SAS appropriate?

[USE911]

Been visiting this site for a while, and finally made an account. I will give a little bit of history. I bought my 4runner when I was 15 (4 years ago). It is an 1989, 22re 5 speed. I bought it all stock, including motor. Since i bought it, I put a 3in body lift on it (yes, i regret it), 4 inch suspension+2 inch shackels in the rear, and completely remanned the motor myself. It is sitting on 35 inch tires, but with stock gears. That is pretty much where my problem starts.

So now I am looking into getting new gears for my 4runner. Seems like most say 5.29s are the way to go. This rig is not my daily driver anymore, but I do not wheel it hard either. It is a very clean truck. Mainly, I drive it on the road. Hunting season, it see's a little mud but nothing major. Winter time, it see's a lot of snow. I want to regear it, but am thinking that if I go that far, I might as well put lockers in it, too. From what i have read, lockers and low gears are crap in the IFS. Is it worth the extra effort and $ to SAS it, even with my lack of offroad driving? Any feedback would be great.

 

[KidVermicious]

If it's a road truck that just sees mud and snow, I would definitely not SAS it, or put a locker in the front at all. You could lock the rear if you wanted, but a limited slip would probably do you just as much good and be friendlier on the road. But I wouldn't lock the front at all, whether or not you go to a straight axle. For light offroad, the IFS CVs will handle 5.29s just fine.

 

[Footofgod]

Or you could go SAS. regear to 5.29, ARB lockers front and back and wheel the hell out of it! Why put 35's and 5.29's on if it is not going to see a lot of action?

Granted I am slowly getting a reputation as the guy who likes to wheel it till it breaks.

 

[Lil Red Yarder]

I agree 35s need 5.29s and lockers need to see action when ever possible. If you go that way yes SAS. Otherwise I say get rid of the body lift run 33s with 4.88 gears and limited slip. It will take you where ever you need to go with light wheeling and then some

 

[BucknutBob]

USE911, don't think of 5.29's as some "extreme" mod, think of it as putting the truck back to stock configuration. With 35's, that gearing will basically make the truck behave the way the factory intended. Certainly, if you're changing gearing, that's the time to upgrade the diffs, if you want that for the future--no sense in doing the labor twice if you can help it. Like KidV mentioned, given your intentions, I wouldn't bother with a locker in the front, but either a locker or limited slip in the rear would come in handy. And lastly, I also agree with not doing the SAS--unless you plan some serious offroading in the future, it's not worth the headache.

 

[USE911]

I do not intend on using this as a wheeler. I already have a 1st gen p/u for that. So i guess that answers my question. This is a lot cheaper solution, so that is good. Are gears hard to change or is it something I should take in to do? And as for a locker in the rear, is limited slip like posi?

 

[Bad_Vision]

gears are very time demanding and highly laborious.
5.29 is the best choice for big tire like others have said.
solid axle is better for offroad and cheaper to lift.
i say if your going to regear and you are not going to hard time off road get a cheap spartan locker. since you will be tearing it apart to re gear this will be easy to install a locker,wheel bearings wheel seals and pinion seals(actually you have to replace all the seals)

here is everything you need to know about lockers spools lsd and air locker
Limited-slip differential - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[KidVermicious]

I do not intend on using this as a wheeler. I already have a 1st gen p/u for that. So i guess that answers my question. This is a lot cheaper solution, so that is good. Are gears hard to change or is it something I should take in to do? And as for a locker in the rear, is limited slip like posi?

Gears need a couple specialized tools and lots and lots of patience and attention to detail. I would wanna have somebody show me what I was doing before I took that job on by myself.

Posi is a type of limited slip.