As the title says, would it be practical to run 5.29 gears with 33's? Cause I eventually wanna go 35's and what not later. OPr should I juts stick with 4.88's or the 4.56 I have now???

 

Since you have an auto, you can do it. It will run high rpms though. But you will be able to drive well enough with 33s and 4:56s if you wanted to wait to change gears until it's tire time.

 

stick with 488's

 

Since you runner is stock with 4.56 you would be fine with 5.29 and 33's until you got 35's.

 

so its not worth it to go 4.88's? then change later

 

mine does fine with 33's and 4:56's. does loose some on long hills but ok other then that

 

Isn't the 5.29 a bit thin strength wise for 35's? I'd also like to go 35's in the future, but I was told to go 4.88 for more strength in the gears.

Am I getting bogus info?

 

4.88s even whn you go to 35's

 

Unless you have a money tree. Do it once and go to 5.29's

5.71's are probably what you've heard about. With a 3.0, auto, standard t-case gearing and IFS, 5.29's will serve him well.

When going to 35's, your CV's and steering will be the weak links.

The best thing you could do is install lockers when you regear. It will save you money in the long run.

 

I installed 5.29's and tru tracs yesterday on my 90 manual trans with 32's. Its a little low but like you I plan on going to a larger tire. I do very little if any freeway driving so its not to bad for me but it's about 5 MPH off in town and over 55 or so I become more like 10-11 mph off. My speedo says 76mph when I'm doing 65 and I'm spinning up around 3300 RPM so its not totally practical on the highway with the 32's. 33's and an auto may be much better for you.

If you have any questions about strength have a looks here ZUK I found tons of useful info here when assembling my thirds.

 

Definetely go with 5.29's, if you have an auto and 33's. Do not listen to anyone saying 4.88's. I just went from 4.88's to 5.29's and what a world of a difference. Kinda pissed I wasted my money on 4.88's three years ago. My truck is fun to drive again.

 

I have a 3.4, so I'm not worried about the power. Can any of you tell me what you do with your truck on 5.29's? I do some off roading, but not like BruceTS does (hence, no crawlbox).

Also, I'm planning on doing the 99+ Taco manual hubs up front and locking both the front & rear when I do the gear change.

But at this moment, I just paid off my truck early, so I'm going to need to save a little cash before going with this whole deal.

 

No, that's true. Call Robbie at Slee and ask him. With a stock transfer case and 22R I personally don't think it's a problem if your'e careful, but you never know...

 

I have 5.29's with 33's and a 3.4 auto in my 95 Runner.

Just do it.

Call Adrian at Slee Off Road and ask how things work in his rig.

 

how much was the gears and installation?

 

lets see...
I bought a used 7.5 front third with the tru trac and 5.29 genuine gears for $150 but was told the gears where shot. Upon taking it apart it was just that the gears where not setup properly and the carrier had about 3/16" of play due to shimming or bearing errors.

cost on the front..
$150 for third with Tru Trac
$40 for new bearings
$18 for a min install kit
$45 for a 7.5 shim kit (not normally needed but this thing was no where close)

$253 total damage on the front

On the rear for $300 I bought a V6 third that was supposed to be a new 0 mile unit open diff Built using Yukon 5.29's as a trail spare for a local individual. Taking that one apart it looked new inside at least the gears did but it needed a little help with pinion depth and preload's (Zuk's web site was extremely helpful for this gear noob).

cost on the rear...
$300 for fresh V6 open 3rd w 5.29's
$330 for Tru Trac from Randy's (new 3 pinion style w/preload)
$30 Solid collar kit
$18 V6 minimum install kit

$678 total damage on the rear (Gak! didn't seem like that much)

I learned a lot getting these right but I feel very confident in their assembly. I had to build a hydpress the week before so I could press bearings on and off. I also had to buy about $100 worth of hand tools (Very small TQ wrench,dial indicator and base,bearing splitter,etc...) Im hoping that I can find some locals that need help in the gearing department and get some more use out of my investment in tools.

I could have gone a bit cheaper on the rear by rebuilding my own third but I wanted a simple swap so I could drive my truck while I built the thirds. If any one locally needs help with gear installs I would be more than willing to offer my limited knowledge.

 

Don't know if this helps, but I've done a lot of reading and talking with people about this and I've decided to run 4.88's with a 33" AT for the street and keep a set of 34 or 35" LTB's for offroad only.

This is in my 85 4R, with a stick and the 22re. Perhaps it's less applicable to your truck.

The key is, I will add low tcase gears from Marlin or AA which will be a MUCH bigger improvement in offroad performance then axle gears.

Axle gears are road gears. If you want to seriously crawl offroad, ESPECIALLY if you have a standard, you WANT low tcase gears or even better, dual cases. You get a lot more strength and a FAR lower ratio for offroad with tcase gears then axle gears.

Low tcase gears is actually what I plan to do BEFORE, bigger tires, lift, or axle gears. Low, low gearing, a locker in the back, and my 31's can get me a LOT of places.

http://www.marlincrawler.com/transfercase.html

Just my opinion, I'm FAR from an expert.

 

Go with at least 5.29 with the 3.0auto/33s combo, 5.71 would be even better. I've run 4.88, 5.29, and 5.71 ratios with the 3.0auto/33s combo and 5.71 was the best everywhere including the highway!

 

This is very true, but IMHO where the 3.0auto gearing is the most critical is as a daily driver at highway speeds. To get the most use of 4th (OD) gear go at least 5.29 with 33s on the 3.0auto.

One reason you will see a lot of variance in opinion on this subject is there is also a lot of variance in actual tire size from the different manufacturers. Don't just read the sidewall to determine your tire size, use a tape measure. Also the tire size is going to vary a lot from new to worn-out. A mud tire may have close to 1 inch of thread, so wear that out and you have gone from a 33 to a 31.

Another reason you will see a lot of variance in opinion on this subject is the 5-speed guys sometimes don't realize just how high our 4th gear is. Our 4th gear is higher than 5th gear in the 5-speed.

 

sorry.. not to hijack or anything, but will all this (above) apply to regear a tundra v6 5speed w/ 33's? -im not sure about the gears i have now. maybe 4.56 or 4.32/23?