To re-gear or not to re-gear?

[DJCloz]

you made some great points about it being subjective @bloc . I have regeared 2 previous Landcruiser's to 4:88's, an 80 with 37's and a 100 with 35's and I'm still unsure If I will end regearing my 200. I run 35's and built pretty heavy right now, but do I feel the "need"? I honestly do not. I ran all the trails in Moab last year and didn't feel the need for lockers. Otherwise I would just regear when doing lockers. If history repeats itself, I will eventually get bored and do it alll!!! lol

For anyone regeared with 4:88 and 35s, Whats your hiway RPMS @ 80, 85 ? What gear?

 

[lx200inAR]

you made some great points about it being subjective @bloc . I have regeared 2 previous Landcruiser's to 4:88's, an 80 with 37's and a 100 with 35's and I'm still unsure If I will end regearing my 200. I run 35's and built pretty heavy right now, but do I feel the "need"? I honestly do not. I ran all the trails in Moab last year and didn't feel the need for lockers. Otherwise I would just regear when doing lockers. If history repeats itself, I will eventually get bored and do it alll!!! lol

For anyone regeared with 4:88 and 35s, Whats your hiway RPMS @ 80, 85 ? What gear?

Definitive 200-series Gearing Reference

So I had a little time this morning to put together a chart combining transmission gearing of 6-speed vs 8-speed, diff ratios, and tire sizing into an overall gearing reference. Hoping this will be useful for those trying to understand how their changes are going to effect overall gearing of...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[linuxgod]

How can I tell when the TC is unlocking?

Get a Bluetooth obd2 reader and install obd fusion and install the dashboard I created (posted in my towing thread). It’ll light up a circle around the current gear whenever the TC locks

 

[TeCKis300]

Light goes on at 302F, shuts off at 275F. 265F is hot, but apparently Toyota isn't concerned enough to warn you at that temp.

The ECU does know trans temp. If you get above 266F *and* the coolant temp exceeds 203F it will force you into 3rd and will lock up the torque converter in 3rd (which otherwise never happens) until the ATF gets below 230F and the coolant below 203F.

View attachment 3097780

I think I got to see some variant of the torque converter heat management logic in play yesterday climbing a long 16mile grade towards Las Vegas. In 91°F heat and likely the heaviest I've had my rig (15520lbs).

Spinning 3rd gear at ~4200 RPM, torque converter remained unlocked for the first ~8 miles, as the torque converter continued to build heat (260F) ahead of pan temp. Shortly after the first screen shot, some threshold must have been tripped as the AT ECU began judiciously locking the torque converter in both 3rd gear and 2nd gear for the remaining 10 miles. I've never seen it actually lockup in 2nd gear (missed the screen grab), but I was watching this time. Keeping things locked up immediately bought temps down to the ~220°F. At which point pan and torque converter temps continued to creep up slowly reaching ~230.


AT building heat with torque converter unlocked:

AT ECU decided to judiciously keep torque converter locked for remaining climb (blue circle around #3 (gear) in the middle)

 

[Artie]

I had lock up once or twice in 2nd and 3rd… talk about a relief! Watching that TC temp keep climbing really brings on my anxiety.

This is interesting. Are you manually selecting the gear or are you in 4 (I believe yours is a 6speed) and letting the trans choose?

 

[xhrix123]

LOL, haven't used 6th gear in a long time. Last LCDC, coming back home, on a long downhill stretch, somewhere in Nevada..

Any idea of when transfer case gears (for gear reduction) will be available for the 200? Fingers crossed for Marlin to start making them.

Anyone ever answer the question of the transfer gears ever becoming available. If there is no need to add lockers, so much more simple to change one set of transfer gears instead of opening up both diffs.

 

[bloc]

Anyone ever answer the question of the transfer gears ever becoming available. If there is no need to add lockers, so much more simple to change one set of transfer gears instead of opening up both diffs.

Bjowett answered it pretty definitively here

Transfer Case Reduction

This may be a silly question, but I find myself needing more control and a lower ratio when on the rocks in 4low Are there any options out there for a transfer case reduction on a 200? Also, when installing 4.88s and a rear locker… will that have significant impact on 1st in 4low? 2peddling...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[highfructose]

Anyone ever answer the question of the transfer gears ever becoming available. If there is no need to add lockers, so much more simple to change one set of transfer gears instead of opening up both diffs.

The diff job is supposedly quite cheap and easy. I got a pair of diffs/thirds in 4.10 for $600 shipped. 4.30’s are relatively easy to find as well.

If you’re looking for 4.88’s then what you’re planning to be doing Offroad might be well served with a set of lockers to go with them.

