Swapping the RC62F Manual Transmission for the RC60F

CygnusX191 · May 29, 2025 at 8:40 PM

BLtheP[OP] said: ↑

Yeah, with 4.88 and 35’s, you won’t be too far off from the 4.30s and stock tires I am now running. Which works fine, I just wish 6th had a bit more go. The 4.0 is probably better about that, slightly. Overall it does work really well. I don’t think the “low” 1st gear will bother you at all. It’s no different than a stock 2024 Tacoma.

I did have 32’s and 5.29s for a while, and it was fantastic. 1st was quite short, but 2nd was finally reasonable to start in. And all of the other gears were wonderful. Reverse was nice and short too. 6th cruised at about 2700 rpm with that setup, which also worked well. Still 17-19 or so mpg most of the time. Now that I am on 4.30s, mpg is consistently better, and overall the gearing is pretty well balanced, I just still wish the top 3 gears were spaced out a bit more. I’d be totally happy if 4th was more like 1.10:1, 5th was like 0.90, and 6th was 0.70. The way it is, I’m automatically going to 4th for mild passes and 3rd for quick passes. 5th is not useful for passing, it’s only useful for a slightly slower cruise or a more zippy cruise when you may be in traffic and keep getting slowed down or something. Otherwise, it has absolutely nothing to really pass with, and so it really does feel like just another overdrive.

The 3.5 is good at high range, its Achilles heel is having nothing down low, so when you try to pass quickly in 4th, it bogs down and barely wants to speed up. It’s other issue is the fuel cut if you hit redline. It literally will stop fueling for like 2 seconds, so you really don’t want to gear it to where you’re going to hit redline in the middle of a pass. You want whatever gear you use to be able to make it through the pass without hitting redline, but also be low enough to be quick enough to make the pass in a timely and safely manner. Those are just weird 3.5 quirks, I have never had to be so strategic in any other vehicle I’ve ever owned. I think really it’s the computer trying to protect the engine conservatively, which could be a good thing but it really kills the experience sometimes.
Click to expand...

I've got an older Yotawerx tune on mine but it does move the redline up and keep the fuel cutoff from being hit while I'm pretending to be a Subaru

mountaincrawler said: ↑

It does sound ideal for my setup. Crazy that the 5th gear in it is a higher overdrive than my 6th gear. I can pass comfortably in 6th at highway speeds but do have to drop to 5th if it needs to happen quickly. I'm also down at sea level lol, it's a different story when I go to Colorado.

It would be nice to get some better mpgs on the highway and at the lower rpm it should be a little better. I also just get leery about running the engine at high revs for long periods of time. The 4.0L gets its power at the lower end so holding it at 3-3200 rpm for hundreds of miles just feels wrong. Will be nice to have that higher overdrive for sure.

Its a shame they ditched the 4.0L for a more "street" oriented engine when most Tacoma owners want something with more low end grunt. Freakin tragedy that you can't even get a V6 in the 4th gen. Hitting the fuel cutoff is never fun and completely counter productive and potentially dangers for it to happen while trying to pass. I feel the same way about the stupid stability control system that will pull you into oncoming traffic because it thinks you're going to roll the truck. I've never been a fan of too much computer control/automation in vehicles, but I also enjoy the driving experience, which is why I have a manual, and don't want to just sit there while the car drives itself.
Click to expand...

The 3.5 is pretty decent on trails. Other than sitting while facing uphill due to that idiotic oil sump placement. But in 4LO even with 4.30 and 33s I haven't really run into issues.

It's no 4.0, but it'll hold its own

BLtheP · May 29, 2025 at 10:00 PM

CygnusX191 said: ↑

I've got an older Yotawerx tune on mine but it does move the redline up and keep the fuel cutoff from being hit while I'm pretending to be a Subaru
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can run stock or OTT either with the redline raised to 6800 rpm which helps a lot. But with 5.29s and the transmission, that means 3rd gear still taps out at like 80 mph. Not near good enough for a fast pass. Have to use 4th which is mediocre, definitely better than stock 4th but not near as good as stock 3rd. So it kind of puts you in a weird spot.

Some tunes go higher than 6800, like 7250 with OV, which would certainly help, but I start getting uncomfortable beyond 6800. I feel fine with 6800 because Toyota takes it that high on some of the other OEM 3.5s. That is the only reason I’m okay with the tunes raising it to that amount in the truck.

Log in or Sign up

Welcome to Tacoma World!

Swapping the RC62F Manual Transmission for the RC60F

#61
CygnusX191 Gangster of Boats

#62
BLtheP [OP] Constantly Tinkering Member

Products Discussed in

Log in or Sign up

Useful Searches

Welcome to Tacoma World!

Swapping the RC62F Manual Transmission for the RC60F

#61 CygnusX191 Gangster of Boats

#62 BLtheP [OP] Constantly Tinkering Member

Products Discussed in Entire Site Forum: 3rd Gen. Tacomas (2016-2023) Thread: Swapping the RC62F Manual Transmission for the RC60F

#61
CygnusX191 Gangster of Boats

#62
BLtheP [OP] Constantly Tinkering Member

Products Discussed in