Has anyone felt the need to regear their Tacoma after FWC install?

I have a 2015 Tacoma DCLB with a FWC Fleet. Tires are heavy duty and one size larger than stock. I am a little concerned about wear and tear on drive train over time and am considering regearing lower. Has anyone done this? Regearing is expensive. The expense argues for not regearing, but better performance and durability may argue in favor. I just don't know.

I have re-geared other vehicles, but don't own a Tacoma. One of the "must-have" options when I purchased my current truck was the gear ratio because it was the lowest available. That being said, I think I understand the purpose of re-gearing and the merits, but again, I don't own a Tacoma. If I can help, I would first ask you a few questions.

Where do you live and drive (what is the terrain)? Do you travel long(er) distance or stay relatively close to home? Is your vehicle a commuter or a dedicated camper rig? Do you take your vehicle off road and how often? When off the beaten path, is it important to get out in the boonies, or do you stick to forest service type roads? Is your vehicle four-wheel drive?

The tacoma is 4x4 with a v6 and auto transmission. I am retired and live in Portland. The plan is for long trips, some of which would be off pavement. Not hardcore off road. The camper will probably stay on much of the time since I have other vehicles I can drive in town. Most of the discussions I have read were about regearing for lifts and big tires. My concern is about the weight of the camper and how it will affect the drivetrain components over time. Also with the camper on, even on relatively flat freeway driving it seems to like 4th gear rather than 5th.

I don't know stock gearing, and I'm guessing your tires are in the 31" - 32" size, but I would think 3.73 or 4.10/4.11 would be plenty low in those cases, especially with the V6. Longer distances, flatter terrain would lend itself to the 3.73 (even 3.55 if you're spending a lot of highway miles at 65-70mph). There are gear calculators online, but I would probably try to stay around 2300 rpm at cruising speed, for whatever it's worth. If you spent more time off road I think the 4.10/4.11 gearing is probably better and if I was spending any significant amount of money on gears I wouldn't hesitate to include limited slip differentials at the same time (this is a snow and off road specific thing though).

One of the thing I think people don't do enough of is choosing gearing instead of allowing the automatic to decide that. There is nothing wrong with locking out the torque converter, choosing the tow-haul mode or down shifting when climbing hills on the freeway and then shifting back to Drive or "5" or whatever when you're back on the flat. So, if you have a V6 and close to stock tire size you're probably fine, just shift when you need to. I know though most vehicles have low gearing options and "highway" gearing options. If you got 3.2 gearing stock, yeah, you probably should spend the money for at least 3.73. If you got 3.55 or something similar the cost probably won't outweigh the benefit (especially as a highway driver). My opinion at least.

I regeared my Dodge Dakota from 3.92 to 4.56. Some of the things I really considered:
- Larger tires - 235/70s to 265/75s
- The amount of time spent driving on hills (80%)
- Taking stress off transmission
- Backing up hills (truck had a hard time backing up out of steep driveways or mountain roads)

I calculated the stock size, differential gear, transmission gearing (all gears) and the engines power band and used the info as a baseline. I then did the same calculation but with the larger tires that I have on my truck. I then selected a gear ratio that would re adjust the drive line to back into the "stock" configuration while taking my larger tires into count. The magic number was 4.34ish but the gears only came in 4.10 and 4.56. So I went with the lower gear and selected 4.56 for better towing and performance on hills. So technically the driveline (other than the brakes) think I have put smaller tires on.

The truck is a little snappier when driving around town. I have an easier time towing and diving up hills. But still turn off overdrive going up steep hills. My highway MPG has gone down but I feel the better performance is worth it. So far I have been happy with my choice but if I could do it all again I would have bought a Dakota with a V8 instead of a V6.

On a side note I have several friends who have regeard their Tacomas. They are running 35" tires and have lockers front and rear and still are using stock axles. It still drives like a normal truck although they had to upgrade their brake system.

Regearing is kinda like a high stress adventure, you don't know exactly what your going to get until its done.

Here is my set up.

I would not regear if I were you, especially with an automatic transmission. Going up one tire size should not have a significant effect on your power or mileage.

