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Re-gear Question

japete01

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Feb 6, 2021
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I have a 100 Series Land Cruiser with ~33" tires, a 4 Speed, armor, and drawers with the stock 4.30 gears. I'm considering moving to 4.88s. Any advice for those who have re-geared or decided to not re-gear? I've reviewed the MUD threads, but see a lot of those folks live at/near sea level. Thank you for the education.
 

Johnny Utah

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Same, same, same. Love to hear thoughts!
 

nakman

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With those tires going to 4.88's is a little bit of an over-shot, however given the added weight it's still the ratio of choice. You could one day sneak a 34 under there and be really close to stock gearing.

You'll feel the benefit off the line, a little quicker every time you leave a red light.... so your 1/4 mile time might improve from the mid 20's to the low 20's.. On the highway the truck will be a lot happier, particularly going up hills like I-70, you can get away with staying in 3rd a little longer, won't have to drop it to 2nd almost immediately past Georgetown, for example. In general, it will feel like it's easier on the truck on the highway. You still won't be fast though, will just work less hard.

And then in low range, the lower gears will be a huge upgrade- like you can leave it 2nd going down your typical shelf road descent, and it will hold you back at what usually feels like a pretty appropriate pace, without having to use the brakes too much. Having a little more torque in 1st to pop up ledges is nice too, but for me the better benefit was going down... I am guessing you'll get maybe 1-2 gain in mpg fuel economy, so somewhere around an 80 year ROI on the effort, depending on miles driven. Point is you're not going to use less gas, you're going to drive the truck more.

edit: may as well do a front locker while you're in there, if you don't already have one.
 

japete01

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@nakman - Thank you for the advice. Does anyone have a recommended shop? Slee quoted me $3,500, which seems steep. I do have ARB lockers front and rear, so I was hoping it had been done in the past.
 

nakman

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I don't know the market rate these days... just remember you're not only buying the gears, but all new bearings, shims, bolts, etc. It's one of those jobs where once you pop it apart you replace everything, so it adds up.

Robbie could certainly do it https://risingsun4x4club.org/xf/threads/adventure-offroad.10843/
Ben could definitely do it https://risingsun4x4club.org/xf/threads/toyota-lexus-repair-maintenance-in-castle-rock.30346/

Both of those guys have successfully installed gears on many trucks, still cruising around the club here. Slee too.
 

Inukshuk

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@nakman - Thank you for the advice. Does anyone have a recommended shop? Slee quoted me $3,500, which seems steep. I do have ARB lockers front and rear, so I was hoping it had been done in the past.
Most of us here don't price shop work like this. Maybe someone would do it for less, and maybe they are good at it, but usually we pick the person/shop we want and pay their price. Not only as Tim said is it "all new bearings, shims, bolts, etc. It's one of those jobs where once you pop it apart you replace everything, so it adds up." but its one you want done right. Sure, I sometimes cringe at a price and find ways to reduce my costs, and I also am mindful with these trucks (I have 1993 and 2006 LCs and care for a 2004 GX) that they were built premium, priced premium, perform premium, and the parts and labor we put in are premium. I don't want mine to let me down on the remote trail.

PS when I re-geared my 80 on 33's (because at about 275,000 the gears were getting noisy), I went to 4.56 and like it. 6,800 LB truck.
 

japete01

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@Inukshuk, I wouldn't say I was price shopping. I would say I looked online to get an idea as the price was quite a bit more than I paid to re-gear my rally car and my old Jeep and found it seemed like a premium. The MUD forum had a variety of prices, but none more then $2,300. That said, the Denver LC market could be different. I have found that clubs typically have trusted people and/or shops. Everyone knows Slee is the LC shop and they can charge a premium. That said, I received other recommendations that also appear reputable. If I am breaking the rules by being straight forward and asking an honest question, please let me know. This was par for the course with my old Rally, track car, and Jeep clubs/friends.
 
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nakman

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@japete01 you're fine, man, don't sweat it too much. And you're spot on about Slee, the quality there is top notch, reputation is stellar, they're popular- comes at a premium, but futile to debate its value here, and if it's "worth it." They've seen more than a few of my trucks over the years down there, and for many there's no where else to go, we have club members who work there even and they've got a very loyal following. all good stuff.

