37s on factory gears

[cvenom96]

I'm on 37s with the stock gears and it's not fun. When crawling in low I feel like it lunges when I tap the gas instead of a more controlled roll forward. Hills on the highway? Forget it. I've got 4:88s on the shelf but am waiting till I get e-lockers then do the whole swap at once. My speedo is about 8 MPH slow currently from what I can tell.

 

[Saito]

I'm on 37s with the stock gears and it's not fun. When crawling in low I feel like it lunges when I tap the gas instead of a more controlled roll forward. Hills on the highway? Forget it. I've got 4:88s on the shelf but am waiting till I get e-lockers then do the whole swap at once. My speedo is about 8 MPH slow currently from what I can tell.

It won’t be a consistent 8mph off. It’ll be a percentage, so as the speed increases it’ll be farther off. Figured mine at 17% using a gps to track my actual speed.

And lol @ interwebs arguments. I love it.

But knowing I was putting 35s on and couldn’t regear at the time was how I justified the SC, and that’s the only thing that’s made my life bearable, especially now that there’s 37s in their place. I love the 1FZ, and it’ll be fine at 4K rpm running up a mountain in 2nd as mentioned earlier. I’m happy with my set up overall and I need to get some data logged before installing the 4.88s. Was even trying to justify some 39s . . .after Walmart ruined one of my tires on Labor Day weekend(it was the only option and I knew better).

Cruise control works fine btw on factory gears w/ 37s. Not sure why anyone says otherwise, but I do just run in OD off if there are slight grades and shift manually on hills. It’s not a bad life and I honestly don’t know any different. I really wish there was someone close w/ 4.88s, 37s and a turbo’d 1FZ that I could compare it to.

 

[APhelps]

Cruise control works fine btw on factory gears w/ 37s. Not sure why anyone says otherwise, but I do just run in OD off if there are slight grades and shift manually on hills. It’s not a bad life and I honestly don’t know any different. I really wish there was someone close w/ 4.88s, 37s and a turbo’d 1FZ that I could compare it to.

Cruise control did not work on my 96 Lx450 on 35s with stock gearing. Going through passes and low to high elevations it would gear hunt and then eventually give up. Oddly enough afterwards it would work for a few seconds and then immediately shut off at sea level. Not sure if there's some tuning parameters that got stuck but I've moved on and it's a non issue.

Perhaps it works better on 37s but I'd imagine the thermal load on the transmission in 2nd gear at 4000+ rpms going up on steep grades is much higher than it should be. Heat is a killer for transmissions.

 

[Saito]

Cruise control did not work on my 96 Lx450 regeared on 35s with stock gearing. Going through passes and low to high elevations it would gear hunt and then eventually give up. Oddly enough afterwards it would work for a few seconds and then immediately shut off at sea level. Not sure if there's some tuning parameters that got stuck but I've moved on and it's a non issue.

Perhaps it works better on 37s but I'd imagine the thermal load on the transmission in 2nd gear at 4000+ rpms going up on steep grades is much higher than it should be. Heat is a killer for transmissions.

CC not working had nothing to do with your 35s. And this’ll blow your mind, my trans cooler is GONE. It was garbage and blocking airflow through my radiator. I’ll put a DeRale cooler in in front of the PS cooler once it’s summer again . . .and I know all about heat and autoboxes too, I rebuilt them while I was in college and still don’t care for the burnt ATF smell.

My rig isn’t stock at all though, so it’s not a fair comparison to most on 4.10s and 37s, but do some kind of forced induction if you want bigger tires and a 1FZ. The effort is worth it. I kind of wish Joey had a 6boost manifold option with his kit; he’d be shipping them out more regularly I’d be guessing. Idk. But that’ll be the route I go when it’s turbo time because I live in a free state.

 

[Dusten]

It won’t be a consistent 8mph off. It’ll be a percentage, so as the speed increases it’ll be farther off. Figured mine at 17% using a gps to track my actual speed.

And lol @ interwebs arguments. I love it.

