Re-gear

I have some 4.10's coming to me for my 5 lug. I run 31x10.5x15 tires with stock 3.33 gears. That setup sucks with 2.7L gerbill, I lost a LOT of torque and the truck is more than sluggish.

4.10's should put my truck VERY close to stock gear ratio. The 4x4 and prerunner 4 cylinders come with 245/75/16 tires stock. The 245/75/16's are only hair smaller than the 31's so running so 4.10 gears should be perfect. I am very happy with the 31's and don't see going bigger tire on this truck.

Now the issue is gear install. Since I am tight on money going to a shop would be the last resort, even if I do that I would be bringing the 3rd member to the shop not the whole truck, to save cost.

I am intrigued in trying to re gear myself. I have a LOT of experience working on FWD cars, several Nissan and Honda engine swaps, electrical wiring, etc... I just never re geared a rear axle.

I have found extensive write-up on pirate4x4; LINK --> http://www.pirate4x4.com/articles/tech/billavista/Gear_Setup

It is very descriptive and I get the idea of how the gears need to be setup.

However the issue I am running into is tools. Many tools I dont have;

1, torque wrenches

2, dial indicator

3, bearing press

4, micrometer calipers

I know I can rent torque wrench and most likely all the other stuff at autozone... What worries me is bearing press. From my previous experiences with bearings, hand bearing press rarely works and what is needed usually is hydraulic bearing press to make the job much easier.

Now its a tough decision, if I rent the tools at autozone, it will probably cost $200+ for rental, ya I would get it back after return, BUT if I mess this up I can look at costly repair.

I would like to hear from those who re-geared themselves! Let me know what tools you needed, how hard are the bearings to take off and press in, etc...

 

I would recommend having a shop do it if you don't have the tools and have not ever done it before

 

I have several friends who are all TOYOTA and are true gear heads, but when it comes to gearing they ALL say take it to the shop, cause you could save money doing it yourself but when your talking gears a lot of things can go wrong and everything down there is extremely expensive well at least the older toyotas were, i would just save up and maybe do like you said take the 3rd member off and take it to the shop and that way you have some sort of guaranty from a shop or warranty, save yourself the trouble and money, SHOP!

 

If you're thinking about doing it yourself then I'd check out http://www.gearinstalls.com This guy has done plenty of toyota rear ends and they're well documented. At the very least it will give you a good idea of what's involved. I think he even lists out the tools he uses. He's in Arizona and was taking a break from doing gear installs. I think he might be starting up again soon. Not sure if he's close to you but it might be worth your while to look him up.

On a side note, East Coast Gear Supply has a pretty good rep for regearing thirds.

 

Thanks for the site!

+1 rep

 

I've done gear swaps in older cars. I recently regeared my el camino. With the right tools it can be done, it's a good idea to have a good impact and don't crush the crush sleeve too much or you might have to replace it. Also shimming the pinion could be difficult if you don't have a way of removing the bearing to add or remove shims, we used an old bearing and made it so we could slide it on and off to get the pinion shimming right. As long as you get pinion depth right, then get your wear pattern right, and make sure the backlash is right then you should be good. it just takes time especially if you have not done it before. Good luck if you do it yourself

 

no problem