Mid weight flywheels, and where are they?

We have heavy flywheels 40+lb and OE 25lb, although i have read that the stock flywheel could be ~27lbs. And that is it for flywheels, and i don't see anyone geniunly using 40lb flywheels except for the smal minority of a small minority that go rock climbing, or simply seeking extreme driveability, or just simply going bigger number mean more better, which feeds back into the same vein of of people buying front diff and rear carrier u-joint drop 'kits' only to mess up the drivetrain geometry.

25lb OE flywheel in my opinion is heavy enough as is, as I am finding more and more often as of late, that after towing ~13-14k lbs total on unfortunate, but multiple occasions recovering vehicles, a 25lb flywheel is way more than enough.

The only problem, no one makes lighter flywheels, even for other vehicles that use a 2GR-FKS, or at the least I have been having a lot of trouble finding them. I've tried talking to LC Engineering and they have effectivly said no, even to a one off flywheel, but they did say they are having trouble finding lightweight flywheels for other Toyota platforms, so it sounds like they don't do any machining of that nature in house anyways.


TLDR;
Has anyone else had any thoughts on a lighter flywheel or looked into a lighter\mid weight flywheel?

 

I’ve never seen the topic of flywheels discussed on tacomaworld. I think you are likely in a minority that thinks about it. However, I suggest too use your favorite web search in case there is info out there.

 

I got curious I found this threads via google search.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/aftermarket-flywheel-recommendation.766749/

Most of the other threads that turned up were in the 2nd gen forum. This is likely because the 3rd gens are too young to be needing new clutches.

 

Changing flywheel weights isn’t a new concept. Like anything, lighter or heavier have tradeoffs. Stock usually is a balance that lands in the middle.

I wouldn’t want a lightweight flywheel in a truck, but can’t fault the guy for asking. They aren’t a new idea.

 

I wasn’t faulting him. I was just suggesting that he might not find much help on this forum based on my experience. I was playing librarian.

 

This might also be a better question for this forum:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/technical-chat.10/

90 some percent of this channel is about the biggest tires that fit and oil changes gone wrong. There are many exceptions though.

 

My coworker put a lighter flywheel in his 2nd gen when changing the clutch and regrets it. He didn't go into detail but said he didn't like it when towing his snowmobile trailer or off road as much but it was good otherwise. Offroad around here is slow most of the time also.

 

What kind of idiot confuses the transmission drain plug with the oil drain plug? LOL!

 

Yeah, the second owner said no to the clutch living a long life. Truck is on its second and soon to be third clutch after they dumped it onto a carlot once the warranty was up. Suffice to say, I'm suprised it doesn't need a front, or rear diff since the front diff was mostly water and I'm pretty sure the rear diff was filled with factory lube still.

Another thing, transmission rebuild kits are still not a thing yet, somehow. And 1st gear syncros do not be sounding okay.

Finding anything for the 2GR-FKS is hard, most of the stuff I have managed to find is on the older version with the narrow variable valve timing.

I did poke around in there, wasn't sure how to engage a post there, decided to start the thread here. I might have to just to ask if anyone knows a guy or a shop/company interested in making a mid-weight flywheel in there.

But unfortunately, manuals are a 1% minority, and anything aftermarket related for manuals is a minority within a minority.

And that is understandable, just my experience is with 34" tires somewhat easily moving a loaded carhualer at ~8k lbs. So I do question how light in lightweight he went if the driving dynamics were changed that drastically. Lightweight being generally anything around the 15lb mark. Not trying to be dismissive, but flywheels, unless the weight change is significant, hardly changes the driving behaviour in easily noticable ways.


I'm not looking to go full race, but launching the truck over jumps and not shocking the drivetrain as hard would be nice along with slightly improved engine dynamics at speeds above idle, mostly the waiting for the revs to drop or rise between shifts and I figure a slightly lighter, 20-24lb, midweight flywheel would be perfect is my reasoning.

 

Putting a lightweight flywheel behind a low torque engine in a reasonably heavy 4wd truck with big tires will make for poor overall driveability and reduced clutch life.

 

That's crazy how many miles are on it?

I can ask him when I see him next but he probably won't remember the weight since it was a few years ago. Just lighten the oem one up with speed holes, it is just like a drilled rotor by reducing weight for added stress points

 

What makes you think 1st gear synchro is not okay? Shouldn't you be using 1st in times where the synchro isn't used much anyways?

 

Iol, speedholes on a cast iron flywheel would be amusing, shame it would only rev once before grenading though. Might be able to get away with shrinking the outer diameter to match the clutch plate, but that is about it. Machining the backside is a big no-no from what I am seeing.

Bought it with 60k on it, It has 75k on it now, been slipping on and off for the last 5k miles.

 

Hill climbs are a thing, and you are not completing a 40° incline by staying in second gear.

Can hear the first gear syncros grind against each other when going from second to first at extremely low speeds, say like light turns green just as you are about to stop. has a hard time speeding up the gears so they match speed to mesh.

 

Hey at least the isnt asking how much lift he needs to fit 33’s!!!

anyone wanna clue me in on why you would change flywheel wieght?

 

The previous owner must have sucked at driving a manual then. I was looking at a used sedan a couple years ago and I road with the guy he would slip the clutch pretty much the whole way through first gear... I think he said it was on its 4th or 5th clutch at around 110k and I could see why.

 

A lighter one stores less kinetic energy and will gain and loose revs quicker.
Once you get the really light ones it is mostly good for racing proposes with faster shifting time

A heavier one does the opposite.
It is good for towing, stop and go, ect

 

They did install a front diff drop spacer as well... So yeah not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed I would say, same goes for their wiring and cheap bed light LED strips.