway speeds.
Off roading, the truck gained crawl control (without using crawl control) in first gear is super slow. Its great.

For all the people thinking about this mod. Just do it if you have the money. If you tow heavily Just buy a tundra, this is not the truck for that.

Thanks for reading my thoughts.

 

Thanks OP and all those that contritubed to this thread. I read both the 4.88 and 5.29 threads and yet, I still debated which gearing to go with, its information overload. I signed up for a group buy and will be locking down a date to get re-geared, 5.29 gang! I'll have to stay below 70MPH or take the hit on the MPG$. I figure no speeding tickets for me in the future.

2019 AT DCSB OR
285/70/17 BFG K03 tires (32.7")
~3/2 lift (Icon UCAs, ICON RXT leaft pack and Fox 2.5 external resi CO and shocks)

I plan to add a front aluminum bumper/winch, RTT and sliders at some point in the future.

No tip in, balls deep. Here are the reasons I went with 5.29.

1. Future plans to of add weight and futureproof any future mods (bigger tires? ‍idk).
2. The 5.29 AT drive ratios of 5th and 6th are similar to stock 4.30 MT. (Gears 1-4 will are higher on the 5.29.)

3. The RPMs of 4.88 and stock tires is similar to 5.29 with 32.7" tires.

4. I tow occasionally.

Anyway, I'd be lying, if I said, I wasn't nervous about the 5.29 regear. Its a substantial investment to have regrets. I'm hoping I don't get any gear whine and that my overall experience is good with the regear.

 

If you don’t mind how much was the install and parts

 

Tacoma TRD PRO 2018
Install was 4200$
5.29 Nitro gears
Front arb locker
Amsoil synthetic severe gear oil for 2 changes (75w90)

I have now offroaded the truck after the break in and its pretty good. Also i dont have gear whine. The only thing im not sure, is the front locker.
I installed it because the diff was open, but the truck is so capable, i dont know if ill ever need it.
I dont wheel it extra hard, so for my use, between the 33s, skid plates MTS and rear locker, the truck cruises through the paths.
Also i no longer use crawl control for descent, 1st gear it descends without breaks, smoothly.

In my daily driving which includes heavy city trafic and 40km of highway, im getting bettween 12.5 to 13 L/ 100km uncorrected.
If i really rev it, i get 14 L /100km uncorrected