Regearing 4.88s or 5.29s

I just purchased a 2023 trd offroad and am tore on which gears I should get. I have read and researched for a week on what to do. I have the auto Trans and just put 255 85 r16s on it....barely goes into 6th gear at all. I live in Central Utah and it will be used as a mountain truck but we have 80mph zones of the freeway. I'm curious if there's anyone here that has the 255 85 skinnies and has regeared to the 5.29s. How's the rpms? My exact tire is the 255 85 r16 cooper st maxx

 

4.88 unless you plan on adding 33+ inch tires and some weight

 

5.29 only for the automatic, 100%.

It still won’t even be that crazy.

 

There are 4.88 and 5.29 mega threads with hundreds of pages of questions and answers and Taco owners talking about their experiences. Head over there. This is one of those questions that comes up on a weekly, if not daily basis. FWIW I don't think you can go wrong either way; I have 275/70/17 KO2s and I do a lot of towing so I have 5.29s on my list of upgrades.

 

I just did 4.88s and am getting that sized tires. I don’t carry any weight so it’s perfect for me.

 

32”s (255/75r17) this is only 100rpm difference from a 33” (255/85r16) When running 4.88’s. But 32’s can weigh significantly less due to tire layer thickness options (SL rated vs E rated for example).

32’s, 4.88’s (& OVTune) = Mint Condish.

 

4.88’s For me.

 

Unfortunately 16” 285s are all E loads, so I’m thinking 255s are narrower and will have less rolling mass, but that size is extremely limited in options.

 

I have the exact same tires as you.

I carry a lot of weight, 24/7.

I can only recommend 5.29's. I can't envision paying all that money to step up to 4.88's. It' doesn't make any sense.

The 5.29's aren't extreme anyways.

I can now drive around in 'D' on the freeway without concern. 69 mph on the freeway in 6th is ~2050 rpms. Gas mileage has improved. 69 in 4th up the steep hills around here is ~3900, which is just perfect.

 

i carry not much weight at all and 265/75 16 are my tire of choice right now. 4.88 were the best choice for me given the interstate driving that i do. i would feel over geared if i had 5.29s

 

It’s easy to think that, but you wouldn’t. 5.29 is not that far from 4.88.

 

with my current setup i think im bordering overgeared.

 

5th gear at 70 will be the same as 5.29 if you currently run stock gearing on 33. Just drive without 6th gear and see how it goes.
Edit: that's wrong

 

indeed 255’s are narrower (about 0.75”). However, when aired down they have a longer vs wider footprint for traction

 

When I had mine done, Nitro flat out told me 4.88 for manuals and 5.29 for autos.

 

I hope you got an autograph.

 

Just giving a heads up. Thanks for all the replies. I ended up ordering the 5.29s. I didn't want to be limited on what I could do to the truck....adding weight or even larger tires. Thanks again!

 

You're nowhere near overgeared. I have 33s with 5.29s and I've had cars with higher rpms at 70+. At takeoff I have similar torque to a V8. That's a serious twist to the meaning of the word

 

I sometimes wish I would have gotten 5.29’s but they weren’t available when I did mine. However I can cruise 80ish in 6th with 38 inch tires without too much trouble. My truck is pretty heavy too.

33’s and below I’d run 4.88 anything above that 5.29.

One thing to remember about gearing is it’s 100% subjective. For me stock gears were perfectly fine with 285’s. I didn’t even mind stock gears and 35’s either.