Hi guys, I'm about to pull the trigger on a very clean 1985 4runner that's sitting on 35s and has 5.71s. It's a 22RE and manual. I'm trying to gauge whether this is actually "too low" for it to be usable on the street - while I don't commute in it, per se, it would be nice to be able to do highway speeds going to/from places. Moreover, I was also thinking about going down to 33x10.50x15s on it.

What are your thoughts? It's a Deluxe model and doesn't even have a tach so I will be putting an SR5 cluster in it too so I'm not just guessing at how it drives. Using the grimmjeeper gear calculator it looks as though with 35s the truck would turn about 3500 rpm at 75 mph, and 3700 rpm if I went down to 33s. Is that too much for the 22RE from a longevity standpoint, or will these motors spin happily there? I don't care much about fuel economy, but I also don't want to overstress the truck.

PS, I'm in Colorado so I am well-aware that the truck being down on HP to begin with due to altitude will be slow, so wondering if the additional gearing will also help compensate for some of that, or if it's simply too low, period.

I did a bunch of searches first but couldn't find anything conclusive. Thanks in advance - looking forward to getting to know this community with the '85!

 

if you go down to 33's you can run stock 4.10's but swapping 4.56's or 4.88's would put you in line better for stock rpm's on the road.
with the altitude 4.88's would be your best choice

 

Makes sense - I can probably live with these for now but maybe swapping 3rds with someone would make the most sense down the road?

 

my '97 miata turns a hair over 4k rpms at 80mph, it's not unheard of in a factory vehicle, this car came with a limited slip performance rear end... the old aircooled vw bugs and ghias had the same high rpm issue in 4th gear, on the freeway.

you'll need that higher rpm in 5th gear, for those colorado mountains.

 

I'd concerned on set up of 5.71s. Most say they will not handle Offroad use. Unless they are set up by an expert toyota gear installer like Zuk. The teeth are so much smaller that the margin of error an wiggle room on tolerances is minute. I have seen tons of 5.71 difs on pirate classifieds with chipped teeth.

If you get it and choose to keep the 5.71s you might want for a check up.

 

I had read that in a few places too. Optimally what I think I would like to do is trade someone that has 4.88s or 5.23s. The truck looks nice enough to justify even with some imperfections like this.

 

Hi Tremek-
571's with a 5 speed and 33's especially are not for you on the highway.....too much rpm. I myself used to have an 87 Runner with 22RE and auto tranny. I installed 571 gears and a Detroit in the rear and skinny 33's 33x10.50x15 and it was a winning combo......good on the trail....never ran out of torque and could climb nice and slow as needed. On the highway, with the auto tranny, was good for 75 mph actual speed at 3400 rpm with the cruise on. My 571 gears gave me back the performance I needed with a 4 cyl engine and auto combination. They never broke on me neither.

The manual tranny does not have the deep overdrive so it would be too revvy on the highway with 571 gears.

And agree on the set-up....571's are a high performance ratio....generally for those that run 36" or 37" ++ tires. Like anything else, 571 gears need a pro install to get pro results. BIG tires can break any gear even if set up right. It's the price one pays for going much larger in tire size ....larger than the Toyota engineers ever had in mind with the 8". 488 gears and 33" tires seems to be a good number with a manual tranny.

 

Hi Zuk - honored by your input, thank you! Re: 5.71s and 33s, I also came to that conclusion.

I ultimately passed on this truck, and just picked up a 1997 LX450 with factory lockers that's going to be a minor project unto itself, but probably better in the long run for inexpensive crawling and adventuring with my family. Once we get to big rubber on the LX, I will no doubt be pulling the diffs and shipping them off to Zuk for a regear! After having read through some of your gear installs I'm amazed at your attention to detail, no question who I would choose to work on my gear.

Looking forward to chatting with folks in the Land Cruiser section - thanks!

 

i calculated it for 3400rpm, using gear numbers from the marlin gear chart, 33" tires, 5.71 rear end gear, and this calculator: http://spicerparts.com/calculators/t...rpm-calculator
.705 a340=83mph
.85 w56 =69mph
now compare it to my stock miata, 4.10 rear end, 22.7" tire, at 3400rpm:
.814 5th gear =69mph

5.71 vs. 5.29 looks like a 14mph difference, but 5.71/.85/33" tire gives the same final drive ratio as my miata got from the factory... i agree that's a bit revvy for a little miata at freeway speeds in the fast lane, in fact it can be rather irritating, lol, but for a gutless 22re on colorado hills, i'd run those gears until something broke... just drive a bit slower.

just for kicks... for my truck, at 3400rpm:
5.29 rear end, 37" tire:
.85 w56 =83mph

 

97 LX450....with factory e-lockers....excellent score......best rig for a family that enjoys camping. Looking forward to the re-gear for you. 37" is 529 gears.....35" is 488 gears per the TLC guys on Mud.
Ken