Regearing worth it?

For those that have regeared to 4.88/5.29’s. I’m currently tuned on 35’s and while it’s not horrible to drive, it could be better. The tacomas don’t have much power to begin with and anytime I have a trailer behind the truck it’s not great, so I’ve been considering diving into having it regeared. Did it make a big difference? Does it make the truck actually enjoyable to drive? My other option is trading it in on a half ton.

 

There are TONS of threads on this and it’s been discussed many many times.
Google tacomaworld regear. I’m sure someone will link the big threads for you here.
The answer is going to be: YES it’s worth it/makes a difference/is more enjoyable to drive.
With 35’s the answer will be 5.29s

 

My biggest issue with the Tacoma is the lack of power. I do have it tuned and that helped. I’ve disliked that about it from stock all the way up to 35’s now. It really didn’t get any worse after 35’s, it’s always been underwhelming. Now I know it’ll never be a powerhouse. My current thought is regear it to regain power and drivability or save the money and trade it in on a half ton. I don’t do a ton of hauling but even putting a utility trailer behind the Tacoma shows its weaknesses. I’m trying to figure out if regearing it will save my love for it or if it won’t make enough of a difference and I’ll regret that I just spent $3k on that.

 

Hhhmmmm that is more of a unique question than most of these threads that pop up simply because the choice is between a bigger truck or gears, instead of which gears.
After spending a ton to try and like my truck after it replaced my totaled first gen, my opinion is that it will never be what you want it to be. You can improve it, and change its performance marginally, but it’s never going to outperform a big boy no matter what (reasonable) thing your do to it.
Power is definitely not what this thing was designed for, and if doing 80 up a hill with a travel trailer is your goal, I’m not positive a regear will get you that.
That’s all just my opinion of course.
Here is the 5.29 mega thread it has a lot more opinions and info

 

Thanks! I know it’ll never be what a half ton is and truthfully I don’t need a half ton. But the lack of power in this drives me nuts. A slight incline on the highway or wind blowing the wrong direction and it holds 3000 rpm and sounds like it’s screaming haha. Plus mpg drops dramatically

 

Now we are back in well documented territory! Lol rpms and mpgs are discussed over and over in that thread.
I did just enough research to figure out which set I want to go with and then stopped, because it’s a deep rabbit hole with lots of opinions and information.

This site may help you when you get down the hole. You’ll need to find more info than just stock gear ratio to plug in, but it takes tire size into account which is a huge factor when picturing what your rpm’s at speed will be. Measure actual tire diameter and don’t use sidewall specs for the most accurate output.
http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html

 

The Anderson Engineering intake manifold spacer help with towing. Hold 4th gear much better at 60-65 mph

 

If you read through the major regear threads, you'll notice a common trend. People that regear to 4.88's either love it or regret not going with 5.29's. People with 5.29's tend not to regret it. There's a few outliers that regret regearing, but they are few and far between.

I regeared to 5.29's and run 33's. This ratio is about perfect in my opinion, and nearly matches the gear ratios of the stock MT's. I have zero regrets and it's made me appreciate the truck more than before. It absolutely transformed the truck.

Negatives: run at slightly higher RPM, touchy pedal off of the line, loss in MPG

Pros: more power where you need it, no more gear hunting, holds 5th or 6th going up hills at 60-70.

If you regear, be sure to re-tune for the new gear ratio and to remove the speed governer.

 

I typically get 12.5-14 mpg currently. However if it’s a windy day and I’m on the highway at 70 with a head wind it typically holds in 4th gear and I get 10-11 mpg

 

I'm on 33's and 4.88's but wish i had 5.29's

 

It's a 278hp truck, it's always gonna be. I personally don't understand throwing all that money at a truck for looks. Drop a tire size (33's)

 

I was going to ask this, thanks!
Stock I was getting 19-21 avg
Skinny heavy 33s maybe 14-17 depending.

35s look great but I’d be worried about worse mpg, acceleration and breaking CVs.

 

It’s about being in the sweet spot of the rpm’s when going a bigger size tire and carrying a lot of camping equipment.

 

What tire size are you running?
I would have thought the 488 were ideal for 33s.

 

285 70 R17 BFG KM3’s E rated. Came on the truck as did the gears and lift. But with all the gear I take to keep the wife comfortable when pulling up mountain passes if I could keep it in 4th-5th instead of 3rd-4th it would be ideal

 

Between stock, 33’s and now 35’s it’s really not much of a difference. 33 and 35 I noticed no difference. Stock to 33 was more noticeable

 

you sir need a different truck, I would stop throwing more money and HP robbing weight at this thing, and get to looking for a truck with the power you like, before you dude it all up.

 

Or do what you want.

 

I have to chuckle to myself a bit when people try to tell themselves stock gearing is fine with 35s. My manual with skinny 33s is fine for what I do. 35s I would do 5.29s for sure, autos have worse gearing.

I ran my colorado stock with 35s for a bit then tuned with 35s for probably 5 months and it was terrible. The 3.6 in my colorado had more power then my tacoma does and made torque lower in the rpm. That truck got 4.56 gears and it was like driving it when it was stock again.

I vote stop throwing money at your taco and buy a half tonne if you want more power. Or buy a new canyon/colorado with the 2.7 turbo if you want power and problems.

 

I like my Tacoma for what it is. I just wish it had more power and didn’t struggle as much. Not sure gearing will alleviate that.