700 mile road trip with 35s and stock gearing

[diponyou]

So I am posting this just as reference for members.

I recently made the jump to 35s and I have yet to gear my 4runner. I was pretty adamant that in my situation gearing was not needed.

Almost every post regarding 35s leads to people saying you NEED to gear to 4:88s or 5:29s etc etc

I wanted to get some more driving time with the stock gears/35s before I made any definitive claims, and I believe I have come to a conclusion.


For my situation, driving style and environment re-gearing is definitely NOT a must-have. My truck still drives great around town, and on the highway. Sure it needs some more throttle in certain situations but I will not be re-gearing anytime soon.


on to the roadtrip...
I left from Phoenix, AZ and drove to San Diego, CA which is roughly a 350 mile one way trip, with around 4800ft rise in elevation at certain points.
The only time my truck was stressed out was during a few of the really steep climbs. Ask anyone who has driven this route and they will attest to the severity of this climb. Not to mention it was around 105-110 degrees. Many cars were pulled over on the side of the interstate, but the 4runner was a beast. :cheer2:

This was the only point of the entire trip when not having gears was really noticeable, and if you are frequently driving in these situations you might WANT to re-gear.


On top of this I recently had both of my cv boots tear/rip off. I debated not going because of this but I decided to tough it out. No issue there :hat: she made it back home safe and sound with absolutely no issues.




no comment on my MPG :yuck:

 

[4runnerfevr]

how was your gas mileage?

 

[gergg]

So I am posting this just as reference for members.

I recently made the jump to 35s and I have yet to gear my 4runner. I was pretty adamant that in my situation gearing was not needed.

Almost every post regarding 35s leads to people saying you NEED to gear to 4:88s or 5:29s etc etc

I wanted to get some more driving time with the stock gears/35s before I made any definitive claims, and I believe I have come to a conclusion.


For my situation, driving style and environment re-gearing is definitely NOT a must-have. My truck still drives great around town, and on the highway. Sure it needs some more throttle in certain situations but I will not be re-gearing anytime soon.


on to the roadtrip...
I left from Phoenix, AZ and drove to San Diego, CA which is roughly a 350 mile one way trip, with around 4800ft rise in elevation at certain points.
The only time my truck was stressed out was during a few of the really steep climbs. Ask anyone who has driven this route and they will attest to the severity of this climb. Not to mention it was around 105-110 degrees. Many cars were pulled over on the side of the interstate, but the 4runner was a beast. :cheer2:

This was the only point of the entire trip when not having gears was really noticeable, and if you are frequently driving in these situations you might WANT to re-gear.


On top of this I recently had both of my cv boots tear/rip off. I debated not going because of this but I decided to tough it out. No issue there :hat: she made it back home safe and sound with absolutely no issues.




no comment on my MPG :yuck:

Do you have 4.1 or 4.3 gears now?

 

[D Farms]

mine works fine, i have 3.90 gears and 35s. the key is to iust prevent it from unlocking the torque convertor on the highway by letting the truck slow down on hills. also keep the ect power off. btw if you have a manual your gearing is more than adequate for big tires.

 

[cashmoney]

My opinion of people who don't maintain speed up hill not with standing, I'm curious how yours does so well while mine won't hold 70 on flat ground.

 

[Elesage]

So...how was your MPG???

 

[NWFLBowhunter]

So...how was your MPG???

This! It's the question we all want to know. I would like to step up to 35s, and with a manual, and also in Florida where the only hill is an ant hill, my biggest concern is what it will do to my mileage.

 

[JayRolla]

Drive some more. I felt same way with my 33's and 4:10's. Now after multiple 500-1000 mile trips through mountain passes and trying to maintain 70mph easily I want to regear. It's not needed like you said but would be huge improvement.

 

[diponyou]

I have a factory locker so I'm going to make an educated guess and say 4.30s

I wish I payed more attention to my actual mpg but I was more concerned with the mechanics of everything. My odo is obviously off and I stopped at almost every main gas station to give her a break and fill up. I didn't write down how many gallons I used. My bad.
But I don't think it was horrible or great.


As far as hill speed I am right there with you. I was going around 65-75 for a majority of the hills except in the really steep parts I was down to about 58-65


I found having ECT on was much more effective. It just made sense to leave this on. But I am willing to listen to opinions regarding this topic.

 

[BrandonF]

Nice post [MENTION=108944]diponyou[/MENTION]
It's always nice to see reports of REAL WORLD experience and not just people reiterating what they've read on the internet.

My 4.10's are livable with my 33's and manual transmission on the road. I occasionally have to shift into 3rd on the highway which bugs me but other than that I have no complaints. For me, its the off road driving that sucks. For this reason, I can see myself ending up with 35's, dual transfer cases and the stock 4.10's in the next year.

 

[diponyou]

Precisely why I posted this. It's a pretty common thing to happen amongst all car forums. This wouldn't be the first time I've done something to go against the grain in order to have my own data.
Sometimes it really pays off, like in this case. These trucks just look so damn good with 35s. Especially some 35s with aggressive tread. I am in love with my truck now :couch2:

Though I have had bad results by doing these experiments in the past. It's all a learning experience. :fish:

I'll be taking her off roading here in the near future and I'll report with how she does.

Nice post [MENTION=108944]diponyou[/MENTION]
It's always nice to see reports of REAL WORLD experience and not just people reiterating what they've read on the internet.

My 4.10's are livable with my 33's and manual transmission on the road. I occasionally have to shift into 3rd on the highway which bugs me but other than that I have no complaints. For me, its the off road driving that sucks. For this reason, I can see myself ending up with 35's, dual transfer cases and the stock 4.10's in the next year.

