Hello all,

I have been a long time reader of this forum and have spent hours researching for my truck build up, but I would love opinions of the more experienced people out there.

I have a 1989 Toyota Pickup, single cab, 5 speed, 4x4, 33 inch tires, 22re with rebuilt motor, 280,000 miles on the truck, but around 5,000 miles on the rebuilt motor.

I work in the oilfields in between New Mexico and Texas and spend 2-4 weeks on location before going back home (home is usually a 3-4 hour drive). I just bought a slide-in cabover Camper(around 900-1000lbs loaded) for my pickup, but now the truck is a bit under powered...

So my question is... Should I regear to 5.29's and upgrade the 22re (headers, exhaust, maybe a TRD supercharger down the line)...


or... Should I look into putting a bigger motor in this truck?

I have had really good luck with the 22re, but i would like to go at least 65-70 on the highway, currently I am lucky to get 50 mph on the highway and up hill is 2nd gear...

I'm thinking if i do a gear change, I may get better rpms for hauling my camper around, but i wanna get some advice before I put money into gears and lockers, and since I already spent money on a rebuilt motor I would like to keep it.

The truck will mostly be used for work (driving to and from) most of the driving would be mostly highway, but once I get on the oilfield roads, it will be all dirt roads, sometimes rough and muddy.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Regearing would defintely help with that kind of load in the bed on 33's..... The 22R-E is a great little motor but you're going to dump a lot of cash into it before you're happy. So, I'd start with the gears.

Here's some thoughts(besides googling a bizzlion threads about 22R-E upgrades) you need to consider:

- You'll need to increase the intake flow
- You'll need to increase the exhaust flow
- Clean and balance the fuel injectors (like send them in to somewhere)
- Battery intake swap (I did a crazy write-up...)
- Good spark plugs, wires, distro...ect.
- Efan (pain in the ass but frees up drag on the motor **disclaimer - possibly negligable and more parts to fail as the clutch fans are darn reliable)
- etc.....

 

What gears are you running now??

 

Me? 4.88's still

Him? Factory 4.10's........................

 

i would do the regear and go from there. do the 5.29s over 4.88s, i think you'll be happier since you will be carrying this heavy load all the time. doesn't really make sense to engine swap if you just invested in your 22re.

something to consider might be an RV camp upgrade, so you drive more in the power band to move that load around.

i did an exhaust upgrade on my 22re last year from the y-pipe to tailpipe and still am not sure if i actually gained anything, but i am still happy. couldn't afford the thorley header, so kept the stock tri-y header setup and chopped from behind the Y and followed out with 2.25" - if anything it's theoretically going to flow better with the larger size and zero restrictions and in my mind it makes me feel better, so it must be better

i have no experience with the 5.29/33" combo, but i did run 4.88/31" tires for about 2yrs and everything on paper shows it driving very similar to 5.29/33" in terms of speed/rpm. i have hauled many 800-1300lb loads of clay, rocks, compost, etc in the back of my truck with all my gearing setups and the 4.88/31 combo was the best for hauling those loads with my tired 22re. sure, on the highway with an empty truck it was a tad high on the RPMs, but everywhere else it excelled. now that i've gone to 4.88/33 combo, which is stock ratio, i kinda miss the lower gearing and feel underpowered again like i did with the 4.10/31" combo.


btw, with all the extra weight in your rig you may consider some suspension and brakes upgrades. i got OME medium duty leafs because i was hauling stuff often and rode on the bump stops before the upgrade. you may benefit from the OME heavy leafs, made for hauling heavy expedition gear frequently. nice stiff shocks will probably also help you out, OME is recommended to be paired with OME leafs. add-a-leafs, airbags, ZUK coils, shackles, etc etc are all other ways to solve this too.
i don't know too much about the brake upgrades on our trucks, but if you can do it i would. just stopping 33s felt like a major tax increase on my rig, even more so when i've got a load of dirt in the back.

good luck!

 

WOW! Thanks for the replies guys! Thats some GREAT info!

Yes, currently I am running the factory 410 gears.

I have been looking at the LC Engineering website and they sell the complete 3rd members with 5.29 gears and a Detroit Locker. That seems like the easiest way to install new gears without ordering individual parts from different sources. I may as well add lockers to it, and I think the Detroit locker would be great for my application. I do love the concept of ARB's air locker, but I strongly believe with the KISS method ha ha!

Does anyone have any experience with LC Engineering? I have looked into their header, and there seems to be quite a lot off people that like them.


BigBluePile - I love that battery/ intake swap! I will definitely be doing that in the future!


I am also looking into suspension upgrades. The guy i bought the camper from was nice enough to throw in some overload springs that I will try first. I am not sure what weight they are rated, but they are free, and I can go from there. I also ordered some Bilstein Rear Shocks this morning. I have Bilsteins in the front and absolutely love them. Later on I will get some Heavy Duty Old Man Emu springs, gonna have to save after the regear.

Highonpottery - Do you have anymore info on the RV camp uprgrade? I haven't heard of that.

Thanks again for the replies!

 

For the 3rd member check several sites.

Marlin
LROF
Allpro
Addicted
Davez

I agree it's better to purchase complete. But will add from a vendor that has lots of expereince with Toy gear set up.

 

Thanks muddpigg! i'm gonna check those out now!

 

in regards to cams - they don't increase HP numbers at all, but what they do is move the power band -- so essentially you can get better torque numbers at the RPM range you do most of your driving. if you're doing lots of high speed/highway driving you'd want a cam designed for high RPMs vs a "crawler cam" for the low speed/off the line driving. there is plenty of info on cams out there. here is a good dyno chart comparing some 22re cams, and shows where each makes its power in the RPM ranges: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/toyot...nfo-specs.html

also to consider is the style of exhaust matching the driving needs. stock setup is a 4-2-1 (Tri-Y) setup, which is designed for lower RPM performance because it provides some backpressure needed to help get power off the line. the other style of exhaust header is the 4-1, which is what you get with something like and LCE or pacesetter - more designed to flow freely at high RPMs but don't provide quite enough backpressure at low RPMs if that's your main driving style.

buying a complete geared diff is the smart way to go if you can. usually costs less in the end and is setup by a reputable gear installer. if you're doing the IFS diff at the same time, you have limited options for vendors selling the drop-in ifs units. the Detroit is definitely a stout unit, but so is the ARB and there is something to be said about being able to go open diff when needed, as well as having onboard air - downside of course is the extra $

 

As a great fan of the 22RE engine I say sell that as a running engine !!

Do A 3.4 swap you will be much happier in the long run.

There has to be someone close that would let you take a test ride in one.

It is not uncommon for me to have a 1000 pounds in the bed or more then towing another 2 or 3 thousand pounds.

I have enough Horsepower to get into trouble if I am not careful !!