Regear 2nd gen - 4.88 vs 5.29 gears

ARB front bumper, warn m8000 w/ steel cable, AllPoo skid plates all the way back to the gas tank, sliders, rear HC bumper, so yeah, it had some weight. Plus I drive the Texas hill country, so saying it wasn't bad is truthful

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/my-review-of-4-88s-on-a-2nd-gen-with-34s.702452/

 

I will definitely post my impressions once complete. I'm sure there's a bunch of folks that have posted their thoughts, but I feel that everyone has a different setup with weight concerns and use, that I thought I'd throw my perspective in.

My experience with my 285's sounds a lot like yours, shitty gas mileage but generally decent for most of the stuff I wanted it to do. But if you've never experienced a stock 2nd gen, they actually have some good torque when stock, especially the manual trans. The only problem is that people move on from the stock tire pretty quickly if they're hitting the tracks and then they lose some of it if they don't re-gear (the 3rd gen guys have it even worse, if they just look at bigger tires their truck starts hunting for gears). And definitely as you add more weight with armor, drawers, winches, family, gear, etc. it just keeps getting worse. I also found that I was going through carrier bearings on my drive shaft more often than I should; finally went with a Tom Woods single piece and the vibrations on the low end have ended. Anyway, the re-gear is supposed to get me back to a stock-type gear range for the 35's, and I hoping along with it, my low end torque back...and maybe a little bit on the MPGs.

I'm also doing a HPtuner mod so that should help as well. All the things.

 

@cdex8357, BTW, I gotta ask....why the NVGs profile pic during the day? Or is that the joke of the picture?

 

Haha good catch.. maybe I wanna to be like those tacticool YouTube operators.

we were doing training in a shoothouse. Lighting is controlled

 

...yeah, those guys are really kewl. Those newer ones look more useful, the old PVS-7Bs I used back in the day were not great for CQB.

 

Okay sportsfans. While there is more than a couple of threads that cover this topic, this is the one I spent the most time on in terms of discussion so I will post my first impressions here. First, a little background- I have a 2009 DBLCB w/ SC, manual transmission and a few other bits and pieces. I'm also about 1600 lbs. over curb weight and rocking 35 x 10.5 x 17 tires. After a few discussions with the folks at ECGS, and some moderate research on the webs (including this encyclopedic forum) I decided to with 4.56 gears w/ an ARB air locker up front. I just finished the install a couple of days ago (more on that in a minute) and am still breaking them in, but my first impressions are 'Hell yeah'. As previously mentioned, I have gone years with stock gears as I added bigger tires and armor. It seemed that every time I added some heavy ass kit, my truck would get more and more sluggish. The S/C helped with that, but when loaded down with the fam and gear for a trip, it struggled and I couldn't help shake the feeling that I was fucking up other components of my drive train by putting added stress on them. Now, I feel like it's back to normal; and what I mean by that is the 2nd gen trucks are known for their low end torque (especially the manuals) when stock. Of course, not many of us keep them that way, and we soon forget what that feels like until we bump up the gear ratio. And that's what this upgrade did, get me back to a stock type ratio, and now I'm able to use the entire power band for what it was intended for despite the much bigger tires (and armor, and drawers, and camper shell). I no longer get a stuttering vibration at take off (some of that was a worn out carrier bearing on the driveshaft, which I fixed with a single piece shaft), I don't have to pre-load the flywheel by revving the engine, and I now maintain that torque when in third or fourth gear on hills. It's much more fun to drive again, so much less stress on the rest of the system, and my MPGs are already going up only after about 50 miles on the break in period. I can't wait to get this thing back on the tracks. Highly recommend this modification for anyone that has bigger tires and/or are armored up (i.e. 99.8% of Tacoma owners). Look, this isn't going to turn our trucks into race drifter trucks (looking at you Xrunner owners), but for the typical wheeling, touring/ overlanding crowd, this hits the mark in spades.

A couple of notes on the install- I'll start with I have never done this before. I consider myself slightly better than average when it comes to mechanical stuff, but I've never had any formal training and have learned like I'm sure most have, by doing it. I read and re-read install write-ups from this forum and ECGS, watched multiple videos multiple times, got the tools I needed, and dove in. I gave myself two days to complete it but in reality, it took me almost three full days. Plus, I was working in a partially insulated garage in the Colorado winter, and my little space heater had trouble keeping up so I had to take regular breaks to get the feeling back in my hands and toes. Overall, the install was pretty straight forward and I did not run into any unexpected hurdles. As others have mentioned, the rear was pretty easy and even though it took me about five hours (I really took my time), if I had to do it again I could probably do it in less than half that. The front was also fairly straight forward, but again I wanted to take my time and really understand what I was doing so that's where most of my time went. It was also a little challenging breaking nuts that haven't been loosened in probably ten years without stripping the shit out of them (whoever made the decision to put four reverse torx bolts on the ADD and torque them to 65 ft/lbs should be punched in the neck). Dropping and re-installing the clamshell was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, and was able to drop it by myself; however, I did have a neighbor help me lift it back into place and it seemed to go much easier that way (a floor jack would also be useful). For reference, I used a .pdf that I made by copying and pasting from a couple great writeups- one from @MonkeyProof (thank you sir!) and one from ECGS's website (I'll hang it on this post), and I used a 2006 FSM that someone stickied on the 2nd gen forum for all the torque specs (also posted). It was convenient to have that all on one document to reference as I was going through the install. I'll mention a couple of things though, 1) the ECGS writeup I used for the front clamshell did not mention the removal of the front driveshaft. It is very obvious that you have to do this, it's just that as I was following their guidance and got to the place where I was ready to drop the diff, I was a little surprised that I hadn't disconnected it yet. Not a big deal at all, just FYI. 2) None of the writeups I saw had any words of wisdom for putting everything back together, which again, isn't that big of a deal but I had a little bit of trouble re-installing the CV axles at first. Now, if you have replaced CV's before, it probably wouldn't surprise you that sometimes they can be a little finnicky about lining up the splines and getting that C-clip past them to lock in; but as this was my first time, it gave me a little bit of trouble and worry. After a little bit of research and patience, I was able to get through it without fucking something up.

