1990 pickup single cab regular box

First of this truck isn't my daily driver I have a work van. My truck is used for going to friends houses and wheeling that's it. Okay here is the dilemma I am in I currently have a 22re with roughly 10,000 kilometers on it the previous owner was a Toyota mechanic and rebuilt the engine. He installed a high torque cam, headers, intake, and exhaust. I will be installing dual cases before I switch tires one being a 2.28 and the 2nd being the 4.7. The engine will keep up with both my friends 3.0L. I am currently on 33"x15" wrangler mtr's with kevlar side walls and 4.88's. I will be switching to pitbull rockers 37"x17" bias ply. All I want to know is will my 4.88's be sufficient enough or will I need to switch to 5.29's. Im just worried about breaking pinion gears. Im the kinda person who given the industructable will still find a way to break it. Thanks in advance.

 

Honestly, while the 5.29's might be BETTER, it's still gonna be sluggish. I would run 5.29's with 35's so you might consider 5.71's. You're gonna get a 50/50 opinion on the strength of the 5.71's, but from what I've read they're perfectly strong.

Any pics of the truck?

 

Im starting the sas right now slowly ordering parts. First thing will be a ruffstuff axle housing ifs width +6". If what you say is true im going to go with 5.29's. My buddy has a 22re and 37's with 5.29's. Isnt fast but its pretty much a 4 speed.

 

If you actually wheel you are gonna break eventually.. if you can I would keep your 4.88 thirds as a back up set and build 5.29 thirds...

 

5.29s on my 36s and i havent broke a ingle thing yet and ill tell you, ive beat the hell out of my pickup, and my little 22re stock has plenty of torque with the 36s, drop it in 4th and pass somebody isnt a problem, id go with 5.29s just due to tire size myself, judt dont expect to go over 65-70

 

I would probably be better off if my truck only did go 65 I have a problem with speeding tickets lol

 

im the same way, my s-10 got my in trouble on the way home, 240sx pulled out in front of me, when i went to pass him he tried to down shift, one word of advice dont EVER try to race an ls1 s-10 with a ricer, it wont work,

 

so the ricer won ? lol!

 

i have a 86 pickup on 38' boggers, 5.29's, duals with 4.7 in the rear case and powered by 22re.........no problems i have 5th gear when i need it, it is not fast by any means but i drive to hollister hills twice a month if possible wheel the crap out of my truck and drive home....i can do 70-75 but why it drives at 65 and feels comfortable still gets about 17 miles to the gallon........i have not broken anything as of yet and i am really happy with the 5.29's i hope this helps you .............p iii

 

After reading your OP, It would be a toss up for me.

If it's not going to get much street use and most of your wheeling is going to be in low it might not matter much and probably wouldn't justify the cost of changing the gears out.

I would probably stick it out as is and if you hate it you can go to 5.29s.

 

After the imput ill probably go with 5.29's. When I decide to make a trip to death valley, arizona, and cali it be nice to have a vehicle that can atleast go freeway speed comfortably. If I do end up having a problem with 529 breaking I'll just keep a used i4 3rd with a spooled 529 in my toolbox. I doubt I will have any problems where I wheel there is a few large rocks mostly just tight technical stuff. Basically just quad trails that are crazy lol.

 

5.29s hands down. 5.71s would be better but like people say they are thin and prone to breakage so ive heard. ive always used 529s with crush sleeve eliminators with out any issues with 35s and 36s, but on ocassion wished i was lower. this was without any duel cases or similar mods like the 4.70 low range gear. 4.88s with 37s will be like your truck on 33s and 4.10s. either way i recomend the sleeve elimanators. under that amount of torque and leverage the crush collar will continue to crush and throw the gears out of mesh and cause failure. it could be that the people running 571s didnt use sleeves back in the day and thats what gave 571s a bad rep.

 

5.29's are what I ran with 36 TSL's and an occasional run with 38x11 Boggers.I have seen 5.71's survive for quite a while with cautious application of clutch and gas though......

 

installed propperly and the use of the sleeve is probally a factor in thier durability.like anything else , do it right the first time or do it again. back in the 80s before solid sleeves were available 529s were considered max and 571s were taboo. now i hear of people running them all the time with great results. better materials, new part options, etc all make the difference.

 

If you already have the 4.88's IMO the difference isn't worth the cost to switch. If ring/pinion breakage is your fear put the money into a high pinion front third.

 

I concur.

 

That is of course assuming a solid front axle. If you're planning on 38's on IFS gear... leave it open diff and stock up on 4.10's as that's going to be the cheapest way to fix it as often as you'll have to.

 

I understood the solid pinion spacer and cryo treatment for 5.71s made them as reliable as any other ratio. Is this not the case?

 

The 5.71 being weak is just a myth. People setting them up wrong is to blame for that one...

Good ole zuk: http://www.gearinstalls.com/410suck.htm

 

Where do the 5.71s usually fail? Even if they are of equal strength to a lower ratio, the higher torque multiplication can/will increase surface forces and possibly third member flexing. It is well-known in Mustang circles that the 2.95 first gear T5 boxes will take more abuse than the 3.35 version for that reason. Honda reduced the primary ratio in some of their bikes to keep the transmission gears from pitting.