I have an '82 4x4, 5 speed, 22r, weber 38, mild lc cam, headers.

In it's past life it was a crawler, and I want to have it be able to cruise at 65-70 on the highway, as I will be going across FL regularly (Venice to Boca Raton, about 180 miles)

Right now it has 5.29 gears, and 33' tires.

I know I am going to have to re-gear it, but I don't know whether to do 4.88, 4.56, or 4.11's.

I want to be able to use 5th gear, but I don't want to be revving the crap out of it either for the 3 hour highway ride.

The post your mpg thread has numbers all over the board, so I'm not sure what to think.

 

4.88s would be ok for 33s and you can always up to 35s and be fine.
With 33s, 70 is about as fast as i ever felt like going for extended periods of time. 75 felt like i was running at too high of an rpm for long drives.

I was pulling (21 mpg corrected) and better on the freeway
81, stock cab, stock exhaust, 5 speed, 33x10.5r15 km2s.

Stepped up to the goodyears in my sig, definitely seeing a few less mpgs, but they are heavier, wider and taller. I get 19.5mpgs now.

 

4.56s only if you knew you never would want to run 35s again.

 

I believe the standard for 33" tires is 4.88 or 4.56. That's what I would suggest if you planned on staying with your current tires. For anything smaller, the gears would change, obviously. I currently run 235/85 (32~tall) and the stock 4.10 works fine.

 

ok, thanks for the replies guys.

I think I will get some 4.56's, and hope for a comfortable 70-75ish cruising speed. I had hoped that 4.11's would do it, and I could just steal gears from junkyard axles, but as I said before, I want to be able to use 5th gear, so I guess I will have to start saving for some new gears.

 

4.56 is as close to stock as you are going to get. I run 4.88 w/33's and its a little over geared. My speedometer says Im going 3-4 mph faster than I actually am.

 

I agree that 4.56 are the way to go for what you want.

Not sure if you know, but some 90-95 trucks and 4-Runners came with 4.56 gears stock (V6, 5 speeds with 31" tires from factory). The rear diff from these trucks will fit in both your front and rear axles, but the pinion flange has a different bolt pattern, so you would have to re-drill or swap flanges. Maybe you could find some at the junkyard.

 

any way to tell if the truck has those gears by a door number, or number printed on the differential?

 

Take off your drive line from the differential and find out what color paint was used on the end of the pinion but. There are charts on here that will tell you what color means what ratio. Also there were 4.88:1 gears in some sr5s in the 89-95 range. I would suggest 4.88 if you want to run wide tires because the tire firmest charts online don't take width into account for resizing, just height.

 

I like my just installed 5:29's. I have 33 inch tires and plan to add 35's in 2 years or so. I go 65, (3100 rpm) and thats about it, I am not in a hurry. I am in the process of doing an SAS.

 

Check the VIN tag on the driver's door jamb. G254 is the code for 4:56 gears (gears could have been changed at some point though, so definitely verify the ratio after pulling the diff).

 

Do you want to sell the set of 5.29's once you've changed them out? If the deal is right, I'll buy them.

 

Yeah I'll letcha know when I pull them, I would have no use for them.

 

Wait...... what?

 

The gears are painted a certain color depending on the ratio, and he is suggesting 4.88's because the 12.5's I have weigh more than smaller tires and might ideally need the extra power.

 

I don't know if the gears are painted but I've seen the pinion nut with a dab of paint on it, if that's what your referring to. Pink dot should be 4.10's that's the only one I know lol
Not sure if anybody said it earlier but the factory 4.88 3rd's take special offset gears meaning if you regeared later you would have to get different 3rds.

I have 4.56's with 33's and it seems a little to much gear but I do have a 3.4 and only driven a hand full of time on the road.
I'd say 4.56 or 4.88 since you have a 4 cylinder. Another thought just swap out the rear (you'll only have 2wd though) and see if you like it before doing both axles.

 

I really like my 4.88s and 32" tires. The big difference is I live in Denver and travel to 10k feet elevation on the highway so I need all I can get. 3k rpm for a good 22r is no big deal. Running up that passes I'm usually no less then 4k rpm for 20 minutes or more.

Edit: fuel mileage runs around the 20s. I have seen as high as 23mpg and as low as 15mpg

 

4.88s and 33s unless you have a 4 speed, then run 4.56s