But knowing I was putting 35s on and couldn’t regear at the time was how I justified the SC, and that’s the only thing that’s made my life bearable, especially now that there’s 37s in their place. I love the 1FZ, and it’ll be fine at 4K rpm running up a mountain in 2nd as mentioned earlier. I’m happy with my set up overall and I need to get some data logged before installing the 4.88s. Was even trying to justify some 39s . . .after Walmart ruined one of my tires on Labor Day weekend(it was the only option and I knew better).

Cruise control works fine btw on factory gears w/ 37s. Not sure why anyone says otherwise, but I do just run in OD off if there are slight grades and shift manually on hills. It’s not a bad life and I honestly don’t know any different. I really wish there was someone close w/ 4.88s, 37s and a turbo’d 1FZ that I could compare it to.

Facts in the %

Mine is 9.2% off. I use that when calculating fuel mileage.

I'm running 315's and 4.10's with my diesel though so not as extreme

 

[Box Rocket]

Holy cow. I step away from the computer for a day or two and miss all the fun! Engineers are great fun.

Having driven an 80 on stock gears and 35's for more than a decade and that whole time living at a relatively high elevation in Utah and spending plenty of time driving I-70 and long canyon roads....and.....wheeling the truck on a good number of difficult trails, I can say that 35's on stock gears works just fine. Is it the ideal? Of course not. If that is what we're arguing, none of us would have an 80 in the first place, they're not the ideal even though they're great at a lot of things.

The remedy for canyon roads on stock gearing is manual shifting and 4000 rpms. The motor doesn't mind it at all. 37's and stock gearing does get pretty brutal on long canyon climbs but is still workable. You're level of acceptance of how it drives may vary. I've driven other people's 80s with corrected gearing but with terrible steering and caster. What one person finds "acceptable" another person will find to be completely "unacceptable". Pick your poison.

My current 80 has been regeared to 4.88's and I drove it with 35's for several years and have a good feel for the comparison between stock gears and 4.88's with 35's. The increased torque to get the tires moving is definitely helpful with the lower gears, but it can be argued that it's equally "wrong" when discussing power band, shift poinst and proper rpms and speedometer correction etc. Stock gears has the pendulum in one direction and 4.88's and 35's swings it too far the other direction. Many find it a completely "acceptable" setup but rpms are too high, shift points are still not correct, the power band has shifted outside of the original design, the speedometer is still off etc. My point is, this debate is pointless. Note to engineers: Yes I acknowledge that it is indeed a fact that bigger tires without gearing correction will diminish the performance of the vehicle. So what? If you're ok with how it drives, carry on. If you're not ok with how it drives, fix what bothers you, then carry on.

I will finish my thought by saying that for the past few years I've been driving my truck with 4.88's and 37's, which happens to be nearly identical to stock gearing and stock tire feel. Having driven an 80 daily for more than 20 years now in a wide range of configurations, I can tell that there are aspects that just feel "right" about having the gearing matched to the tire. Shifts just feel like they happen when they're supposed to (which they, in fact, do) and the speedometer is nearly identical to the GPS verified speedo reading I get. The 80 is still slow on long canyon climbs, but it would be if it was fresh off the Toyota showroom floor too. Again, manual shifting and 4000 rpms solves the problem.

For you guys with big tires and stock gearing; if you can afford to correct the gearing for your tire size I recommend doing it. If there are bigger priorities to fix about your truck and regearing is way down the list, so be it. Your 80 will still take you where you want to go and will still be able to crawl in the hard trails (been there done that). Just enjoy your truck and have a bit of a laugh at the expense of engineers and others will a level of OCD that cannot understand why you won't fix the gears.
Or, just ignore everything I just bothered to type. It doesn't matter. Just drive your truck and enjoy it how you want to enjoy it.

 

[Blewseal]

You don't seem to have a good grasp on what the term subjective means.

Without re-gearing the driveability of the 80 series performs significantly worse than on stock gearing and stock tires. That's engineering 101. If you're being cheap, fine but stop pretending it's anything but that.

Plus points for acting like a child.

Update love the 37s minor trimming fit great offroad is great I guess this is the conclusion I needed. Thanks for the input to help out and not just trying to be right.