That said, both Robbie and Ben have worked on rigs of mine also, and both would be great at this- I wouldn't have suggested them otherwise. Ben actually regeared my 80 in 2008, so I can vouch for his gear work personally, they were 4.88 and super quiet. Lots of others here have had Robbie set up their gears too, maybe someone will chime in on that.. you could probably find a cheaper option than all 3 of these guys, but gears is probably not the place to skimp, as it's a royal pain if you have to dive back in there again, and having one fail on the trail is a trip-changing event...
 

japete01

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@nakman Thank you again. I'm definitely not trying to go cheap, and am sure I will do business with one of the three. Slee has done the rest of the work on the truck and are just down the road from me and my good buddy Jake used to work there and has nothing but good things to say.
 

Corbet

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When I went 4.88’s in my 80 I pulled both 3rd members and delivered them to the shop to reduce some of my labor cost. Not as easy with the IFS

Don’t expect a night and day difference. Much better from a stop but on the highway I found all I’d really did was change the shift points a little. When these pigs are gasping for air at 10,000’ they simply don’t have much power.

Offroad was a different story. So much more control with the gears. That’s where they sine IMHO.
 

Danger Noodle

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Western drivetrain was very reasonable when I had lockers and gears installed in my pulled 3rds. Came out to ~$250 per third. Highly recomend them.
 

AimCOTaco

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My '99 is on 33's and full heavy (drawers, armor, skids, RTT, etc, etc) and running on stock 4.30's.
At this point I'd re-gear the diffs if I wanted to run 35's but don't intend to go that route.
For my use I'm more interested in lower T-case gears to get my crawl ratio lower on the trail. My high range gearing isn't bad at all where it sits. Kurt from Cruiser Outfitters has a great chart that includes all the t-case and diff gearing options for consideration, I'd dig it up if you haven't seen it.

I like to look deep into my gear installers eyes and get that warm feelin'. Gear set up for heavy use must be excellent and include only top quality parts. Lots of 'install' kits are available but not usually filled with OEM Toyota parts so those costs can really add up if you go with OEM shims, bearings, etc.
 

bassguyry

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My '99 is on 33's and full heavy (drawers, armor, skids, RTT, etc, etc) and running on stock 4.30's.
At this point I'd re-gear the diffs if I wanted to run 35's but don't intend to go that route.
For my use I'm more interested in lower T-case gears to get my crawl ratio lower on the trail. My high range gearing isn't bad at all where it sits. Kurt from Cruiser Outfitters has a great chart that includes all the t-case and diff gearing options for consideration, I'd dig it up if you haven't seen it.

I like to look deep into my gear installers eyes and get that warm feelin'. Gear set up for heavy use must be excellent and include only top quality parts. Lots of 'install' kits are available but not usually filled with OEM Toyota parts so those costs can really add up if you go with OEM shims, bearings, etc.
This is great info, Andy. My '99 is super heavy, similar to yours. I've been thinking about re-gearing for a while now, but the only time I ever really put much thought into it is on the hills on I-70. I really don't like watching my coolant temps climb to 210-215 degrees as I'm heading up to the tunnel (temps drop almost immediately on the decline, however). I'd love to be able to stay in 3rd gear a bit longer, rather than punishing my motor in 2nd gear. :ROFLMAO:

Though, this only happens during the dead of summer, and it's basically the only time I think of re-gearing. My 100 performs really well on the trail and 99% of pavement driving, so dropping $3,500 on gears just doesn't compute. I have thought about doing just a t-case re-gear, but I don't think that'll really help with highway driving.
 

DomOfTheDead

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Most differentials have a carrier break between certain gear ratios due to thickness of the ring gears. Example: 4.10 and down, 4.56 and up. I am not sure if this is the situation with these trucks so someone needs to clairify if this is true. If so, that might be part of the high price estimate, new ARB carriers or thick gears might be needed.
 

AimCOTaco

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Good point @DomOfTheDead but AFAIK the ARB or stock carrier will take any of the stock or aftermarket ratios as is.
 

Notyourmomslx450

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Could always go underdrive gears and crawler gears. (y)
 

Stuckinthe80s

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Could always go underdrive gears and crawler gears. (y)
Yeah, i would explore this route as well as you will achieve the same results for possibly less cost. Call the guys at Cruiser Outfitters and they can give you tons of info on the subject.

Im in no place to tell people how to spend their money so hopefully this doesnt come off that way. Im just worried you arent going to be happy on the return of your investment going from 4.30 to 4.88's. The jump is just too small. You will probably feel a little improvement but not $3,000 or even $2500 worth of improvement. For that kind of spend I would want a night and day differnce and this just wont be the case.
 
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