Has anyone here regeared their truck? If so what are you running? I’m considering 4.88 Nitro gears.
I’ve been researching this a lot lately. The internet gives all sorts of advice but from what I gather the larger your tires & more weight you put on your vehicle the more you can benefit from a regear.
I always thought this was an issue with power but turns out it’s all about low-end torque. Many of us here are adding weight to our truck with at least the GFC and as you add camping gear and other stuff your truck suffers. Supposedly auto gen 3 Tacos can benefit from a regear with stock tires. I have a auto Gen 2 and notice that when I really load the truck down it’s quite sluggish in the hills. Especially trying to hold higher speeds on the freeway. This was with a 265/70/17 tire. I now have 285/70/17 and experience this even more. So even before my tires got a little bit larger I have always thought the truck was a little sluggish on hills. There is a trip I took last summer to Montana where holding cruise control was almost impossible without the engine constantly getting revved. I have considered going up a tire size in the future and adding some extra weight in terms of armor so I think this will be a good upgrade but also a really expensive one. If anyone else else here has considered this or already done it I would love to hear your thoughts.
MmHmm.
If you’re going to run a larger than stock tire and carry more weight consistently, it would behoove you to regear. One of the best mods you can do for your vehicle.
Unfortunately the 3rd gen tacoma suffers from the decisions Toyota made with that engine and transmission combo, and regearing is really a must for the '16+.
5.29 for 3rd gens is what seems to be the standard to get back to near stock gearing, even with 33’s. What’s good about that is you’ll be setup for 35’s as well. Might as well as getting lockers installed at the same time if that’s part of the plan. Any larger and you’re looking at an even lower gear ratio and possibly needing more power via supercharger, tune, etc.
Goes to say with any mod, do your research to get what you need that best suits your situation, not what you think you want, or what people think looks cool.
Did you get new gears?
Yup. Wouldn’t have replied otherwise.
Okay thanks I thought so looks like you have a Gen 2 with some armor. If you don’t mind What tire size did you regear at? What gear ratio do you have?
I’m in the same boat. Also considering the Nitro 4.88. I just picked up a '21 OR manual trans and have the lower ratio from the factory. Kind of waiting to see what direction I go with the truck weight wise before I seriously consider the regear.
Yup. I regeared at 35’s with 4.56, 4.88 would have been too low for me. It will be different for people depending on what they’re going to do with their vehicle.
Don’t waste your money on this one though, not a mod you want to do twice. 5.29’s on the 3rd gen are the sweet spot, especially since there’s a 6th gear. If there wasn’t, 4.88’s would be the better choice because of that engine.
Keep in mind, my application with 4.56’s and 35’s will not work for you, or any 3rd gen, but the thought process is the same.
My truck is a 2nd gen Auto. Both Nitro gears and my local shop Stellar built recommended 4.88 for me personally. It’s good to know what work for you. Thanks for sharing
Not a Tacoma but regearing my Jeep was some of the best money I have ever spent. Made it so much more enjoyable to drive both on and off road.
I do have a good friend with a second gen manual Tacoma who did 4.88 with 35s and full armor and is very happy with it, but it is a manual so not a great comparison. Keep in mind that the lower you go the smaller the pinion gets and therefore weaker, but that probably only applies in serious rock crawling.
I did 4.56 with 34s, front/rear bumper + GFC. Think I probably should have gone 4.88 but still happy with how it drives now. Much better than stock.
Steller Built is an awesome shop!
We have a few thousand pages of talk about 4.88s vs 5.29s over on tacoma world.
The short story–5.29s for 33s or larger. 4.88s are ok for 33 skinnies and under.
I have 4.88s, 265/70/17, and OvTune. That pushes my 3rd gen just fine.
I have 4.56 with full armor and 35s. Dont have my gfc yet, but I’ve had heavier RTT setups, and the truck does great. I guess a bit higher rpms in the mountains. I just keep an eye on the transmission temps
Hey,
I have 5.29 Nitros on 2014 tacoma… Here are my thoughts and experience with this.
I have a GFC, and 33" tires on 16" wheels.
When I did my research, it was hard to find anything for 2nd gen tacomas. And the difference being the 3rd auto had that 6th gear where the 2nd gen did not. I got talked into the 5.29s when originally I was going for the 4.88s. I would recommend going for 4.88s if you have a 2nd gen and most of your driving consists of longer distances on HWYs. The problem I am running into is not the power and torque, which is great with the 5.29s. It’s keeping up with HWY speed limits when they reach 75 and 80 miles/hr. My truck wants to run at 3200 RPM and that gives me anxiety for 3-4 hours at a time. It has no problem going that speed but I’m just not comfortable with the engine revving so high, even though I’ve been told it can handle it.
If I had it to do over again, I’d get the 4.88s. If most of your driving is around town and trail riding then the 5.29s will do the trick and then some. But my issue was traveling to those destinations ends up being the bulk of my driving and it just isn’t as fun for me. I drive longer distances to go to mountain ranges for snowboarding. Currently I am waiting for toyota to come out with a more improved tundra and I will be selling my complete rig to put a new GFC on that thing, if and when it comes out [hoping for 2022]. It will serve my purpose better.
Hope that helps a bit.
Josh
Hey Josh thanks for the advice. Maybe you should get 35’s or 37’s then the 5.29 would be perfect. Although those tire sizes demand more mods…
I have a 1st gen tacoma and 33’s. Re-geared to 4.88’s recently and made the truck so much nicer to drive (like it was before all my mods). Would highly recommend to anyone with bigger wheels, sliders/bumpers, camper shell, etc. DO IT!
I also replaced my speedo drive gear with one with (more?) teeth so that it’s pretty accurate again. Worth considering.
And then 80 mph would be hard to achieve!
I never go above 70 in my truck. The RPMs get high, then transmission gets hot, and then gas drains. I only get 220 miles to a tank anyways. I dont mind going slow, can take in the sights.
2019 Tacoma here. 255/85/16s so roughly 33-34 tall. Sliders, skids. Leer shell( waiting for my GFC). I penciled out the gears and picked 4:88s. The numbers worked for 80 mph. What I didn’t add to the calculation was the extra weight I’ve added. I’ve since added the OV tune. The gears and the tune helped a lot. If I was to do it again I’d go straight to the 5:28s. Long story short. Do the 5:29s
It sounds like that is the consensus for 3rd gen Auto with larger than stock tires and additional weight.