I have searched the regear threads and think I know what ratio to go with, but I thought if I lay out my situation and goals and I can get a specific answer from someone with first hand experience.


The truck is 87 4runner SR5 with a tired 22re and crap exhaust. The plan is to put a performance 22re with rv cam matched up with headers and exhaust. That will have to wait until finances improve. I am running 31x10.5 and do not plan on going any bigger.


I use it as a daily driver in town 90% of the time and it is ok for this. The other 10% is camping and hunting trips. I am satisfied with my off road capabilities. I live in the mountains of Colorado and I want to be able to pull long grades without feeling like I should get out and push. I want better acceleration and power on the highway. And the icing on the cake is I would like to be able to pull a small trailer, say 1,000lbs. Now I know the trailer may be asking a bit much, but aim high right? So I am looking for improved highway and pulling performance and fuel economy is a secondary issue for me. I am thinking 4:88's. Any one with an opinion fire away.

 

5 spd manual trans, currently has 4:10's and is a dog.

 

Not a Toyota but this might help out... I put a hi-performance engine in a van and way bigger tires, changed the rear ratio to make the speedometer correct again, which was 4.11 from the original 3.50. It worked out to be perfect, just enough to have good power but still driveable on the freeway. I used it to tow a dead car onto a truck with a car trailer, the guy in the truck had his foot on the brake while i pulled the car up, I ended up dragging the entire car/trailer/truck skidding along the street because it got stuck halfway up the trailer.

 

4:88 with 33's are about stock. So if you towing and doing a lot of hills the 4:88 with 31's will do hills better. But will run higher RPMs as I'm sure you know. So will suck more gas.

 

Thanks' muddpigg. That's about what I figured. I am willing to take a reasonable hit on gas mileage to get better power for now.

 

Why not just do the engine performance work first and see if that works out? It would suck to do everything at the same time and find out you ended up with a gear ratio suitable for stump pulling, I've seen many people make that mistake.

 

4.10's with 31" tires is too low, esp for a 22re. Stock for 31" tires and a 3.0 is 4.56. Even with the performance 22re I'd think you'd want to go at least that high, perhaps to the 4.88 as mentioned.

 

On marlin's dif page there is an RPM and speed calculator for different gear ratios, transmissions, and tire size. Can give you some ideas as to what gas mpg's might be.

 

My mileage is already crap. I would have to guess 14-16 around town. The elevation where I live is 9500 so that doesn't help. I just filled up about a little while ago and will try to get a better idea of actual mileage with this tank.

 

If most of your driving is at 9500 feet or thereabouts, you'll definitely want to go with the 4.88 gear ratio. The combination of high altitude and small engine means you're seriously underpowered, even with a performance 22re. There aren't many places at that elevation to go 75mph, anyway

 

Thanks' RJR. That helps confirm what I have been thinking. Rarely go below 7000 so it's almost all high altitude driving.

 

Your speedo and odometer are off so the mpg's are prolly better than that.

 

True. With 4.10 gears and 31 inch tires the odometer will be off by about 11%, so 16 mpg is really closer to 17.7.