Other than those little minor things, I'm happy to say that I was able to conduct this install without damaging anything and so far, everything seems to be in good working order (I have a tendency to break shit sometimes while trying to fix other things). All in all, I enjoyed the install, and feel satisfied that I got an education in the process. Also, if I ever have to do a trail replacement of a CV, I feel that I would be able to do it now. Well worth the busted knuckles and lack of feeling in my toes....

Finally, for those trying to decide on which gears to go with I offer this data point: For a manual transmission, 4.56 seems like a really good fit. However, I found that the consensus for automatics was that 4.88s were better for that application, probably because of the lack of a 6th gear (on most? IDK). This is mostly for folks running 35's, and it didn't seem to matter if your rig is SC or NA; but the SC is more fun . Cheers.

 

greate writeup -- thanks. I'm starting to move forward executing on the 35s plan (skipping the 33s haha) so sending my 'like' here for future reference.

 

being on an Auto i wish i had 4.88. the 4.56 (granted with a S/C) is close to a stock truck feel. I went with 4.56 when I had 285's and it was perfect balance on a heavy truck. 5.29 would be not great for a DD if it was a dedicated trail rig then sure but 4.88 and 35's and possibly 37's (but then id prob go up)

 

Forgot to mention my rear end was destroyed over the weekend just driving on the street. Shock loaded when I hit the gas on a corner getting on a road. Heavy trucks, small axles, big tires and if you have it more power the change in gears wont help you. If its a concern stick with smaller tires, lighter truck and/or plan to beef up the rear axle.

 

Seems like an opportunity to bump up to 4.88s. Sorry that happened though, shitty.

 

Yah it could be but would need to regear the front and plus should be covered under ECGS warranty. for now will be going with the same. If I regear I will prob try to get a bigger rear

 

Hey there, Thanks for all the info here. I just got done reading through this thread and it seems like for my situation most would recommend 4.56? A shop local to me suggested 4.88. Currently my truck is a little sluggish going up hills especially on the freeway. If I fully load the truck with camping gear and or toys like Mt bikes or kayaks its just to slow on the freeway. I have a 2013 4x4 DCLB TRD Sport Automatic. 285/70/17 BFG AT's, About 3 in of lift, camper that weighs about 300 lbs.

 

456 will do you fine. 430 will put you closer to stock gear with 33" tires.

 

Based off what I've seen, and the experience of a friend with a similar setup, I would think 4.88. But I'm not an expert at this and suggest you talk to ECGS or the Nitro folks. Both have a really good reputation for answering of our questions over and over again.

 

If you have any extra weight go 4.88s. Just got back from mountains and glad I didnt waste my money on 4.56s

 

After much thought I'm going with 4.88. This was recommended by Nitro gears as well after speaking to them on the phone. I am having my local shop Stellar Built do this install a month from now. I thought about doing an e Locker as well. I wonder if I should do it. I save money by doing it now but really don't want to spend the extra money either.

 

I was just reading through this again as I am somewhat nervous about the cost and effects of the regear I have scheduled next month. I replaced the carrier bearing for the first time about 10 months ago at 160k miles. Just replaced it again last week now at 190k. I'm wondering what's the cause? Tire size, my lift, the extra weight on the truck? I wonder if the re gear I have scheduled will help.

 

After a few thousand miles with the 2.7 5speed on 265's I would lean towards 5.29 with a 33" or bigger. Less than that the 4.88 would be sufficient

 

Short answer is all of the above. The re-gear will definitely help, but maybe a single piece drive shaft is also in order. Super easy to install and overall cheaper than replacing the stock drive shaft. I know it's one more thing to figure out, but when you start chasing mods, one thing will affect three other things, and if you don't address them they will manifest into demon spawn that will challenge your sanity and willingness to to remember why you are doing all this shit to your truck in the first place, and why don't I just get a fuckin Earthroamer for crying out loud......sorry. I blacked out for a second.

Here's a pretty good video that talks about the carrier bearing and how we abuse the shit out of them:
https://youtu.be/fsNB0HQPxvw