Regearing 6MT to 5.29 Revolution Gears

Understood, I know what they look like, but crush sleeve eliminators look different for each application. I received a crush sleeve eliminator, but I didn't know that it wasn't the right one for the 8.75. That wasn't the issue anyways since I bought the mini install kit (which naturally comes with a crush sleeve) from one place and ordered the eliminator from another place. The problem is they sent me the wrong eliminator and I didn't know aboutit until gear day.

I suppose I could have unpackaged it and tried to put it on the rear pinion ahead of time, but I didn't really think I should have to do that so I wasn't thinking about it. Same for revolution giving me the wrong pinion nut.

 

It is definitely a difference in the way we each refer to performance. If my truck accelerates better in 3rd gear due to either increased engine power, or lower gearing, that is a performance increase to me.

My truck now accelerates better in every gear than it did before...aka increased performance by my definition.

 

Whatever, you say you don’t know what they look like, then say you do then throw in some BS about how they look different. I’m just trying to help the next guy reading this.

 

Ok, but using that definition you could just choose a lower gear and get even better “performance”. Do you see the difference I’m pointing out?

Here’s a thought experiment… if you increased your diff gear reduction ratio by 25%, would your 0-60 time improve by 25%? How about if you increased your engine output by 25%?

 

Wow, calm down. I know what "a" crush sleeve eliminator looks like, I didn't know what the specific 8.75 crush sleeve eliminator looked like so I didn't confirm that it was incorrect before I got midway into the install.

Just for you, I edited the post.

 

Yes, I know what you're pointing out. The problem is that we are limited to a finite set of transmission gears to use. 5.29 lowered how slow I can creep, how easily I could tow in any gear (especially starting in 1st). If I can just choose a lower transmission gear, why don't I regear backwards to 3.91 and use the lower trans gears even more? Why not 3.73? 3.07? Yeah, I could drive 2nd gear with 3.07s or 4th gear with 5.29s, but performance really sucks if you want 5.29 performance in 1st or 2nd gear but have a 3.07 axle ratio. The point remains the same - I have better pickup in every gear and can use them more catered to how I want to.

The main point is 5.29 improved everything. I can go slower in reverse. I can use 2nd at a lower speed without bogging the motor as bad. Before, I needed 3rd for a quick pass a lot of the time. Now, I can use 4th for the quick pass, or I can use 3rd for an even quicker pass. Is none of that appealing?

I don't know, I'm not measuring that. To 60 with gearing is hard to predict because of lower gears reaching their speed limit at a lower speed. 2nd gear now maxes out around 50 mph as opposed to 60-65 like it did before. I may get to 50 faster than I did before, but then I have to shift when I didn't before. I don't live on the track or race to 60, so I don't care what it did to my 0-60. As for boosting engine power, that would depend on where the power was added. Does that newfound power come in at 1K rpm or 6K?

All I care about is using gears at lower speed and having more pickup in each gear at the same speeds as using them before. Many folks are fine with the factory ratio even on larger tires and just use a lower trans ratio. That's fine if they're fine with it. I wanted a more usable set of trans ratios and wanted to share my experience, especially since the route I went is not a popular one. That is literally the only reason why i posted.

 

That all mostly makes sense to me, but I would call it drivability rather than performance to separate it from more typical measures of performance like 0-60 time. I think people reading posts like yours get mislead into thinking they are doing something similar to installing a supercharger.

Personally, I think the 6mt gears are fine even with 33s. Sometimes I wish reverse was a bit lower and the gap between 1st and 2nd a bit smaller, but it’s not enough of a concern to me to change the gears. Maybe when I install 35s, I’ll change my mind.

 

Fair point, I hope nobody paying $3k for gears thinks they are getting the same result as a supercharger. Two completely different animals. That said, the drivability improvement of gears is very drastic just like a supercharger and it does cost about 40% the supercharger costs.

But yes I get your point, two completely different animals that deliver very different results. One gives the engine more power to drive the load, the other lessens the load.

 

Cool beans!

 

Nice writeup, it would have saved me a bunch of time when I made the decision to re-gear to 5.29 on my build. Mine is an automatic off-road short bed with an extra 500lbs of weight on 33s. Going to 5.29s basically gave me MUCH better drivability (far less downshifting to pass on the highway). The transmission at all speeds just seems happier and more composed. The MPG about the same (15-17mpg) compared to stock curb weight. In other words I feel like the re-gear made the truck drive better and kept the fuel mileage the same with the extra weight. I'm a huge proponent. I'd go to 5.29 as one of the first mods on a stock truck. Hope this helps someone considering this.

