The 5.29 Mega Thread!!

you can always go with 5.29's and put 35's on it

 

I would want to regear for daily driving. When it comes to wheeling, I’m simply go into 4low at the beginning and the truck has plenty of torque then. I already know the truck is gutless so im not going to punish the clutch by trying 4hi. The low range goes fast enough in these trucks for most wheeling too. It actually does really well in 4low and makes wheeling the manual so easy. I only use 1st gear on the steep slippery stuff. I was surpirsed how well it was at elevation too, I did most the Alpine loop in 2nd-3rdgear and only needed 1st on a few sections and downhill portions. Most my local wheeling can be done in 2nd gear. I also don’t do anything crazy though, as it’s a daily driver.

 

I felt the same way about stock gears. Truck was continuously hunting gears and never held 6th gear on freeway for more than few seconds.
About low-end torque, I think this truck is way too heavy for its damn size. I really wish Toyota had optional V8, I would have bought that in a heart beat. Even with 5.29's, on freeway in 6th gear, truck doesn't pull much because it is in overdrive gear but if you push the skinny pedal little further it shifts right away. For me 5.29's was the only option because it is not my daily driver, but if you have MT and you daily drive, your left leg is going to look like a body builder's legs very soon because you will be changing lots of gears. As you mentioned, it is a costly upgrade, one need to consider what they want the truck to do and what is the purpose of upgrading and do lot of research and crush lots of numbers.

 

I might go a little bigger with the next tires but I don't want to go to big, I like the drivability on road too

 

The oem size is 265/70/16, it makes zero sense to re-gear two diff$$ for a one inch larger diameter tire....unless you're planing on 35's soon and all the bs to get them to fit.

 

Sixth gear is basically unusable and I'd like a bit more gearing off-road. Biggest I might go on this truck is 255/85/16. I've done big lifts with big tires on other trucks and I don't like how they drive.

 

You don't really need to regear for 255s. IMO, the truck felt better with them on than the stock tires.

 

Dang it.....love the way mine looks, but wish for more power and better shifting AT......

 

Caught up with the read! I am ready to pull the trigger for gears also, going the ECGS route with the gears installed into the third member already.

Was planning to go the 4.88 route. But after reading this thread, im debating the 5.29's. Tires currently are Yokohama Geolander MT's 285/75/16. Also running full skids, steel bumper Front and rear, and a Gofast camper. When driving highways, im never in 6th, mainly in 5th, and always in 4th when I have to actually accelerate.

@JoeCOVA , you mentioned even with the stock tire configuration, you like the 5.29's much better than the stock?

 

Yup, I love them, I am perfectly content with the 5.29s and running stock a stock tire.

 

lol if you love them for stock, they should work just as amazing for 33s than. Thanks! Just trying to dig up more info on the 5.29 vs the 4.88 for 33-35 tire range.

 

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm running a 285/75/16 now, which measures out to about a 32" tall tire considering going to a 315/75/16 in the future. My main concern is interstate MPG's when I travel east and west the speed limit is 75 and in some cases 80. I'm fine with going the speed limit at 75, but the revs may be too high to be anywhere close to economical. Any input from the the current 5.29 users at interstate speeds (75) and MPG's at that pace? Also the truck is not a daily driver, its only used for adventurous weekends, and traveling to such adventure.

 

not much to dig up...150 rpm difference between 55-60. that simple
either will make you happy with either tire size. I have 4.88s with 33s originally and now 35s and am happy. I considered going to 5.29s but as ECGS pointed out (since I got caught up in the hype of 5.29 gears) I will only gain 150 rpm and is that worth doing all the work and money to change the gears over? When they pointed that out then I was content with 4.88s again. Given the opportunity to do it all again from the beginning I'd do 5.29s with 35s ande with the 33s It'd come down to personal driving. Mostly freeway miles? 4.88s, mostly town driving? 5.29s. although honestly, both are a great choice.
Don't overthink it

 

75 mph on stock tires the rpms sit around 2400ish. If you ran that exclusively I would think that you would average around 17-18ish. When we did our road trip speeds were mostly 50-70 on highways as we ran almost no interstates. I have no data on the 35s and mine are limited to 65mph

 

Hey Joe, I know you came over to Denver to have your gears done. Did you go back over any high passes when heading home. How did the truck do? I've got 33 and am debating 4.88 or 5.29. I drive a lot of interstate including some in Utah with speed limit at 80 but gears would really help these trucks at altitude and steep grades.

 

During our recent road trip we crossed Monarch pass going both directions and traveled a bit of the Million Dollar Highway as we drove through Silverton and Ouray. Ironically it rained, froze, then snowed while we were on it and that road is pretty sketchy in the snow. Apparently there is a memorial to all of the snow plow drivers that have been killed on the road, 14 so far. yikes.

In Utah we also traversed Kolob Terrace Road traveling from the Zion Visister Center to the Lava Point camp ground, this road was a bear as we drove in 3rd and 4th the whole way and the worst mpg of our trip, 13.7. BUT what goes up must come down and we recovered our mpgs but it was a long steep drive. I can't even imagine what that road would be like with stock gears, the truck would probably be hunting like crazy and drop into 2nd

Truck does great on the passes and has quite a bit of power for passing and moving a long, mpgs obviously drop going up and you get them back when you descend. Big difference on the passes.

I've never taken the truck up to 80 but over 65-70 you will see a drop in mpgs because of the rpm creep but you have quite a bit more power on the top end.. If you plan on doing a lot of higher speed interstate driving and sticking to 33s, 4.88s may be a better option but I dont think you would be unhappy with 5.29. Our road trip involved no interstates and I rarely drive them now, even going to Denver I usually take 105. I had surprisingly great mps for our trip and it was a lot of mixed roads and environments.

 

Wow very good info guys! This kind of makes my decision harder... lol seems you can’t go wrong with either gear set lol

 

I think that's a pretty accurate statement. For me, I plan on running 35s all the time, with steel armor and a lot of weight. That made it an easy decision to just go straight to 5.29s.

My gears are getting polished and arrive sometime this week. Thursday, I think. Install will be soon.

 

I’m going to run 33s at first with my new 5.29s.
I have no worries based on our trucks. They come under geared with stock tires. They really do.
So 33s and 5.29 you will be fine and can always go up in tire size. 4.88 I think ur gonna still struggle a little with 35s.

Also, I would say you need to figure out how fast you drive on the freeway. If ur going 75-80, and are running 33s you might not be optimal..... but look at our truck on a dyno.
Torque kicks in at 2600 or so. So if we are right around there, we are in ideal cruising range.

 

This info is so helpful. Thank you for taking the time to post it. I do have one question. What does re-gearing do the odometer? From what I understand a gen 3 will have no problems with the speed, but I'm not so sure about the odometer.