I have 5.29's and 36s. I also ran with 4.88s and these 36x13.50 irok swampers.

I also ran 33s and 35s on 4.88. 4.88 was great with the 33's and not so great with the 35s the truck was struggling all the time. Had to slip the clutch a bit more getting going, shift more on the highway, stuff like that.

The 5.29s are MUCH BETTER.

What do I do with the truck? I drive 70 miles per day commute in Denver area. It is my only car. On the highway, I can pull most grades in 4th/5th, but Vail Pass, Eisenhower and Floyd Hill put me in 3rd. The truck will run any speed in 3rd, but I try to keep her under 4,000 RPM. 4th is just too high for my old truck with the big tires and stuff.

I run trails: Colorado's Holy Cross type stuff and Billings Canyon in Grand Junction last weekend for example.

With the 4.88s on the trail it is a little too fast in 2.28 low range with the toyota turbo tranny in first gear. I tend to catch up to the truck in front of me and tailgate.
Now, with the 5.29s and the 4.30? Turbo tranny's first, I run the same speed as the jeeps/toyota's I often wheel with.

I'm pretty sure that the auto tranny is geared taller than the manual trannies. I'm confident you will be happy with the 5.29s and 33s except on the highway where you will either slow down a bit, or be concerned about the new highway RPMs you are running. You will love the 5.29's with the 35s.

 

... IF IM GOING ACCORDING TO MY SPEEDO AT 75MPH AND MY RPM IS A LITTLE UNDER THREE RUNNING STOCK GEARS ON 33'S.. HOW MUCH HIGHER WOULD MY RPM GO IF I WERE TO GET 5.29? I BELIEVE MY GEARS NOW ARE 4.32!?

 

http://www.4lo.com/calc/gearspeedo.htm

http://www.4lo.com/calc/gearratio.htm

 

http://www.4lo.com/calc/gearratio.htm
is a good reference.

First of all, with 33's your speedo will read the same as it did with 28s.
Forget about the speedo. Use/borrow a GPS if you want to know how fast you are really going.

Lets see... we can ignore all of the tranny and tire size stuff since that isn't changing. a little simple math...

If you have 4.30 gears today, and go to 5.29's tomorrow, the change is 23% lower gears.

So what was 3000 RPM is now going to be: 3690 given the same speed.
-LeiniesRed

 

I'm just going to assume its a 5 speed that came with 28" tires stock.

soo...
28 tire doing 3k rpm in 5th is 69.7 MPH
change to a 33" tire and 3k rpm in 5th is 82.2 MPH (and you wondered why you where passing every one)

Keep the 33" tire and swap the 4.32's to 5.29's @3k RPM in 5th you are doing 67.1 MPH

In my case the speedo reads the same no matter what gearing as its driven off the T-case output. All this is assuming that tires measure exactly what they say but we know this isn't true so you will actually be going a little slower than whats listed. If we knew exactly what trans you have and what size tires came on it stock I could give you exact numbers.

 

thanks guys, this helps alot... but now i read in goats post about using 5.71's with 35's??? and keep in mind I am looking for best gears for on road/highway fo mpg and power to have a good balance. Dual transfer case will happen later for better off-roading capabilities...should I just wait to do 5.71's with the 35's???

 

I run 571 gears with 33" and an auto ....but I have the lesser powered 22RE. My combo is the best of all worlds....can do the highway and the trails. Mileage still intact.
Now in your case, you have the more powerful 3.0....but your later model Runner is much heavier than mine. I know that 529's will be just fine for 33 or 35" tires. Some people would be happy with 35" and 571 also. ZUK

 

I stopped in today at ProGear in San Diego and had a chat with a couple of the guys. They looked my truck over and recommended 4.88 gears on 33's. They asked LOTS of questions like "how and where do I mostly drive" and "what type of offroading am I doing". The guys were cool and even showed me the difference between 4.10's all the way to 5.71's in the way of meat on the pinion.

They said, if I plan on going 35's, then the 5.29's would be the best, as LONG as I don't try to bounce the truck over rocks, but they said in their opinion, 4.88's on 33's would get me over just about anything a 35 would get over.

So.... I'm thinking I'm going to stick to the 33 plans (less expensive tires than 35's) and MUCH MUCH easier to find in the event I have to replace 1 or more of them on the trail.

Now, to find a 97-02 Limited e-locker rear axle with 4.88's stock!!!! (I think they exist)

Yea, time to start searching the JY's!

 

Here's some more info: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/gearing-auto-v6-4-10-4-30-a-67658/

 

so running on the highway mostly, for gas mileage purposes I should go 5.29's with 33's and 5.71's with 35's??? If I go with 5.29's right now will I be ok with them when I switch to 35's?

 

Yelosub----there's only an 8% difference in gearing change between 529 and 571. But I bet, for most people, that 529 is still the best all around choice. You have the deep auto tranny OD 4th gear so highway rpm's is not much of an issue for you(even with 33"). The bigger the tire the worse the mileage so no matter what gearing you choose, 35" tires will drag mileage down. Heavy rubber eats miles per gallon. And consider that 35" tires are more troublesome to keep balanced than 33".

As far as the internet rumor of 529 and 571 being weak due to the size of the pinion or the lesser number of teeth....it's bull Hockey
I do pro installs and have researched hypoid gear design (God bless Google) ....and continue to research it on the search engines.....and in a nutshell, in a properly set-up ring and pinion, the pinion tooth itself will not be the prob.....the ring gear tooth will break first. How come no one compares the rings? I guess cause the difference is not as obvious as the pinion size. The 571 ring appears to be slightly more robust than the 410/430/456 rings.
I'm guessing that the reason there seems to be so many 529's breaking has more to do with the popularity of that ratio and also that it's just so tough to find someone that can really do a proper gear install.
So whatever gear you decide to install yelosub, whether it's 488/529/571, just make sure it has a proper install and you will be busting axles before teeth.....and use synthetic in the rear ZUK

 

I bought 33's also, and I too have the stock 4.56's w/ an auto (came from factory with the 225/75s). When I put them on, my highway mileage went to about 10 miles per gallon. So I took them back off and am now looking for (b/c of this thread) 5.29's. That seems to be the best choice. I drive the highway a lot too, going from school in Middle TN, to East TN...about 200 miles away...I too appreciate all the help from you guys. Keep rockin. Alex

 

I have 5.29's, 33's, and a 5sp. Been about 14yrs with that setup now. I rev about 4k at 80mph in fifth, bit high, mileage is around 15-16 overall. Realistically, with the lack of torque in the engines in these, I couldn't imagine any lower rear gear on the trails, especially when cruising hills in 2 or 4hi. This combo has served me fine.