 

[HoffCruiser]

Go with 33-34" tires and you won't ever need to touch your diffs with those mods. Read my build thread linked in my signature and you will see my build is similar yet a bit heavier and I regularly travel from 5k-12k+ feet elevation with absolutely zero issues with the diff gears. The 8 speed is excellent at handling 33-34" tires and light mods.

What specific tire sizes are you running?

 

[wngrog]

I am selling a friends truck on Bring a Trailer and it has 4.88s.

All I can say is wow. It motors with these things. Nuts.

 

[Gazziza]

What specific tire sizes are you running?

IMO 285/75/17 is the best tire size for the LC's. Equates to about a 34" tire. No extensive mods or hacking to run this size.

 

[grinchy]

I am selling a friends truck on Bring a Trailer and it has 4.88s.

All I can say is wow. It motors with these things. Nuts.

Yep. Just a big go kart.

 

[HoffCruiser]

IMO 285/75/17 is the best tire size for the LC's. Equates to about a 34" tire. No extensive mods or hacking to run this size.

Thanks! I'm looking at a used LC200 with 35s (no regear), but I'd like to downsize the tires anyways. Do you think I will have issues until I change tires?

 

[residualboulders]

I am selling a friends truck on Bring a Trailer and it has 4.88s.

All I can say is wow. It motors with these things. Nuts.

been considering regearing my 80. Stumbled upon this thread this morning and now I kinda want to regear the 200.

 

[linuxgod]

I am selling a friends truck on Bring a Trailer and it has 4.88s.

All I can say is wow. It motors with these things. Nuts.

4.88 on a 2016+ is way too much gear, given the ratios on the 8 speed transmission.

4.88 on a 2008-2015 is the equivalent of 3.90 on the 2016+, which is where the truck should be if he's gone up several tire sizes. That puts the truck around 3k RPMs at 80, maybe a bit more. I wouldn't run 4.88 on a 2016+ unless it's exclusively a trail rig, and I pity the buyer of the rig if it's their DD.

 

[wngrog]

4.88 on a 2016+ is way too much gear, given the ratios on the 8 speed transmission.

4.88 on a 2008-2015 is the equivalent of 3.90 on the 2016+, which is where the truck should be if he's gone up several tire sizes. That puts the truck around 3k RPMs at 80, maybe a bit more. I wouldn't run 4.88 on a 2016+ unless it's exclusively a trail rig, and I pity the buyer of the rig if it's their DD.

Shows right there it’s 2700 at 80 with 34s. Thats no big deal for that motor at all.

 

[TeCKis300]

Shows right there it’s 2700 at 80 with 34s. Thats no big deal for that motor at all.

When he could be spinning at 2100 rpm with better efficiency to match?

I mean anyone can try this with their stock car leaving their gear selector in S5 or S7. But why? Tall cruise gears have their place and a 4.88 is way too tall for the 8-speed.

Another way to look at this is to fit 5.8 gearing to the 6-speed. No one is asking for anything close to that.

 

[HoffCruiser]

When he could be spinning at 2100 rpm with better efficiency to match?

I mean anyone can try this with their stock car leaving their gear selector in S5 or S7. But why? Tall cruise gears have their place and a 4.88 is way too tall for the 8-speed.

Another way to look at this is to fit 5.8 gearing to the 6-speed. No one is asking for anything close to that.

The LC200 i'm looking to buy does around 80mph at 2100 rpms. Is that a telltale sign that it has been regeared? Or, is the speedometer just off. The seller and I have been unable to track down the first owner to find out if a regear had been done or not. It's ruding on 35/12.5/17 KM3s.

 

[TeCKis300]

The LC200 i'm looking to buy does around 80mph at 2100 rpms. Is that a telltale sign that it has been regeared? Or, is the speedometer just off. The seller and I have been unable to track down the first owner to find out if a regear had been done or not. It's ruding on 35/12.5/17 KM3s.

Maybe? Tables from here - Definitive 200-series Gearing Reference - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/definitive-200-series-gearing-reference.1043543/

To answer your question:
@75 MPH with 35s: stock gearing will be ~1710rpm. Re-geared with 4.88 ~2135rpm.

Lower gears should be much easier to discriminate:
@55 MPH with 35s in second gear: stock gearing 3689rpm, vs 4.88 at 4605rpm

 

[cruiseroutfit]

We’ve done many 3.90, 4.30 and 4.88 gear swaps in 200’s, including many 16+. IMO, 3.90 is perfect in the 16+ with 33-35” tires, 4.30 in 35-37. 4.10 would be a neat option.

We just finished another Maltec 200 build, they are all getting 3.90/ARB diffs and work perfect with the added weight and increased tire size.

We did 4.88 on a supercharged 16+ (LX570), 2nd start was mandatory use