 

[BrandonF]

Precisely why I posted this. It's a pretty common thing to happen amongst all car forums. This wouldn't be the first time I've done something to go against the grain in order to have my own data.
Sometimes it really pays off, like in this case. These trucks just look so damn good with 35s. Especially some 35s with aggressive tread. I am in love with my truck now :couch2:

Though I have had bad results by doing these experiments in the past. It's all a learning experience. :fish:

I'll be taking her off roading here in the near future and I'll report with how she does.

The automatic's torque converter should make a huge difference. I just hate teetering on the ragged edge of stalling out my manual as I "crawl" up steep rock faces. I don't feel like a 20% regear (4.10's to 4.88's) would make enough of a difference in these situations so Im looking at a dual case setup that will give me either 230 or 470% lower gearing.

 

[diponyou]

The automatic's torque converter should make a huge difference. I just hate teetering on the ragged edge of stalling out my manual as I "crawl" up steep rock faces. I don't feel like a 20% regear (4.10's to 4.88's) would make enough of a difference in these situations so Im looking at a dual case setup that will give me either 230 or 470% lower gearing.

That wod probably give you the best of both worlds.

 

[Range]

So...how was your MPG???

This! It's the question we all want to know. I would like to step up to 35s, and with a manual, and also in Florida where the only hill is an ant hill, my biggest concern is what it will do to my mileage.

honestly, what do you guys think? Re-gearing will help GM in stop-and-go type driving but highway driving is where you get affected.

 

[mountain mike]

I am running a heavy 33 tire and wheel combo. Re-gearing is going to be my next mod. I can make it work, but it's not exactly enjoyable. Maybe in CA and AZ you can do fine, but in the CO mountains my 4Runner is a dog. Just wish it wasn't so expensive to re-gear. Not something I want to tackle myself.

 

[JayRolla]

I am running a heavy 33 tire and wheel combo. Re-gearing is going to be my next mod. I can make it work, but it's not exactly enjoyable. Maybe in CA and AZ you can do fine, but in the CO mountains my 4Runner is a dog. Just wish it wasn't so expensive to re-gear. Not something I want to tackle myself.

Exactly how I feel. Im between 2nd and 3rd all the time going up the mountain passes. I know gearing will help me. Its my next mod I believe also. Took me few years to finally realize how much it will help.

 

[diponyou]

Exactly how I feel. Im between 2nd and 3rd all the time going up the mountain passes. I know gearing will help me. Its my next mod I believe also. Took me few years to finally realize how much it will help.

This is exactly why I tried to be subjective about this topic. I knew that there were going to be guys such as yourselves who live in hilly areas or who are doing some extreme wheeling so you might have a different take on it.
I am sure what tires you decided to go with and what your factory gearing are going to play a large role as well. I just so happen to have 4.30s so my gearing isn't terrible. I was at about 2700rpm at 77mph or so.

My main point in this was to get away from the blanket statement of "if you want 35s you must re-gear".

I won't be re-gearing, and I am sure there are tons of guys out there in the same situation as me who wouldn't need to re-gear.

I am not abstaining from re-gearing because of MPG or anything like that. It is almost entirely budgetary reasons as well as principal.
Sure I could afford to go an get it re-geared but if it isn't necessary then why fork out $1k+?

I could surely use that money better elsewhere on the truck, at least in my opinion I can.

 

[JayRolla]

This is exactly why I tried to be subjective about this topic. I knew that there were going to be guys such as yourselves who live in hilly areas or who are doing some extreme wheeling so you might have a different take on it.
I am sure what tires you decided to go with and what your factory gearing are going to play a large role as well. I just so happen to have 4.30s so my gearing isn't terrible. I was at about 2700rpm at 77mph or so.

My main point in this was to get away from the blanket statement of "if you want 35s you must re-gear".

I won't be re-gearing, and I am sure there are tons of guys out there in the same situation as me who wouldn't need to re-gear.

I am not abstaining from re-gearing because of MPG or anything like that. It is almost entirely budgetary reasons as well as principal.
Sure I could afford to go an get it re-geared but if it isn't necessary then why fork out $1k+?

I could surely use that money better elsewhere on the truck, at least in my opinion I can.

There is no must anything. I felt same way on 33's. Took years to change my mind. Wheeling is no issue, i just stay in low.

 

[diponyou]

There is no must anything. I felt same way on 33's. Took years to change my mind. Wheeling is no issue, i just stay in low.

I guess I should have prefaced this entire post with this:
If you try searching for threads regarding going up to 35s or making 35s fit you can almost 100% guarantee that there will be at least 1 comment telling them that you need to re-gear afterwards; many times there are more than 1 comment telling them that.

I also had a perfect storm of stuff happen that made me go 35s as well. My 33s were poop, I found someone selling some 35s for cheap that were in great shape and planned on going with a body lift soon anyways so it made sense to me to just go for it. Sure I can't do any hard wheeling for a few weeks but that's ok. anda:


Also...
Since I was being told I had to re-gear, I didn't want to. :der:
Sure I am a little stubborn lol :dance:

By making these posts I am hoping that someone in the future searches for this topic and sees that it can be done.

 

[diponyou]

Not to mention this....

My t4r is very much a budget build. I have gotten almost everything used, when I can. It just so happens that 285/75r16s are hard to find used and are expensive around here.
But...
Used 315/75r16s are cheaper and more abundant :clap2:

So it was a no-brainer for myself. eace: