1998 tacoma ext cab 2.7, 5 spd manual - Best gear ratio to tire size?

Riddle me this,
1998 Toyota Tacoma ext cab 2.7, 5 spd manual transmission -
Best gear ratio to tire size?
For general overall performance daily driver and overall utilization.
Experiences?
Thanks in advance.

 

Do you know what you have on there now? What tire size are you running? What do you plan on doing with the pickup? commuting? interstate travel? Mountain passes? If it's stock I'd say the stock 4.10 or 4.30 is pretty decent for these right out of the box. Your VIN plate should have all the info you need to decode what combo you have from the factory.

 

Stock 4.10’s are fine for stock sized tires, and are tolerable up to about 33”, but if you do much crawling type off roading they are a bit high with 33”s. I’m currently running 5.29s on 35” tires and I think it’s about perfect.

 

very stock 3.58, 265 70 16, ok a bit doggy.
For general overall performance daily driver and overall utilization.

 

Thinking of swap axles to 4.10 better than what I have?

 

Depending What type of driving you need to do the most of.

What Part of the country you drive in the most.

Many talks about Tires and gear ratios when Texas invaded Northern Pa and Southern Ny.

 

I'm surprised to see 3.58 in a 98/2.7/5spd truck--I thought Toyota had settled on 4.10 gears by 98. My 98/2.7/5spd has 4.10s. Later 2.7/5spd trucks got 4.30.

My truck drives well on 31" tires but I think it would be better with 4.30. Toyota seemed to think so to, since they used 4.30 in later years. Assuming you're mostly on pavement or maintained dirt roads, I wouldn't go past 4.30 with a 31" tire. If you go to a 33" tire then 4.56 should be a nice match.

Some folks will say 4.88 or even 5.29 with 33s is perfect. They're giving up some highway (75+mph) driveability and fuel efficiency in exchange for better acceleration and off-road driveability.

If you're trying to regear on the cheap, 4.10 is your best bet. It was the most common ratio in 1st gen Tacomas, so it's the easiest to find in a junkyard/parts truck. I think 4.30 is better if you can find it, but you'll need luck on your side, or you'll need to pay for new gears--that could be the difference between a $200 project and $2000 project.

Since your truck is a 2.7 I'm assuming it doesn't have an e-locker. You can look for 4.30 diffs in a later-model (1999+) 2.7/5spd truck. You can look for 4.10 diffs in almost any model year non-locker v6 or 2.7/5spd truck (they don't all have 4.10, but many of them do). If you want 4.56, look for a 2.7 auto truck as a donor. Double-check the door sticker and/or count rotations to verify the ratio. Toyota wasn't perfectly consistent with engine/trans/gear combinations.

 

I'm going 4.10s - Boy those e-lockers look great but absorb allot of Dollars