Wanting to re-gear my 2023 TRD OR (Bay Area)

Yeah this place isn't a Toyota speciality shop, but he says they work on plenty of them. Honestly I don't think he knows off the top what parts they'd want to use. He was just saying that Yukon and Nitro aren't necessarily the cats ass, they're just very popular at the moment but they prefer gears from other makers. I'll certainly want to look into what's proposed, I want to do this one and done given the labor cost.

In fact I'm wondering if I can just dodge it entirely with the tune (doubtful) the trip was fine we got there and back with decent MPG's probably 18 or so average with a full bed rack, retrax, iKamper and all that shit on 32" e-load tires. It was more just being frustrated with the decisions the trans would make. You'd dig into the gas, it'd drop to 4'th to pull an incline...then you'd crest the hill, shit you'd be starting to go DOWNHILL a bit and the f'ing thing would just hold 4'th for what seemed like an eternity before slipping into 5 and 6. Like doesn't the trans look at the accelerometers and such and know that you're pointing down hill, injector duty cycle is going down despite speed going up and take the hint that it's maybe ok to upshift now?

 

Wayment, in and out in 2.5 hours? I assume you provided a finished third member and are RWD only? I can't picture someone setting up diffs at both ends and handling all the install and removal in 2.5 hours. I'm getting the sense this is a job most shops will quote as 8 hours maybe 10 hours if the build your diffs for you.

 

I know gears typically take a LONG time. With their REM specials and ability to specialize in gears… 2.5 hours was the time it took. I didn’t provide anything but initial deposit and overall payment at the end.

 

The gearing ratio in the manual transmission is lower in some gears than the automatic. The higher gears not so much.

 

I had this same thought until I thought more. If two or more "teams" work well together and everything goes well in the setups I can see this being done - in fact I would like to observe it myself! Must be quite the orchestra.

The vehicle is a 2019 Off Road, so both ends were done. With the speed I do not think a solid spacer was used though.

 

Yeah that’s impressive as hell. Solid spacer would require more futzing for sure. The shop I talked to today was attuned to solid Vs deformable spacer but didn’t seem to know much about the needle bearing thing. There has to be a downside to dumping the needle bearing for the bushing tho.

They were the first to definitively answer what the Toyota recco is for the UCA bolt. Said shop manual says cut it off, replace with new. What blows my mind is if that’s the case WTF doesn’t the factory just install them flipped around so you can get em out without cutting them off

 

I cut my bolts. Installed the other direction and it was not easy either - it is just tight. I read somewhere years ago as to just why they were installed in that direction from the factory. Don't recall now though. Possibly gravity, perhaps the frames are upside down originally.

Haven't heard of any problems with the bushing, I will not be using the bushing or the bearing because the ARB locker displaces the factory setup, so it is not necessary or even possible to get it in there.

Like you, I also have some real reservations as to Toyota engineering. What I do like is the multiple piece engine compartment fuse box for ease of assembly - that has to be slick when putting the engine and the body together. The grill, how it is held on with the lower slots in the plastic and four tiny fasteners up top is a real piece of work - secured with practically nothing - impressive.

 

I doubt you will be able to alleviate all your frustrations with a tune. In my experience, a tune provides a wow factor at first, due to the very different throttle. I haven’t driven an automatic tuned but they of course change the shift parameters some and so that probably adds to the wow feel. After a while, at least on my truck, it wears off. I could still totally feel the lack of gearing plenty of times with the tune.

As for it staying in 4th downhill, that actually sounds normal/desirable. Most modern autos do that to engine brake and help save the brakes. You’d get no engine braking in 5th or 6th.

I drove an auto as a loaner for a couple weeks. I hated it for several reasons, mainly how much pedal input it took to get it to downshift (too much IMO), but honestly stuff like staying in 4th downhill wouldn’t bother me at all - that’s how I drive my stick. The worst part about the auto was how in cruise control it would just constantly change gears which was just stupid and it’s hard to believe that hasn’t improved at all from 2016-2023 (loaner was a 2023).

 

Nah don't mean like engine braking. I'm talking about slogging along a grade going up...so you've dropped into 4'th to hold speed. Then you crest the hill and are on flat ground or very very low downward slope and it would sometimes take it's sweet time getting back into 5'th or 6'th it doesn't need those gears at that point cause engine load has dropped a ton.

I agree tho, it's not a good replacement for regear. It just might alleviate some of the mismanagement in corner cases. IMHO it's barely anymore power, it's just a different, "flavor" of presentation of the power.

 

The trick is to move the stick to S and upshift
This upshift issue is related to ACIS being On while in D. In S it work differently

 

"IF" you do plan to go down the re-gear route, this might be a good rule of thumb. Disclaimer though, I am no re-gearing specialist. All I know is that I am running 5.29 with 35s and a whole bunch of dead weight on the bed and it seems to be fine in my case.