4:88 gears for a 2016 on the way.

Honestly with 4:88's and 35's. I think I need to go lower. So 33" with 4:88's might be good. I'm holding off on my full review till after this week. I'm heading out today for a photoshoot to do some 4wheelin over the next couple of days. That should give me a good indication of how well these do. Around town the truck seems "fine". Although yesterday while going through a neighborhood with a steep hill the truck had to do a major down shift to just get up it. The truck still struggles to go past 65mph on the freeway. It's just happy at that speed and to go faster it likes to shift a lot. My mileage is still pretty bad with 13 being the best. Keep in mind I'm driving around with a roof top tent and some weight in the bed. So I'm sure gas could be better.

 

Yes we do too. It's to ensure they don't break. 9 times out of 10 if you are just easy on them they will be fine. BUT we've had that one where they aren't and they have issues so we make everyone sign a sheet now saying they will break in a certain way and there is no warranty on them. I was thinking over the weekend though of building some sort of gear break in machine. Where you hook up a rear diff to an electric motor and spin it in gear oil for a time. The problem is theres no effective way to put load on the rear end.

 

It's that double overdrive that's killing theses trucks its just to high for that v6 , the Lexus GX460 has a similar 6 speed trans (double overdrive) with 390 gears but it has a V-8 and some torque . it's still not great but it seems to get by. It also doesn't get great mileage

 

Just placed my order for some 4.88's! Now the wait.

 

Well, back from a trip to Sedona AZ, some off roading and a drive back. Had a FJC similar set up in weight and tire size. Actually he was running the same tires but with stock gears. He had the 4.0 rocker motor which IMO isn't as good as the previous 4.0 available in FJC's. We drove out the 10 to phoenix. My best tank of gas was around 12mpg his was 14. The truck constantly shifted between 6-5-4. Any hills what so ever, even when you couldn't tell you were on a hill it down shifted. The engine just doesn't have enough torq to maintain freeway speed with out down shifting.

Now before someone gets mad at me for giving an honest opinion, keep in mind I'm on your side. I'm a Toyota guy, I've owned almost every Toyota truck or SUV they have made. So when I complain, I'm not comparing to other makes, I'm comparing to other Toyota's I've owned. I still maintain that it's a great truck all of which IMO have nothing to do with it's drive train. Really the sole blame can't be put on toyota either. It's state mandated Cafe standards are forcing them to make trucks have car engines and transmissions. Jeep had to do it with their wrangler. On paper or even on completely flat ground. These will beat their predecessors in the MPG department. In the real world with hills, and loads in the bed or even modifications they simply don't do better. They do far worse than the Tacoma they replaced. I know some will say, well you added weight to it, which is true I did. I'm accounting for that. I've driven enough trucks with modifications to tell this one falls short.

While in Sedona on the trail, the lower gears were much appreciated, it actually climbed up steep hills with power to spare in low range. I couldn't say that about Ouray where sometimes it felt like it was going to stop right there and throw a temper tantrum. Off road it's every bit the truck that toyota has been for years just more comfortable. Like i've said before the interior is the best way for Toyota to say sorry for the engine.

On the way home I put extra PSI in the tires and took the 40 which is mostly a down hill decent into SoCal. The truck actually seem to do more shifting than before. There were miles and miles where it wouldn't shift out of 4th and other times where it hunted so much I just put it in manual and left it in 4th. 6th is almost pointless unless you have a strong wind behind you down hill. My worst MPG was around 9-10 MPG and my best was 17 mpg but that was the short section of the cajon pass all down hill

I'm taking it back to the dealer to make sure they did the trans re-program thing they were supposed to do last time. It doesn't shift nearly as much as when it was stock driving from CO back to SoCal but it still hunts for gears way more than should be necessary.

Hindsight, 4:88's I think will be perfect for anyone with 33's. I'm going to keep bugging magnuson for a super charger and or hope the US government starts allowing engine swaps in California to reduce road rage

 

Here is a shot from that weekend.

 

by re gearing will it void the entire power train warranty?
i have 2wd and want to re gear with positraction, what happens to the traction control system, will i have a warning light on all the time?

 

No. Look up the magnuson-moss law. It will only void any issues caused by the regearing.

 

So your saying gears did not work well for you? Better then stock? How much is speedo off? What RPMs at 65mph?

 

Where did you get those rock guards for the rims?

 

Those are TRD wheels that have been converted to beadlock...

Demello can confirm.

OA

 

Thanks, they look sweet.

 

They did the best they could do. It's not the gears fault that the trucks torq curve is at such a high RPM you need to rev it to go anywhere. I would recommend 4:88's for anyone running a 33in tall tire. Yes the speedo is off about 7mph. It is better than what it was, just has a ways to go still.

Those are TRD 17in wheels with custom Bead locks added by OMF wheels.

'
Yup

 

I guess I was a little too hopeful the gears would do something about the constant shifting and crappy overall driving. Your update sounds exactly like what mine does now (except the off road part). My gears should be here in the next week or so. But after that I'm thinking I might not bother installing them.

 

No it will help. Don't forget, I'm running 35's you I assume have 33's? Please install and report back, I'm curious if it helps you more as it should.

 

I feel for you guys, I am about to ramp up on weight and move to 33s. Having a manual, I'm hoping the experience will be very different, but will look forward to seeing.

 

Thank you for your honest assessment.

I was thinking about considering a 3rd gen for a future overland build, but if it can't get out of its own way without armor and gear, then it must really suffer with it on.

 

Don't lie. You've never liked 3rd gens

 

I have 33's and 4:88's mine doesn't hunt that much anymore and my mileage isn't great (14/16) but, I have CBI Armor and a 2.5" lift...I must say I'm pretty happy with how it performs on and off road!!

I toyed with selling it prior to re-gear but am happy with it now...I live in WA and there is hills in every direction so I don't know how it would perform on a flat long stretch...at 70 I'm turning about 2400 rpm's.