Gear Ratio Opinions, 4.30 vs 4.56

[coinball]

I know this topic has been beaten to death, but I'm looking for some feedback from folks with actual experience, not just armchair mechanics giving their $.02 (I know that's asking a lot for the internet).

Anyway, question at hand, I'm running 265/75/R16 on my 02, and even with the blower, the factory 4.10s are not up to snuff. I'd like to go to 4.30s or 4.56s since they're factory Toyota ratios. I'm not sold on one or the other yet; but here's some background info: I don't do much offroading (which takes 4.88s off the table), but I do tow building materials on my car trailer fairly often (it's a heavy 10k trailer), which has me leaning towards the 4.56s.

Thoughts?

 

[Kyogie]

I know this topic has been beaten to death, but I'm looking for some feedback from folks with actual experience, not just armchair mechanics giving their $.02 (I know that's asking a lot for the internet).

Anyway, question at hand, I'm running 265/75/R16 on my 02, and even with the blower, the factory 4.10s are not up to snuff. I'd like to go to 4.30s or 4.56s since they're factory Toyota ratios. I'm not sold on one or the other yet; but here's some background info: I don't do much offroading (which takes 4.88s off the table), but I do tow building materials on my car trailer fairly often (it's a heavy 10k trailer), which has me leaning towards the 4.56s.

Thoughts?

I have 275/75/16s on my 98 SR5 (no blower) and I have 4.73s. So a little bigger than what you're looking at. The previous owner put them in when he was trying to build this into an offroad toy. He warned me a bunch before selling it that it was slow (i'm also used to turbo 4 cyl tuner cars pushing 250-400hp) but I've been loving it. Gives me the power I need all through the range, still offroads for me (i know you're not looking at that) and highway driving is 3k at 65mph in 5th if i remember correctly. I take the truck up i70 to ski a lot and it has plenty of power to make that haul. I'm not the fastest, but i've never been short of breath so to speak.

For reference I also drove a 97 (still no blower) with the stock gears but a bigger BF Goodrich AT tire and that thing was underpowered compared to my 98.

 

[csp]

Plug your info into this calculator (Toyota transmission are at the bottom of the dropdown), along with the gear ratio and tire size to see what your RPMs would be at any given speed.

Going from 4.10 to 4.30 isn't much of a change and 4.56 is going to put your RPMs up pretty high at highway speeds with that small of a tire.

http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html

 

[xcmtb83]

I would run the stock diffs...in a full size truck. 10K is a lot of weight to be moving around with your Runner. I hope you don't ever load your trailer to full capacity.

I would get 4.56 gears. As underpowered as the 3rd gen is already (especially the auto trans) you won't ever be complaining of too much power. The RPM increase from 4.10 to 4.56 with the oversize tires will only be about 150 RPM over stock at 2000 RPM.

 

[coinball]

Plug your info into this calculator (Toyota transmission are at the bottom of the dropdown), along with the gear ratio and tire size to see what your RPMs would be at any given speed.

Going from 4.10 to 4.30 isn't much of a change and 4.56 is going to put your RPMs up pretty high at highway speeds with that small of a tire.

Gear Ratio Calculator

Sweet tool, thanks for the link.

 

[coinball]

I would run the stock diffs...in a full size truck. 10K is a lot of weight to be moving around with your Runner. I hope you don't ever load your trailer to full capacity.

I would get 4.56 gears. As underpowered as the 3rd gen is already (especially the auto trans) you won't ever be complaining of too much power. The RPM increase from 4.10 to 4.56 with the oversize tires will only be about 100 RPM over stock at 2000 RPM.

Yea, that trailer is way more than the 4Runner could ever handle. A Tundra or diesel 3/4 ton is in my future anyway, so it's just for light hauling for the time being.

Agreed on the rev changes, 100-200 for 70mph with 4.56s isn't bad at all.

 

[snivilous]

4.30s are less than a 5% increase in torque than 4.10s, you won't even notice it. If you do regear do at least 4.56s.

 

[nevada]

4.30s are less than a 5% increase in torque than 4.10s, you won't even notice it. If you do regear do at least 4.56s.

yep. this.