Tacoma needs gears

I took my truck to White Rim Trail a couple of weeks ago. Some parts like Murphy Hogback were absolutely crazy and scary. Truck was great in crawl mode except when in lowest gear. I think a re-gear would be great and make it less prone to the surging that I got when crawling in lowest speed. Truck was loaded with tons of gear which made the ascents and descents more exciting than I would like. Also made big mistake not airing down which resulted in a puncture. On the plus side met a bunch of others on the trail that stopped and asked if they could help with my flat. Enjoy reading the posts on tacomaworld and thought I should join to share rather than just being a spectator. Cheers!

 

Sounds like a great time, offroaders love to help each other.

Do you have an auto or manual?

 

2018 with automatic. Stock on most things including the 3.90 gears. I have seen all the re-gear videos and agree that Toyota totally whiffed on the factory gearing. Problem is, when does the performance problem become big enough to justify the $3500 to fixit? For me the gas mileage difference is irrelevant. Even a totally stock Tacoma would be better with the 4.88 package.

 

Welcome aboard Dave

 

What’s crazy is that you are most likely wrong about needing new gears. Weird right!?!? This guy will show you the truth-

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/regear-retune-why.674555/

 

The first few times I tried out crawl control (because you should know how to use everything on your vehicle before you need to) it was very jerky. Second time same thing. A member on here recommended to use a higher speed crawl setting because the sensors are saying it is going too fast for the setting and trying to give more slow control.

So if you're surging alot try using a faster setting. When you no longer surge that is the correct speed for the obstacle. Obviously the vehicle can't see ahead only the terrain that is it currently on so you still can use either the dial to slow down or use the brake or gas to over ride the system.

Also betcha you'll never not air down again haha glad you had fun with it

 

The MT doesn’t need gears. The AT definitely needs gears.

 

I really like the forum because of this very point. Differing thoughts and approaches are really helpful. People selling re-gears think all the 3rd gens need new gears...even with stock tires. I tend to agree that not having the truck use 6th gear (and frequent down shift on minor hills) when in cruise due to gear range and engine power mismatch can be aggravating. I’m early in the mods for the truck, and still not 100% sold on gears. Maybe as I put on bigger tires (33) and load it with bed rack and tent, the aggravation factor will increase and seal the deal. For what it’s worth I am very much aware of S mode & ECT and use it often, particularly in winter driving. Thanks for the link and insights. Here is another link that I found helpful

 

Welcome to TW! Glad you are here

 

Buy some take offs from a manual tacoma.

 

95% of us don't need gears. Daily driver; forest roads; pulling the boat etc piece of cake with current transmission and gearing using S and ECT mode when needed.