One thing many people forget or don't know is that installing higher ratio gears weakens your differential. Since the ring gear diameter cannot be changed, it's the pinion that is altered. To get higher gearing—say from 4.11 to 4.56—the pinion gear is made smaller in diameter, and that weakens it. Going up by one is usually not a big deal, but you're still compromising the integrity of the driveline. Here's an example:

richardstover said:

I have a 2015 Tacoma DCLB with a FWC Fleet. Tires are heavy duty and one size larger than stock. I am a little concerned about wear and tear on drive train over time and am considering regearing lower. Has anyone done this? Regearing is expensive. The expense argues for not regearing, but better performance and durability may argue in favor. I just don't know.

Click to expand...

Hey Richard,
I have a 2015 DCLB with a fleet as well. Mine is supercharged and I'm running 255/86r16 (33") e rated tires. I DID feel the need to re-gear. Or at least the desire. Especially after monitoring transmission temps driving around town in the summer with the camper. I like the truck but am not overly impressed with transmission performance. Clearly from the factory they are geared for economy as much as possible, and I believe they all came with 3.73 gears. Overdrive is pretty tall. If you can actually maintain overdrive with the torque converter locked, economy should be decent. I live in Forest Grove, and you know the Oregon speed limits and hills, the transmission was always hunting.
Unfortunately the transmission goes from overdrive with torque converter locked, to simply unlocking the torque converter when more power is required. The slipping torque converter increases temps very quickly. Performance is much better if you put the transmission in drive and allow the torque converter to lock, especially when climbing hills. Transmission temps stay much lower.

Anyway, I did re-gear my Tacoma. Mostly for performance and also to reduce the strain on the transmission. I installed 4.56 gears, which combined with 33" tires is geared a bit lower than stock. Roughly 200rpm higher than a stock Tacoma at 65-70mph. The drivability is WAY better. Climbing mountain passes is effortless. The transmission doesnt hunt so much, moves quickly through the gears, and transmission temps are much lower from light to light in town.

Fuel mileage suffered a bit, as expected. It isn't bad if I'm actually driving 55-60mph, but if I need to put some miles behind me and I'm cruising at 80mph down the freeway, up the passes etc it isn't uncommon to see 12-13mpg. No surprise here considering the drag, higher RPM and supercharger. I'm not one to happily hold up traffic over the passes, and the setup really performs well.

In your case, you have a little tougher decision. 4.56 gears would probably be a little short if you're only running 31-32" tires, depending how fast you drive. 4.10 gears would be closer to factory but it is SUCH a small change from 3.73 gears that it would barely be noticeable. Just expensive.

I used east coast gear supply. I bought a third member and front clamshell diff, both loaded with 4.56 gears and ARB lockers and a CKMA12 compressor. After shipping and receiving the core charge back, I think I was out $3100 or $3200, plus my labor.

If you have any other questions feel free to email me as I don't login here often. I'd offer to let you drive my truck but the camper is currently back at the factory.

Brian
choppedair@gmail.com

sounds to me that your over thinking what you think might be a problem.
i would suggest taking a few trips with the set up you have and get used to what
you have.

i have found that any tacoma with any combination manual/auto trans that is loaded
close to the max (most rigs are) you have to adjust your driving style,even with a axle
ratio change.

i find that most people do not realize that any trans has to be shifted at times,i had a 2006 v/6
6 speed manual and it was never happy in 6th gear at anything but flat roads
i now have a 2015 5 speed manual tacoma and it is better at highway speeds.

that being said i suggest as some one who has been retired a long time and spends
a lot of time driving just slow down and enjoy the journey and you will stop
working about axle ratios!
just my thoughts yours may differ.

Les,lqhikers

I agree with Les (lqhikers). When carrying the camper on a 2006 Tacoma, I never felt the need to regear, but I am not one who has to do 75 when loaded with camper or gear. My truck is equipped with a transmission cooler (Off Road model) and I never have had problems with transmission heating. I use the truck to tow a 3500# trailer now with no evidence of driveline problems.
I do use the shifter to lock the transmission into what I think is an appropriate gear on tough mountain hauls, either up or down. The Toyota gear selection mechanism with the automatic is too sensitive and I like to lock it into a gear where it is pulling well (or giving good engine braking) and ride with it until things level out.
Cruise control is useless when loaded unless you are on perfectly flat highway for a long time. It gives new meaning to 'hunting for the right gear' on hills, let alone mountains.