 

Yeah, with the automatic there is even less reason to choose 4.88. There is practically no downside to the 5.29s on that trans. I can see how it would be a bit much for most people on the stock manual, but I personally love it. I do want to upsize my tires, but I’ve got at least 30K left on my stock size ATs and I love the performance as is, so I may as well save my money for now and ride these out. I wouldn’t get hardly anything for them used anyways.

 

I bet you get some torque sweet spots with the manual & 5.29s. I went up to 33s (method wheels and mickey thompson baja boss) lost about 2 mpg to wheels/tires alone. The truck drives and handles really well by comparison, though.

 

4.88’s /5.29’s IMO whatever choice is a good one based on your build and weight.

 

It’s pretty good, it still does not like low speed. The 3.5L just has no balls down low. The gears get me up to the high range quicker, and when I’m there, it is better than before for sure. But, before I’m there, it’s still really underwhelming. Likely a supercharger is in my future to fix that part. I think that would finally make it perfection.

I’m interested in the Hilux transmission but it wouldn’t alter the transmission gearing enough to make the 3.5L all of a sudden have tons of torque down low.

 

I thought 4.88s would be plenty for me. I mean 5.29 just seems extreme - but now - highway rmps are pretty low sill and the performance is much better. Maybe in you live in a flat area like michigan or something it's fine. In a hilly area 5.29 all the way. But yeah, anything is better than stock, I'd say.

 

I need to read the whole thread. Good so far!

I just want to say with 4.88 gears, LO is a BEAST. With 5.29? WOW must be a real crawler! BEAST.

 

It is pretty low in LO - 2LO is quite good, significantly better than stock. With 4.30s the 2LO mod would still bog down in reverse up my driveway unless I gave it gas or feathered clutch. It’s significantly better/slower now. And actually, normal Reverse in 2HI is good enough that I don’t feel the need for 2LO as much. Save it for pretty much towing or boat ramps, rather than up my driveway like I used to. Sometimes I still use it though just for fun.

I want to upsize my tires to 255/75/17 just for cool factor, but honestly the 5.29s are so much fun on stock 30.5s, that I’m seriously considering sticking to stockers forever. I’m so used to it that any larger tire will feel like a downgrade again lol.

 

Wanted to provide an update. It's been 2 months and 1 week, and 4,400 miles. I took a 4-hour roadtrip for Easter this weekend, was my first real trip on the 5.29s besides the initial drive from the install in Austin back to Dallas, which was a cautious one. Still on stock tires for the foreseeable future.

On the drive down, I went 70 the entire way @3000 rpm. Fuel screen showed 18.6 at first but got down to 17.2 mpg by the time I arrived. Hand calculation at fill-up showed that 17.2 to actually be 17.78 mpg.

On the drive back up, going 75 the entire way @3200 rpm, I hovered right around 16.2 for the first two hours, then was up to 17.4 on the screen by the time I made it home. Hand fill-up showed 17.96.

For nearly 18 mpg and all of the trip spent at 70-75 while at or above 3,000 rpm, I'll freakin' take it with a smile. Especially since the performance is so much better. I don't recall any roadtrip with the 4.30s doing any better than that in the past anyways.

So far, the only negative to 5.29s has been the city mpg, probably because I rev it a lot. I went from about 15.9 to 14.9, on average. There are good days and bad days, but overall that's about the only negative to 5.29s for me, besides the slight added drivetrain noise at 3K. The gears are still silent after 4.5K miles, and lots of 80 mph cruising. No ragrets.

 

This is a good write up. I’ve been considering gears for awhile now and really needed a perspective from someone who has done it. My truck is on 235/80 17’s and I doubt that I’ll ever change that. The truck is pretty heavy too and I tow a “teardrop” trailer as well. After reading your experience, I think the 5.29’s would be what would work good for me. Thanks for the info!

 

As long as you don’t get bent out of shape over cruising 70 at 2850-2900 rpm, I think you’ll be really happy. The extra power is awesome and when not towing, it’s really fun to give it the beans merging onto the freeway! 3rd gear is really nice now (I can take 3rd to 78 mph - your tires would be about 82 mph unless you have a tune that raises the redline rpm higher than stock, I am on stock tune currently, found I like the gears more on stock tune than aftermarket because the throttle is easier to control with the low gears so I flashed myself back).

I haven’t upsized tires yet but I like how it is on the stock size so much that I’m considering only doing 265/70/17. I honestly don’t want to lose much of my gearing at this point now that I’m used to it lol.