4.56s and 285s?? Experiences? Opinions?

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Anyone running this combination? So I've been daily driving the 80 for about a month now, logging about 750 miles a week, and I'm absolutely fed up w/ the lack of power. I know these trucks are heavy, I know these trucks aren't sports cars, but damn they're absolute dogs. I have noticed that if I'm right in the sweet spot of the motor's powerband the truck actually feels slightly responsive. Now 4.56s would probably be overgeared for the stock tires, but I need tires anyway and was planning to go w/ 285 Revos.

I would love to force air down the motors throat to solve the problem, but $3000+ is a lot more than I can afford right now. I figure I can do gears for around $550-600 in parts and I can do the labor myself. Does anyone think I'm nuts for contemplating this setup?

Ary

P.S. I'm not sure when the last tune up was done, so I'm going to peruse the maintenance records. If I can't find one, I'm going to replace the plugs, plug wires, cap and rotor and will re-evaluate after I do that, but I'm not expecting a huge gain in power. Should I?

 

[Junk]

uh, do the tune up first then reconsider. 4.56 with 33's would not be bad .... I run 295's on the highway with 4.56 and the extra pep helps. Ran 4.88 for 2 weeks about 2-3 weeks ago, but tossed the 4.56 back in for now.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Junk, I know w/o reading the records that there was a "tune-up" done 6 months ago, but only to the tune of $300 at the dealer, so I'm skeptical as to whether or not this included the above mentioned items.

Do you think 4.56s w/ the 285s would make a noticeable difference(read worth the $5-600) over the factory diffs and tires?

Ary

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Save your money. It's a Land Cruiser, not a Tahoe. Stock gears + 285/75/16 = just fine.

 

[landtank]

Ary this stuff is real subjective. Personally I can't imagine even thinking gear swap with only putting on 33s. The truck is what the truck is. For the most part you would need to do some extensive changes to really effect that which you don't like. That would be forced induction or a rebuild of the engine while boring it out.

 

[e9999]

don't know about your truck but my truck is responsive enough under normal conditions, and FWIW I've had some serious sports car before if you're wondering, I just don't drive it like a sports car...
It is what it is, you just live with it and enjoy it...
Also, FWIW, the 100 is much more responsive btw...
E

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

I guess that part of the problem is that the truck is responsive enough, but I feel like I'm really dogging on it to get it to be responsive enough. Perhaps it's the environment I'm in(downtown Washington DC), where if you don't drive aggressively you'll cause an accident, but I really feel like I'm working the truck harder than I should for the best interests of the truck. Therefore I was thinking a mild gear change w/ a slight increase in tire size might balance things out enough to lighten the load on the motor while improving performance.

Ary

BTW, it's kinda funny since the two trucks I was comparing the performance to was a 100 series and a Yukon(Tahoe). Interesting that those were the two trucks brought up by others in the thread w/o my prompting.

 

[reffug]

285 with stock gears on mine and very happy, truck is very responsive and will really get out of its own way. Course its got the Safari Turbo..................

 

[Altaf]

I've got a pretty fast sports sedan that I drive daily and I don't think the Cruiser is all that bad. With the Cruiser, I don't find myself holding up traffic at all - matter of fact, I'm usually put some good distance between myself and the cars behind me when taking off from a traffic signal (I don't floor it either). You're welcome to test drive my Cruiser for comparison. BTW, I've got 285's on.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

BigGunna, I appreciate the offer. Where are you located?

reffug, what year is your cruiser?

My dad is lookin for another 80-series(since I bought this one from him ) and he went and test drove a '96 and said the difference b/w the power in the two was like night and day. Were there any substantial improvements made b/w 93-94 and 95-97 models? I know they used a different tranny, but is there anything else? Was the gearing in the trannies substantially different?

Maybe there's something wrong w/ mine 'cause compared to my dad's Yukon, my mom's E320, my brother's 4cyl accord, and the old 4cyl camry we had, this thing is a dog.

 

[landtank]

Ary you might have a problem. Go test drive a few at a used car lot if you can. Even though there are improvements to the 95+ years as far as fuel management I beleive the output is the same. If you are still thinking gear/tire change I'd go with 4.88/315s. This provides a slightly lower overall gear ratio with very nice results and doesn't impact the highway 80 mph cruising either.

 

[reffug]

1993 TURBO FZJ-80 BABY

 

[cruiserman]

Push the ECT button. Works for me.

Maybe there's something wrong w/ mine 'cause compared to my dad's Yukon, my mom's E320, my brother's 4cyl accord, and the old 4cyl camry we had, this thing is a dog.

Yes, I think there is something wrong. I drove a Yukon Denali yesterday with 6l V8, and it didn't feel any more powerful than my '93.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Push the ECT button. Works for me.



Yes, I think there is something wrong. I drove a Yukon Denali yesterday with 6l V8, and it didn't feel any more powerful than my '93.

Hmm, yeah, there's definately something wrong then.

How many of you leave the ECT button on full-time? I was under the impression it was not so good for the drivetrain and MPG to leave it on. If I leave it on, things aren't so bad.

Ary

 

[ShottsUZJ100]

1993 TURBO FZJ-80 BABY

Go for the gold........trade for a 100. You know why they named it the "100"? Becuz it's 100-percent better!

Relax now.....A month ago I'd a said "100 TIMES BETTER"!