To re-gear or not to re-gear

Last year I installed a leveling kit and upped the size of my wheels to 17" and went from stock 245-75R16 (30.5") to 285-70R17 (32.7) tires. I love it! I could feel that I had better grip on the road, also a sacrifice in power obviously (as expected). It was easy to peel out with my stock tires...now not so much. It doesn't bother me so much; however, I did recently go on a 2,500 mile road and camping trip with the family from California to the Grand Tetons. With my truck fully packed with my wife and two children along with my truck bed filled with all my camping gear, I could definitely feel my truck working hard. And it was in Nevada where I noticed that in order to maintain the speed limit of 80 (or more), my truck spent a lot of time in 3rd and 4th. Even on subtle grades.

According to the code on my VIN sticker located on my driver side door (A04C), my truck is geared at 4.56 (UPDATED 3.73 ratio...questions below still stand). I have a 2012 SR5 Double Cab V6 4.0L.

I'm not that mechanical (I do some basic stuff). But I did some googleing to see what others have done. Some going with 4.88 or 5.29, but I want to hear more from people that have gone trough with re-gearing their trucks. What's it involve for a Tacoma like mine? Is this done in the front and rear differentials? Is there any addition parts/upgrades to be done to re-gear? I saw Nitro Gear and Axle has a kit for a 5.29 with or without a rear locker option; what's the benefit of the locker, etc? If I buy this kit, what kind of mechanic specialist should I seek out? As you see, I'm not that mechanical, but I do love my pick up. Any TW folks that have re-geared there pickup. Let me know.
Cheers.

 

I thought stock gear ratio was 3.73 if you are truly at 4.56 with 285’s you should be sitting almost perfect. People usually run 35’s on 4.56 or 4.88 on second gens

 

You might be looking at a 1st gen gear chart seeing 4.56

 

You are correct! Is this wrong or different for 2nd generation Tacoma pickups?

 

I think i saw the same thing a couple years back. You should be 3.73 I believe

 

There are some places that will install their new gearsets. East Coast Gear supply did mine when I went from 30" to 32" tires. It was a bit pricey at $1700 and you need to plan on doing a proper break in after the install, which I did. One thing to note your truck will run at higher rpm's for the same speed. Since I tow in 4th at about 62 my rpm's are about 3k. In D at 65'ish about 2500. Amazingly not to much of an negative impact on the gas mileage... though the heavier tires did have a 10% hit to mileage.

If you want less sluggishness when driving around take it out of drive (to disable the overdrive). For my 2nd gen 2015 v5 4x4 SR5 that be 4th... I think the 3rd gen's would be 5th...

 

https://www.toyodiy.com/parts/q.html

I just did a search on another forum which led me to a website for DIY'ers, I looked up my differential and yes it does say 3.73 (rounded), so I believe you are correct. Is there a chart for 2nd generation Tacoma pickups that I can look up for A04C? Just curious!

 

I'm like you...I do take it out of drive and go manual into 4th, 3rd and sometime 2nd (depending on the grade) when driving on windy roads or going to pass cars out in the country. What the $1,700 for the labor?

 

I have 285s and stocks gears. Not going to re gear it doesn't bother me enough to do so

 

Labor and parts.

 

In second gens, the highest gear Id recommend is 488. 529s are most common in 3rd gens, which is what I own now. Most of the guys that run 488s in 2nd gens are running 35s.