4.88 nitro gear 2020 Tacoma

You are missing something, and you need to do more reading about these trucks and re-gears. The experience you speak from isn't relevant to these trucks.

 

Gearing is gearing, manual or automatic, works the same basic way with sports cars or trucks. Lower gearing means higher rpm at a given speed, along with some quicker acceleration and better torque. In any case, the trade-off for lower gearing (higher numerical) is higher engine rpm. If that puts you better into the powerband for your motor, great. My thoughts would be, and forgetting 5th since it's overdriven, drive around a while in 4th, that will give you an idea of what your final drive ratio is like because 4th is direct. For me, in a 2011 4L automatic with whatever the stock diff ratio is, (I'm assuming it's in the mid 3-something ratio range) 70 mph is 2750 rpm, 75mph is 3000rpm. If I were to drop my diff ratio into the 5-something, it would be like driving around in 3rd gear everywhere, wouldn't it?

 

Top 2 gears in the AT are overdrive ratio's, 4th is 1:1 I believe?

 

You would think gearing is gearing, but by the suggestion you've made about being 500rpm off redline at 60mph tells me that's not the case, all is not equal. Not in practical application nor in your number crunching.

These trucks barely see use of the overdrive gears, re-gearing them makes them drive as they should have from factory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxBWZGQIScI&t=413s

 

The trannys in these are a double OD. 4th is 1-1. The stock gears are 3:92s. The tranny rarely sees 6th gear and then only for a moment then. I went with 4:88s on 33s. Penciled our perfectly for our 80Mph speeds out here in Idaho. What I didn’t factor in was the extra weight of sliders, canopy. Roof rack, skids etc. if I could do it again I’d jump to the 5:29s. There’s only about 500 Rpm difference between 5th and 6th.

 

@Amanelot: simply put, hes gonna change the dynamic of the way the truck drives. hes taking the anemic stock gearing of the at and replacing it with the much more desireable gear setup of 4.88s. in essence this gives him that initial torque off the line. you compound this with some ovt magic, which is replacing the lackluster powerband of the stock tune and instead give the truck a nice broad powerband all the way till redline. also, ovt can further adjust throttle sensitivity if he so desires. all this PLUS hes not over-encumbered by lift, armor, overland gear, heavy wheel and tire setup. it really make the truck a much more fulfilling driving experience. for me, i dont have have 4.88s, but i do have a manual trans with a custom super short-throw hurst shifter coupled with a custom perrin 488g weighted shift knob, for quick, precise, and notchy throws. i also have an sb filters intake, urd mkii ypipe, 2020 trd pro exhaust, and ovt (prem 92 sfob) stacked with sprint booster (sport9.) like the op, im not riddled with armor, gear, and heavy tire and wheel combo; i am running 17x8.5 et:-12 ray10 and sl-rated 265/7017 duratracs. all-in-all this makes my truck feel extremely agile. i couldnt even imagine going back to stock, and never will since this is the vision i had for this build. i have a couple pieces left of this puzzle and one of them is being blown, but for now this truck puts a smile on my face everytime i drive it, and in turn have the utmost confidence that the op will feel the same way when he adds those two components previously mentioned to his build.

 

I'm not doubting you, but I drive a completely stock 2016 and I just don't understand a lot of these complaints people have. I have also never seen anyone say anything negative about doing an expensive gear change, which makes me skeptical.

Here's my other vehicle, and I have way more complaints with it than the stock tacoma.

Guess which vehicle I actually tow with...

 

@Amanelot: nice rigs man! i think the reason why you dont get the complaining too much is because your taco is relatively stock. once you start messing with lifting, adding armor, wheels and tires, it starts taking a toll on the tacos performance relatively quickly. and its not pretty either lol. with gears, you essentially push your powerband down giving you acceleration, thus negating some of the..."heaviness", which is a complete godsend. as for big boys, its no surprise im gonna say you tow with your hd. few years back i sold my trd or for a brand new superduty. i did the works to this badboy. fully tuned and deleted scorpion 6.7 powerstroke, 9" icon/fox/pmf suspension lift, american force 20x12 wheels w/ 35/12.50/20 e-rated cooper st maxx tires. by all intents and purposes this should have made my superduty slow, but no way, the truck still blitz down the street like a bat outta hell. ended up giving it to my dad when i was in the housing market. i still see it every time i visit my parents, so i dont miss it too much lol. i will say, with all that stuff the superduty is still fast. my sport with only power mods is by no means modded diesel fast, but its still pretty quick, and i can totally live with that lol.

 

Very nice truck!

I guess what I was confused about is that the OP also said he's was going to be staying stock as well. If he staying stock, why would he need to regear?

 

@Amanelot: i watched a yt clip a few months back, its actually the same clip that @clg posted, but it seems to be unavailable now. basically the dude from nitro gear and axel put a set of 4.88s on a stock automatic and had nothing bad to say about it. he often said that these trucks shoulda came like that from the factory. i never owned an auto taco before, but if what others are saying is true about autos behaving more like having two overdrives, then i can totally believe it. maybe others can chime in that upgraded gearing that was still stock or atleast stockish.