2002 Toyota Tacoma 4X4 gearing

[baltocharlie]

Hey folks: I am currently looking at a new(to me, it is 12 years old though) truck. 77,000 miles, mint condition, frame has no rust and was undercoated, manual 5 spd, The seller has changed the gearing from 4.33 to 4.88. He says it has a Toytec Ultimate suspension kit with the re-gearing. The engine is a 3.4L, 6 cyl, 5VZ-FEIt. He made the gearing switch to improve the performance of the truck on hills while fully loaded with a Four Wheel Camper on it's back.

So I need to ask, what can I expect from a 4.88 gearing.
1) I am thinking slower top end speed, lower gas mileage, more of a mountain vehicle than a city driver.
2) Probably drives better with the weight???? Maybe not.
3) What tire size might best be suited for this type of gearing?
4) Anything else I should be aware of?

FWIW: I am not really a camper kinda guy, prefer lightweight travel. I am looking at this so my wife will enjoy camping again. She is growing weary of a tent. This vehicle looks to be able to reach some serious back country areas.

 

[baltocharlie]

Sorry , I meant to put into gear section. I don't know why the picture is a link, but it is what it is.

Thanks

 

[Nick]

I fixed your pic. It didn't show up because it was a PDF.

As for the truck, I'm not great with answering your questions, but I like it! I had a v6 '09 Taco and it did great. I don't think that camper would really drag you down that much. Man, you could spend a long time camping out in the desert pretty comfy in that thing, AND be able to anywhere you want. Nice.

 

[JulieKT]

I can't give you much of an answer either. What I can contribute is that I have a 2000 Tacoma, 4wd with a lift kit (that was on it when I bought it; it's caused some issues for my mechanic haha, but has made it a most excellent rock-navigational backcountry road vehicle), 6 cyl, 3.4 liter, automatic, tires are 235/75R15s (overkill for gas mileage but nice to have in the backcountry). I think my gearing is 4:10, if I'm interpreting the data correctly. It has a simple streamlined shell, too. It has been the best vehicle for dirt road travel and I heart it mightily. Thisclose to 200,000 miles and still going strong. Definitely travels better on some roads with more weight on the back, especially washboard roads.

The 12-year-old truck you're looking at has only 77,000 miles? Nice. Mine had that many when I bought it at 4 years old. I'm an enormous fan of Toyota overall and Tacomas in particular. This is my third Toyota, second Taco.

 

[Nick]

That just reminded me. I agree, a bit of weight in the back is good. On the other extreme, I actually had an extra leaf spring put in on each side of my taco for handling heavier loads more smoothly. If I had a truck camper in the back, I'd definitely look into that kind of thing.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Hey folks: I am currently looking at a new(to me, it is 12 years old though) truck. 77,000 miles, mint condition, frame has no rust and was undercoated, manual 5 spd, The seller has changed the gearing from 4.33 to 4.88. He says it has a Toytec Ultimate suspension kit with the re-gearing. The engine is a 3.4L, 6 cyl, 5VZ-FEIt. He made the gearing switch to improve the performance of the truck on hills while fully loaded with a Four Wheel Camper on it's back.

So I need to ask, what can I expect from a 4.88 gearing.
1) I am thinking slower top end speed, lower gas mileage, more of a mountain vehicle than a city driver.
2) Probably drives better with the weight???? Maybe not.
3) What tire size might best be suited for this type of gearing?
4) Anything else I should be aware of?

FWIW: I am not really a camper kinda guy, prefer lightweight travel. I am looking at this so my wife will enjoy camping again. She is growing weary of a tent. This vehicle looks to be able to reach some serious back country areas.

View attachment 19770

1) You're mostly correct. Slower top speed, worse gas mileage on the freeway but better around town, especially when pulling a load.

2) Yes, will drive significantly better with additional weight or towing, especially since it's a manual.

3) That really depends on what you're looking for, if you want to bump it back to a stock style ratio between tire and gears you'd be looking in the 35" range.

4) My only concern would be the width of the camper and the legs hanging down. You'll need to be conscious of them while driving offroad.


Tacos are great vehicles and while typically very expensive they are worth it. In stock trim they are fairly capable machines offroad and with the additional height of your lift you shouldn't have any problems in the backcountry with getting hung up under the belly. The toytec suspension will ride rougher than stock without the weight in the back since it's essentially just adding a leaf to your leaf pack.

 

[baltocharlie]

Thanks Nick for fixing my screwups, never liked pdfs

Thanks for the replies Nick, Julie and Eric.
I am a Toya fan. I still own a '94 pre Taco truck. I think Toyota called it DX.

Weight, figure it would be better with a load, so I guess might be best to just leave the camper on it full time or something heavy (sand bags or such
Camper width is a bit wide but the legs are easily removed, he was just showing them for the sale. I would be surprised if he left them on while 4x4. I also do not like the width of the shell. They make a narrower model. I do not plan on getting wild with the truck, just want to get remote.
Better city mileage, really. This is surprising.
35s for stock feel, good to know, thanks.

Thanks again, Charlie