I am upgrading to 5.29 gears on my 3rd gen. I will have 33's with R150f and multimode t-case. All prices and equiptment listed is priced accordingly for the 5.29 with an E-Locker. A standard setup will cost less. I want this specific gearing due to adding some weight, in addition to sand dunes being the main purpose for the truck.
Anyhow, after searching the forum I have found no side by side comparison as far as gears are concerned. There are many brands, however it's quite hit or miss usually as to what manufacturer actually produced the gears, inside of a Yukon box, for example. With this being said, I personally sought out three gear companies that have traceable origins with all of the gearsets they sell.
The three companies chosen are Dana SVL, Nitro Gears, and Revolution Gears. Here is the breakdown of information i've gathered on all three companies.
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Dana SVL
- Made In India
- 29 Spline Pinion
- No Material Type Listed
- 6 Month / 50,000 mile warranty
- Mixed Reviews on Quality
The Dana gears would be outfitted with a USA Standard Gear master overhaul kit for both front and rear differentials. The USA Standard Gear kit uses Koyo bearings.
Cost of Dana Kit:
Koyo Bearings $797.26
Timken Bearings $811.16
After Shipping: $816.24
$830.14
Product source:
rockauto.com
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Revolution Gear
- Made In Korea
- 29 Spline Pinion
- Material Type 8620 Steel
- 2 year warranty against defects
- I have only seen good reviews on quality
The Revolution gears would be outfitted with a mixture of Timken and Koyo bearings, this would also be a master overhaul kit.
Cost of Revolution Master Overhaul Kit with free shipping: $948.92
Product Link:
Tacoma/4Runner Gear Package 95-04 Tundra W/Factory Locker 8/7.5 Inch Reverse 4.56-5.29 Ratio Front/Rear Gears and Master Kits | Revolution Gear & Axle
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Nitro Gears
- Made in Korea
- 29 Spline Pinion
- Material Type 8620 Steel
- 2 year warranty against defects
- I have seen a couple bad reviews on quality, mostly good, however the amount of reviews i've seen on Nitro Gears are more than the other two.
Cost of Nitro Gear master overhaul kit with free shipping: $1079.93
Product Link:
1995.5-2004 Toyota Tacoma, 1996-2002 Toyota 4Runner Nitro Front & Rear Gear Package
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What do you think? To me this is a valid question because I personally do not question the Dana quality control. I work with Dana Spicer gears daily at my job, however these are premium gears and they are made in either India or Argentina. My encounter with any Korean gears have been garbage, but this is in the semi-truck world with 16 inch ring gears. From the research I have done in the off-road truck world, Korean gears are considered to be of the highest quality in many cases. The reason I will not go with Yukon or any other brand is due to the uncertainty of origins. Nitro Gears do come from Korea as well as Revolution Gears, it almost seems to me that these are the same manufacturer, they have all of the same features. The Nitro Gear package is $131.01 higher in price than the Revolution Gear package, and $249.79 higher than the Dana package. Keeping in mind, I can purchase an additional Dana gear set for both differentials shipped to my door for only $260.57. Diff's are not a headache for me because I build them everyday, theoretically if the bearings were all good I could swap them over to a new pinion and change out the ring gear with new bolts and fresh loctite within 45 minutes after having the diff's out of the truck. I highly doubt the dana sets would fail, however, why is there no material type listed?
Any thoughts and experiences would be appreciated! Thanks!
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