 

[Blewseal]

Unless you're turbocharged or supercharged your vehicle isn't anywhere close to the same level of drive ability that it once had. Toyota didn't at all program their ECU and transmission control with their design parameters...... clearly you're not an engineer.

Given your stance on this topic and photo I'd wager your 37s likely rub and you've got a system that doesn't actually fully function.

I think you are arguing factory vs crawler which is ridiculous. We build off road vehicles that will never feel factory or get great milage it's a balance and so far mine is awesome on factory gearing

 

[CPC]

I've read this thread all the way through and have come to consensus that there is no consensus. @Box Rocket said it pretty well that what one person will accept, another might not.

That being said, what gears are suggested for an 80 series ('96 LX470) with 35's to get better highway grunt? Ie, better passing performance, and not have it struggle with the occasional hill. This is in mostly flat ground Texas, but sometimes sees some brief hills. It's not a DD by any means. More of a ranch truck/fun truck that gets driven to and from every now and again. It might end up a high schoolers truck when they get to 16 years old.

It doesn't need to win stop light to stop light drag races, but a little more off the line, and better freeway merging ability would be great along with better passing power on 2 land highway roads where you aren't puckering everytime you try and pass someone and there is oncoming traffic.

I'm thinking 4.88 might be the ticket, but maybe 4.56 would be sufficient and give more comforatable highway cruising?

 

[OffRoadScott]

I've read this thread all the way through and have come to consensus that there is no consensus. @Box Rocket said it pretty well that what one person will accept, another might not.

That being said, what gears are suggested for an 80 series ('96 LX470) with 35's to get better highway grunt? Ie, better passing performance, and not have it struggle with the occasional hill. This is in mostly flat ground Texas, but sometimes sees some brief hills. It's not a DD by any means. More of a ranch truck/fun truck that gets driven to and from every now and again. It might end up a high schoolers truck when they get to 16 years old.

It doesn't need to win stop light to stop light drag races, but a little more off the line, and better freeway merging ability would be great along with better passing power on 2 land highway roads where you aren't puckering everytime you try and pass someone and there is oncoming traffic.

I'm thinking 4.88 might be the ticket, but maybe 4.56 would be sufficient and give more comforatable highway cruising?

4.56 would be ideal but think of doing the 10% overdrive transfer case gears. Lets do the math, with stock 4.11 with a increase of roughly 11% from factory tires to your current 35s we take 4.11 * 1.11 = 4.56. The gears run about 500$ and from the write ups I have seen it can be done at home with some basic tools and a bearing puller and press.

 

[Box Rocket]

I've read this thread all the way through and have come to consensus that there is no consensus. @Box Rocket said it pretty well that what one person will accept, another might not.

That being said, what gears are suggested for an 80 series ('96 LX470) with 35's to get better highway grunt? Ie, better passing performance, and not have it struggle with the occasional hill. This is in mostly flat ground Texas, but sometimes sees some brief hills. It's not a DD by any means. More of a ranch truck/fun truck that gets driven to and from every now and again. It might end up a high schoolers truck when they get to 16 years old.

It doesn't need to win stop light to stop light drag races, but a little more off the line, and better freeway merging ability would be great along with better passing power on 2 land highway roads where you aren't puckering everytime you try and pass someone and there is oncoming traffic.

I'm thinking 4.88 might be the ticket, but maybe 4.56 would be sufficient and give more comforatable highway cruising?

4.56 gears are a better match for 35's if you want a stock like feel. But personally, I prefer 4.88's with 35's and 37's. They are a bit "over-geared" for 35's but will give a bit better performance. Just my opinion. But either of those ratios is good for 35's. But to through one more option at you, high and low range reduction gears in the transfer case is also a great match for 35's without changing the diff gears.

 

[COYS]

They are a bit "over-geared" for 35's

+1 as an 80 owner who piles on regular miles currently running 37s + 4.88s and have run same gears on 35s for over 25K miles.

I'd go even further to say I'd rather sell the 80 than go back to 35s + 4.88s. It just revs that much higher at freeway speeds making the 37s a slam dunk for reduced NVH and a better overall driving experience. Speedo is pretty dmn accurate where an 84mph indicated is GPS verified at 82-3mph (new BFG KM3s).

Gl, ya'll!