4.88 vs 5.29 Pinion Gear Strength

Hey guys,
I'm sure I'm not the first to ask this, but I was wondering if the lesser amount of teeth on the pinion gear on the 5.29's is noticeable compared to the 4.88's. I'm rock'n 33.3's right now but plan on possibly going up to 35's when I feel ready. I already dealing with the common issues on 33's. I have an OV tune but still isn't enough for me. Truck's got a CBI bed rack with some gear on it as well (no tent).

I'm just curious if any of y'all have had issues with the 5.29's over long term use.

 

Get your gears done at ECGS (or via their core exchange program) and they'll have a 5 year warranty. Then you won't have to worry about a random failure

 

With the 8.75 diff you have nothing to worry about

 

I have been told the bigger issue with the smaller pinion for 5.29 is rapid heat build-up in the smaller mass of the 5.29 pinion, which leads to the pinion failing. If you go 5.29, keep and eye on your dif temps if you have one of the earlier 3G models with the front diff temperature sender (I can’t remember when they deleted this feature. My 2017 still has the sender. I don’t know for 2018.)

 

I have heard about Yukon gears having some of those problems, the NitroGears product seems to be a bit higher quality from my research

 

There might be some info in this thread.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-5-29-mega-thread.557305/