Recently I have been looking into re-gearing my truck. From what I've heard the best gear ratio to run with 31s would be 4.11. Would it make any sense just to do the rear diff, or would that make 4wd all messed up? Also I am considering running 33s some time in the future, would these gears work ok for them too? Lastly what are a few good company that sell new gear sets?

~Austin

 

Yes, if you change the gear ratio in the rear diff on a 4WD without changing the front ratio, you will eventually ruin something expensive.

 

Anyone that has done this, how difficult was it to do?

 

You mean a front and rear complete diff (housing and all) swap? I have. If you mean gears, then I have not. I hear that is best left to the pros.

 

This sounds like its gonna get expensive real fast

I was hoping to just change the ring and pinions, but thats probally not gonna happen for awhile!

 

Well keep asking questions, you might be surprised. Someone else might chime in that is more familiar with gearing changes.

 

First off, with your truck, you already have 4.10 gears. With 31" tires, you want to go with 4.56's. Second, swapping ring and pinion gears really isn't that difficult once you have all the tools you need. Figure to spend $200 or so just on tools. For a one-time thing, it usually isn't worth it although there are other uses for the tools you'd need. Mostly, setting gears requires a lot of patience, you may have to do it several times in order to get them right and if they are set badly, they will have a very short life. This is what scares away most people from setting their own.

 

Go with 4:88's.Its gonna give a lot of torque and acceleration on and off-road.Tire choices will be 31's to 33's.Look for a ring and pinion installer to do your gears.I bought my gears from Superior Gears for less than $600.

 

My truck didn't come stock with 31s so im pretty sure that i dont have 4.11 gears. Anyone with 4.56 gears around what rpm are you turning at 60-65mph? I would like to stay at or below 3000 rpms. Thanks for your replies!!!

 

5 speed pickups came with 4.10s for 225/75 tires and 4.56s for 31s.
You have 4.10s unless someone put another ratio in there.

 

Guess that shows how wrong a person can be! I think ill go with 4.56 then. Has anyone used NWOR gears, their shop is about 2 min away from my house!

 

i would go with a quality gearset, Yukon, US gear, precision, there may be a couple others, but what ever you do don't buy Genuine Gears, trust me on that one

 

This is one thing I wont go the cheapo route on, I dont want any exploding diffs!!

 

do a search on some forums on NWOR. bad news wherever you look

 

Ive thought about this for a month or so and I was wondering if it would be possible to find a 4runner or truck with stock 31s or and auto and take 4.56 or 4.88 thirds and put them in my truck. Is the possible, I have heard the factory 4.88 thirds are different than 4.56 or 4.10.

 

Yes, they are different but they will bolt up to your axle housing no problem. The problem with these thirds is that you are stuck with the ratio. The factory 4.88 ratio gears are different (more pnion offset) than regular gears. As such there are no other ratios available that will fit. If you want a different ratio later on, you will need to find different third members and go from there.

 

Sweet, I dont think I will go any larger 4.88 and I do I could always just use my old 3rd. How hard are these 4.88 thirds to find? Also how hard is the install?

 

I'm pretty sure that you do have 4.10's.

I have 31's, 22RE, 5-speed, and 4.56 gears. 60-65 mph turns the motor about 2500-2750 RPM.