SuperCharger OR Gears... Which One?

[Hepar]

I say gears. Superchargers are cool, but like others said they will increase wear and tear, it's another failure point, and you have to run premium. It seems like premium is running about $.50 more than regular at least now versus the $.20 more it used to be a few years ago. If you drive 20k miles a year, at 17 MPG, and gas is $2.00 for regular and $2.50 for premium you're spending $600 more a year on gas. And that's assuming you can get premium for only $.50 more. I've been seeing $.70-.80 even in some gas stations along interstates and stuff.

What has offset that for me is that my mpg's have increased since adding a supercharger. Especially on my trips over the passes (which is the majority of my driving being I work from home). I was getting around 16ish freeway before and now I see around 20. City driving is less of a difference, but still there.

*edit* and to note, premium is around $0.30-$0.40 more than regular.

 

[Unner]

Oh it's easily a dollar higher here in Houston

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What has offset that for me is that my mpg's have increased since adding a supercharger. Especially on my trips over the passes (which is the majority of my driving being I work from home). I was getting around 16ish freeway before and now I see around 20. City driving is less of a difference, but still there.

*edit* and to note, premium is around $0.30-$0.40 more than regular.

Interesting. I figured premium would have been less of a gap in Houston being close to the gulf, and a crazy gap in the PNW. I guess you could get better gas mileage with a supercharger, probably less downshifting and therefore lower RPMs than a stock motor, but you have to be able to keep your foot out of it. :car:

 

[Hepar]

Interesting. I figured premium would have been less of a gap in Houston being close to the gulf, and a crazy gap in the PNW. I guess you could get better gas mileage with a supercharger, probably less downshifting and therefore lower RPMs than a stock motor, but you have to be able to keep your foot out of it. :car:

I can now cruise up the pass at 70 mph around 2300 rpm with my foot barely on the gas. Before I would literally have to have my foot on the floor to keep it anywhere around 60.

And you are definitely right about the last statement. The first few months with it, I was probably getting in the low teens. Now I drive like I did before I added it, but with knowing and loving the fact that the power is instantly there when I need it for passing and such.

 

[4Reak Show]

Plan the machine as a whole. Regear for the purpose you intend, which will increase off-roading and then put on a SC, because why not? I'd have it all if I could.

But since I rarely wheel and the truck came from factory with 4.88, I opted for the SC. Never regretted it either.

 

[Unner]

Plan the machine as a whole. Regear for the purpose you intend, which will increase off-roading and then put on a SC, because why not? I'd have it all if I could.

But since I rarely wheel and the truck came from factory with 4.88, I opted for the SC. Never regretted it either.

A 3rd gen never came from the factory with 4.88s...

 

[4Reak Show]

Correct. My truck is a 2nd gen wth a 3rd gen engine.

(Hence the name 4Reak Show)

 

[dms1]

Gears, Supercharger will wear out your engine faster.

 

[gamefreakgc]

Uhh, someone would pick gears over a supercharger? Gears aren't going to make it faster, unless you've got honkin big tires on there.

Supercharger by far. I can't imagine a 4Runner without one anymore. I have 212k miles on mine and going strong.

 

[4Reak Show]

It's funny. I have friends who ask me things like

"Can I put an LS engine in my 50's Chevy"

"What about a diesel"

"Can we lower it and chop the roof down"

"Can we make it 4WD and have a helicopter blade on the roof"

The answer is always undoubtedly YES...

However time and money are the 2 constant constraints.

That being said, it's all about the PURPOSE and INTENTION. If you want to wheel it all the time and climb over boulders at 2 mph, then you probably want gears. But if you like being able to get up and go on the freeway, you probably want to supercharge it.

Boy that wasn't helpful at all

 

[Bandit Runner]

Just now seeing this as I was on vacation for the last 10 days and am still getting caught up with my reading. I have done both, gears and supercharger, because I was looking for more power for my daily driver. So here is my experience with both. FWIW

I drove with 35" tires for several years on stock gears. It sucked! Then I finally regeared to 5.29's. It made some improvement in daily driving, but I didn't notice a huge difference.

After about 4 years I finally got the supercharger. The power difference was VERY noticeable. The truck was much quicker, and could hold speed on the highway much easier. It hardly ever downshifts on inclines any more. It also made a big difference when the truck is loaded down heavily. (I haven't tried pulling a trailer with it yet though, which was horrible before. But I'm hoping it will make a big difference there too.)

For my situation, if I had to pick one over the other, I would go with the supercharger.
(Note: I can't speak for how the supercharger would have felt with the stock gears, since I was already regeared when I got the SC. So that could make a difference.)

 

[00Spork]

Gears, Supercharger will wear out your engine faster.

Superchargers are cool, but like others said they will increase wear and tear, it's another failure point

I have never understoood this "logic"

If you have to keep the engine running at 4500+ RPM to keep your speed up a hill, wouldn't that be worse on the motor than being able to run 2500 RPM up the same grade? Plus it uses more gas at a higher RPM.

From my experience, adding a SC decreased wear and tear on the driveline because I am able to keep the RPMs down to a reasonable level while keeping the same speed. Do you realize how hard the 3.4 has to work to go up a hill with full armor and 33's?? It's scary to say the least.

Once you get to the point of full armor and large tires, that's when you need one or the other. It's up to you to choose. