Can't decide on gears. Anybody near Orange with 35s and 5.29s? (1 Viewer)

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Alexbv

Alexbv

Joined
Apr 24, 2011
Threads
34
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235
Location
Orange County, CA
I have all the RPM/speed numbers but still can't decide between 4.88 or 5.29.
Although is not a daily driver, some of the wheeling spots are hours away and would like to experience 5.29 in real life with a similar setup on the freeway to help with the decision. Is there anybody near Orange with 35s, 5.29 and armor that wouldn't mind letting ride in their fzj80?

Thank you in advanced

Alex
 
If you haven't yet driven one with 35s and 4.88s, your more then welcome to drive down to LA and drive mine.
 
Can say from experience with true 37" Krawlers and 345 KM2S, both with 5.29s, that 35s and 4.88s would be the way to go, if the OEs aren't cutting it.

39s and 5.29s return to factory ratio and think 35s and 4.88s are pretty close to the same.
 
Thanks guys, I used the gear calculators and know what RPM's at the different speeds and how they compare to stock on paper. I'm leaning for the obvious 4.88s, however, when talking to the guys at Yotamasters and another shop, they both recommended 5.29 which now I need to test for myself and see if I could live with those higher Rpms.
 
Last weekend I was struggling heading out East on the 8 with 5 adults, 1 baby, and day gear with a cooler. I have 35's and stock gears and this was the first time I have been this loaded down with my 35's.
I was struggling to maintain 50 mph and the transmission kept wanting to kick down to second gear.
The future holds a small! Travel Trailer (16-18') so I will either have to re-gear or go back down to 285/75's. So what gears would be best for towing with a fully armored Cruiser?
 
Bluetribal said:
Last weekend I was struggling heading out East on the 8 with 5 adults, 1 baby, and day gear with a cooler. I have 35's and stock gears and this was the first time I have been this loaded down
Click to expand...

If you are going to be towing a lot then 5.29 since you would probably be driving at 65 or below while towing (That would put you at about 2476 rpm which is not bad and still have room to accelerate)
I usually cruise around 70-75 on the long stretches and that's why I would like to test drive or even just ride in a 5.29 geared truck.
 
I had 4.88 and 315s and thought it was a very good combination for So Cal terrain. Turn off the OD and it pulls 65 mph nicely up the grade going east out of San Diego. I would have preferred lower RPMs for longer trips though as that combination was about 8% higher RPMs than stock, but I just slowed down a bit and it was fine.

When I switched to the 295s I was in sorta a no-man's land where I was always up/down shifting. Didn't like it at all.

Not sure where the sweet spot is with the 5.29 and 315s. I would recommend against it unless it is a dedicated wheeler or you are towing all the time.

But I have a v8 and a 5 speed now so I don't worry about those trivial things :steer::moon::D
 
pull the trigger on the 5.29s...you won't regret it! gas mileage, bit xtra rpms.....you'll get used to it sooner than later!
 
make sure your trans cooler is up to it. I put in 5.29's and run Toyo 315's on stock wheels. Tunnel gets hot, Rev's high, but has lots of oomph off the line.
Drove it screaming up the 5 to rubicon and was fine.
Low end torque is fun, feels like you could pull out a stump of a redwood tree.
 
285's loaded and towing with stock gearing isn't an issue for me, even up Vail Pass in Colorado.
 
PabloVTA said:
make sure your trans cooler is up to it. I put in 5.29's and run Toyo 315's on stock wheels. Tunnel gets hot, Rev's high, but has lots of oomph off the line.
Drove it screaming up the 5 to rubicon and was fine.
Low end torque is fun, feels like you could pull out a stump of a redwood tree.
Click to expand...

Hmm, my tunnel already runs pretty hot.
Speaking of temperatures, part of the reason for gearing is that I tend to get hot on longer grades uphill at highway speeds (stop and go, freeway and trail running is no problem) . I have already replaced EVERY component on the cooling system with new oem parts and did the fan clutch mod.
I figured that some lower gears would make it easier for the truck to deal with the load and bigger tires and hopefully run the grades a little cooler.

Anyway, still I can't seem to find anybody near Orange with the 35s and 5.29s. I thought they would be more popular since that's what the shops seem to be recommending.
 
5.29 are very low, especially since most 315s are not 35". My 285 Toyos are almost 35" :)
I pound a lot of pavement for camping/wheeling trips and can't imagine running 75mph with a 5.29 & 315s (~34") driving all day.
I vote for 4.88. If you want crawler gears add the Marlin TC gear for an additional 25% reduction.
I run 4.56 and plan to add the TC gears...
 
if you want to take a trip up to valencia, let me know. I'll demo the gears on the 5 fwy grapevine for you!
 
I have 315/75-16 on mine... i bought it about a year ago from a mud member. Came with stock gears and i have a horrible time with long hill climbs on the freeway if i didn't hit the rpms just right. we were headed up to Pismo beach on hwy 101 and got bogged down on one of those long climbs when the 101 turns inland... we had a mini-van towing a trailer pass us. My kids will never forget that story. Off-roading it seemed to be ok in the areas we were exploring especially with 4Lo available when needed.

But i thought lower gears would help, so i looked at all the forum posts i could and ran the gear ratio calculators then i called Yotamasters and talked with Eric. He said just go with the 5.29s. I did and couldn't be happier. I dont think the RPM is too high when running 70ish to the trail head.

I'm up in North OC... Work in Brea live in Yorba Linda. My g/f lives in Lake Forest and i'd be happy to drive it down there too if you're down that way. What part of OC are you in?

Its tax time for me right now, but i'm sure we could find time to connect if you'd like. Maybe you can help me diagnose some noises i'm trying to sort out... lol

Shoot me a PM or reply... i'm fairly new to mud and these clubhouse sections so PM might be best.
 
Cool! Thanks for offering. Sent you a PM
 
Did the hwy 8 climbs again this weekend on my way down to Baja and this time was solo but the head wind caused the same effect as 5 adults. But leaving OD on worked out better because when it kicked down to 3rd then 2nd gear it wasn't as vicious of an RPM jump.
 
I had 35 inch BFG ATs and 4.88's. If I was going to regear again, I would have done 5.29's. It was all the extra weight that made my rig a pig. ( Front bumper w/ winch, sliders and dual swing outs. )
 
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