I was wondering what you guys think of running 33's with 5.29s. the truck is an 85 pickup with 33x12.5s, 3" body 3"suspension lift, standard transmition, it is fuel injected and runs good for having 200k+ miles. were I live there are kind of alot of hills and it would be nice to have a little lower than stock gears but i dont want it to be overkill. what would it be like on the highway? i go about 70 on the hw in 4th at about 3100 rpms i believe but i never get it out of fourth so i was thinking with 5.29s that i would just use 5th. i do alot of highway driving but i dont mind if I do 70 at 3200rpms in 5th. what do you guys think 5.29s or 4.88? and why? thanks

would like to hear from 1st gen trucks or 4runners who are running or have run 33s with 5.29s or if you have 4.88s would you regear to 5.29 s?

 

Mine doubles as a daily, so 4.88 is the only way for me.

 

Hold on, let me search for you and I'll post up...

 

thanks i looked but didnt find much

 

I ran 33s with the stock 4:10s with almost the same set-up as you. I ran around 60-65mph in 4th....never saw 5th....terrible gas milage when I went to 35s...haha. I would have much rather gone with 5:29s. I say this because my cousin has 5:29s in his with just a 2" body and 33s Amazing differance and the power is great on or off the road. rolls 70 mph no prob.

 

i believe i seen somewhere that it's only like a 300rpm difference between 4.88's and 5.29's..

somethin like a 7% increase from 4.88's.

just get em..you'll be fine..i'd rather be a little overgeared than undergeared..lol

 

google is your friend

search 'gear calculator" and this thing comes up:
http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html

plug the numbers in to give you some real world numbers
10.2 seconds

 

i liked my 33''s and 4.10's on the highway more than my 5.29's and 33''s, cant wait till i get 37''s.

 

I'll share my experience.

I had planned on running 33's and 5.29's... Having run my former 33's on 4.10's (which mind you wasnt that bad!) ... Then driving my buddies rig with 5.29's (turbo 22re) on 33's and 35's respectively..

And now me.. I run 37's and 5.29 gear sets with a 22R.

I would NOT run 5.29 with 33's as a Daily Driver. Why? Holy annoying hell on the highway! You're going to be in the 3000 rpm range to get anywhere above 60mph in 5th gear. And starting from a stop..1st gear, second, third.. you're gonna be annoyed with how much more you have to shift, and quicker.

To each their own of course! ... but the power difference isnt worth the annoyance of having to clutch all that more and high rpms on the highway.. which also translate into higher differential temps (not good for the bearings or ring and pinion)..

What would be my reccomendation? Shoot for 35's... Realistically its only 1" more in circumference .. since most 35's really only measure out to 33" anyway... and run 5.29's. You'll love it.

37's are cool too

 

I'm running 5.29's and 33's and it's my DD. I run 3200rpms to hit 70mph.

I quite enjoy it

 

I got 4.88 and 33s and on th highway doin 70 in 5th im around 2500 3000

 

It depends on how you are going to use the truck. I run 4.88's with 35's and it runs great. The engine has a few mods(cam, exhaust, Weber 38), and only once in extremely high winds did I really feel underpowered.
The guy that built up the truck also put a 4.7 in the transfer case, so I still have a very low crawl ratio. I rarely hit over 3000 rpm's unless I am downshifting into 4th for a large hill or I am late to work.

With 33's and 35's and 4.88's or 5.29's, you are either going to be under or overgeared. That being said, I want to run 255/85/16's on my truck and see how it runs with that set up.

 

Not so. Stock, my truck came with 29" tires I believe, as did most of ours with stock 4.11 gears in the rear. To get the same effective gear ratio with 33" tires, you'd need a 4.6655 ring & pinion. So going 4.88 with 33s actually over gears you ever so slightly from the stock ratio.

 

i'm running 33's with 4:56's and not finding any trouble.

 

Correct. I guess my above statement was confusing. What I meant to say is that with 4.88's and 33's you would be overgeared, but if you put on 35's you would be slightly undergeared. If you go to 5.29's with 35's then you will be over geared again.

That's why I think a 255/85/16 with 4.88's would be perfect since they are taller than a 33, but not as tall as a 35.

 

with 4.56 and 32s I burn 3500 RPMs doing 65MPH and with my 37s its almost perfect for highway but wouldnt mind 4.88s but wouldnt really need 5.29 unless it was a wheeling rig but thats what dual cases are for

 

Ah, I gotcha. A 255/85/R16 is a 33.06" tire though. Not really a difference in gearing. If you can find some 255/90/R16s, that would be a 34.07" tire and the new gear ratio you'd need to have the stock effective gear ratio is ~4.83.

 

Mathematically, a 255 shows to be only a hair taller than a 33, but most 33's are not even 33" tall. There is a good site that compared all of the available 255/85's to each other and then to a 285/75 and a 33, and some of the 255's are almost an inch taller than the others.

Here's a pic from the site:

article here:
http://www.expeditionswest.com/equip...bfg_mt_km.html

I am trying to figure out what I need to put my Tacoma tire/rims, which have 255/85/16's, on my 84 to try it out. I think spacers will do the trick, and I will start a new thread with how they work.

 

I run 5.29s on my 83 with 35's with no issue and my wife runs 4.88s on her runner with 33's the 83 runs about 2900-3200 at 65 and the wifes runs about that with the 4.88

 

I run 5.29s with 33s with a 22re. Although it has an auto. I wish it was geared lower