The 4.88 mega thread!!

Borderline, I would go 5.29.

I have a MT with 4.88. SOMETIMES wish I had gone 5.29. 1st gear might have been useless on the street, but starting in 2nd and using 5 when street driving would be OK with me personally.

 

What are your thoughts with the TAV recommendations and what looks like extremely heavy builds? Seems they recommend with 4.88 for 35s and 5.29 with 37s.

 

Heavy builds will NOT be happy with 4.88's and 35's. I have a heavy ARB front bumper, topper, Heavy ADS shocks running 32's with 4.88's and I'm close to needing 5.29's. I went with 4.88's for highway use/MPG, if you do a lot of offroad you better go with 5.29's.

 

I personally would not be happy with that. But again personal taste driving style road types etc only the owner can answer that.

 

Understand and agree.

 

Been going through this and other threads and have pretty much decided on 4.88 gears instead of 5.29.

my question is, has anyone with an auto trans TRD OR/PRO upgraded to the manual versions 4.3 gear and how has that worked?

For those with manual trans, was the move to 4.88 noticeable from 4.3?

 

I love my setup with 32’s and 4.88’s, and I have about 350lbs of armor. However, with wider 33’s or 34’s 5.39’s make more sense.

 

Weight and drag is the tipping point, in my opinion.

I had my topper removed in prep for a GFC install. When the taco had an empty bed, 4.88s, a good tune, and 265/70/17 (31.6s), it would absolutely fly. It was "quick" off the line (for a tacoma) and held 80-90 mph easy on those long stretches in Wyoming and Montana. If that's the setup you're sticking to then 4.88s are good.

Now I have added a GFC, Martin Offroad rack, and 33 skinnies. 4.88s are doing the trick, but if I was starting over I'd go 5.29s. It still needs some help on the top and bottom end with 4.88s.

 

2019 TRD OR - Looking for advice on what gears to Run 5:29 or 4:88? Mostly a daily driver but do a few big trips a year fully loaded stacked with surfboards and a RTT, Also do some road tripping open highway driving unloaded and would still like be able to cruise 80MPH + and not loose too much top end. I have a 3' lift w/ 285/75/16 KO2 , gas Mileage around 13 MPG unless I drive conservative. Feedback appreciated

 

Ever go higher elevation?

 

The elevation piece is definitely a good consideration. When I drove my truck from Colorado down to Tennessee there was a significant performance gain.

That said, with a 3 inch lift and 33s you should go 5.29. I went with 4.88s because I was on 31s. Now I'm on 33s and wished like hell I'd done 5.29. The difference between the two is only about 10% in power gain, but in the right circumstances you'll need it.

 

If you stay 32" tires or less and don't add a lot of weight 4.88's will be fine BUT adding weight or bigger tires you defiantly want 5.29's. I have a ARB bumper, 32", ADS shocks, and topper makes it boarder line for needing 5.29's. I went with 4.88's because I travel across the USA and I still get 20-23 with OVTune help.

 

I have stock sized tires and 4.88 which gives you the same rpm at 80 as 5.29 on 33"s. I plan on going 33"s but I could stay stock and be fine rpm wise. My mileage has taken a bit of a hit if I try to run 80. I got 16.5 on the way to work. Normally I get 17.5-18.5 on the same trip. It's the age old hot rod dilemma, power or mileage. I did gears to make the transmission act right. I don't want a fast truck because I bought the wrong one if that's true

 

Occasional elevation driving , just concerned about how much 5:29's will affect the top speed? Seems like most people are going with 5:29s but I don't wont to loose the ability to make up some ground in the open desert.

 

With 33s, you'll still have plenty of top speed. The difference between 4.88s and 5.29s isn't huge. Your setup is better for 5.29.

 

How often do you go 90+mph?

 

I have 36k on mine with stock gears and a tune. I have a full bumper and 32’s. There’s no way I’d go 5.29 even if I added 200 lbs.

 

Daily.

 

Being able to drive comfortably 85-90 MPH is important for long trips in the open spaces out here (or even daily freeway commutes during the right times) . Would 5.29s RPM be too high for extended periods of time at that speed? Thanks for everyone's feedback

 

General feedback that I have seen is folks prefer 4.88 for high speed driving. I have 5.29 and drive 75 when my tires permit without complaints but im not really an 80-90 kind of guy