regearing advice

I'm looking to regear to get my mpg and highway speed back without straining the mess out of the truck. I have 33/12.50 and straight pipes with a 3.4l v6 what is a good gear ratio

 

4.56 or 4.88s. Depends on what your doing with the truck really.

 

It's my daily drive but I also pull boats and a horse trailer with it

 

http://www.rocky-road.com/calculator.html

 

Going to 4.88s was perfect for my setup. But I have the auto trans. If I had had the 5-speed, 456s would have been adequate. The difference is in the the gearing in the two transmissions.

 

Id go 4.88s

 

I have the 1997 3.4 V6 4x4 with 33x12.5x15's.... What would be a good gearing ratio? Very sluggish on the highway.

 

5 speed or auto? How do you use your truck? All highway? Any armor? Like skids, plate bumpers, skids? A winch?

 

Looks like auto and no armour to me.

 

Automatic. I'm on the highway about 80% of the time. Everything else is around my town, no more than 45mph. I can get up to about 70 (I'm guessing more about 75 with the bigger tires), but most of the time is constant throttle to stay cruising. If I try to go any faster, like to pass, it just doesn't seem to want to go. I just recently swapped in a new (to me) engine that had 60k miles on it. Runs strong, transmission has some miles but still shifts smoothly as it should. Besides the lift and tires, bone stock.

 

I roll 4.88's, 5spd, 3.4L (295/75/16's currently)
often pulling a 1/4T trailer on/off road.

I felt it was geared a little low when it was sporting 285's
But I liked that it was geared lower for off road.
The highway fuel consumption was respectable if considering load weight.
I drove many miles both hwy/frwy up to 70(ish)to get to the trail head(s).
Initially by rpm, as my speedo was off, because of the 4.88 swap.

Drove my rig to/back fm Moab 4 years in a row
with my trailer in tow on the last two trips.
Rolling the 285/75/16's then
Averaged about 26 mpg
Was able to hold 5th @ 55 mph (incl. up the grade W trailer).

By the second trip I had installed a Dakota Digital processor
so the the speedo and odo were reading acurrately for the 4.88 swap.
Forgot to mention my Rr axle sports a LockRight locker too.

Think I maybe lost 200rpm when bumping up to the 295's
Adjusted the Dakota for the increased tire speed, correcting speedo/odo.
IMHO 200 rpm is hardly a discernable difference on or off hwy.
But the Dakota is easy to adjust for tire size changes.

All in all... really like that I swapped to 4.88's
prolly one of the best choices I've ever spent money on.
Tho' I'll not discount the multitudes of other upgrades I've done.





Moab Rocks

 

That is a sweet rig! Thanks for the info. I was curious as to where you ordered/ pick up the new gears and the additional parts required. I can work on my truck, but not sure if this would be a challenge I should just let a respectable shop do for me. I love my taco and trying to get this thing back where it should be!

 

http://www.brian894x4.com/Gearratiosanddiffs.html

This is saying that my original gear ratio is 3.91. It recommends with 33x12.5x15 I should be re geared to the 4.88 ratio. I am new to gears and have no clue how to order the right ones..

 

Definitely 4.88s with the auto on 33s. That will put you back in the sweet spot for the 3.4Ls power band. It'll be a lot more fun to drive after regearing.

I can't recommend doing the re-gear yourself unless you've done Toyota gears before. This is a job best left to a pro. A lot of folks on here have used east coast gear supply (http://eastcoastgearsupply.com/) as they will do an exchange so all you have to do is swap out your differentials. But I'm sure there may also be local gear shops that can do the work for you. I have personal experience with Just Differentials ( http://www.justdifferentials.com/ ) as they had a good rep and were somewhat local to me.

 

I used a local installer in my town.
I chose to use US/Strange gears...
because they are USA quality steel/mfgr'd in the USA.
A little more expensive then most other chinese mgr'd products.
But well worth the additional cost IMO.

http://www.usgear.com/

My installer recommended going that route.
And I don't regret doing so.

If ya don't have a rear locker...
nows the time to do that as well.

ARB, LockRight, whatever yer budget dictates.

Cost me near $ 1,400. installed both front/rear gears, incl. my LockRight.

If you're not familiar (skilled) with the install process...
I'd recommend using/paying a professional installer.
It's not as simple as just bolting things in.

If you're wishing to pay low buck...
you'll likely get what you pay for.

I personally only wished to pay for my install one time.
I've been rolling them since 2004 without issue.

 

Well I just called around. One place quoted me $1,500 just labor without the parts. The other quoted me $2,600 parts and labor... I wish I was wherever your from. That link you provided, I'm not sure what I'm looking for. Like I said, I'm new to gears so I'm slightly lost.

 

$ 1,500 would prolly be cheap these days
realize I had mine done back in '04 and cost was probably much less then today's prices.

Go to the US Gear link - make contact via phone.
and they can walk you thru it.

http://www.usgear.com/performance/contact-us

realize some installers may not have authorization nor the ability
to purchase US Gear products. See the distributors/installers local to you.

You could go with Yukons or whatever is local to you.
But just know the US Gear products are the best.

Remember you will also need purchase an install kit
And I also recommend purchasing solid spacers instead of re-using the original spacers.

 

I'm thinking about running 235R85 x 16s after the tunra disc mod, and leaning toward 4:56 s. I'll recheck thanks to the link jbutts9taco posted. Soon as I get it out storage I'll recheck the data plate. Thanks again.

 

Sorry but reviving a bit of a old thread here but I am looking to regear and install front and rear arb lockers. I am currently running 4.10's and wondering what you guys would recommend I move up too? 4.56 or 4.88? I am a 5 speed 3.4 v6 ext. Cab. I have front and rear tube bumpers full 3/8" skids and winch. I am currently on 285/75 ko2 but thinking of going up to 305/70/16. I am building this truck to just be my weekend/vacation adventure toy. So eventually will not be a daily driver but will be driven on long distance trips on the highway possibly. Thanks for any help and knowledge as always. @Digiratus @TacoDell

 

4.88s forsure with those bigger tires.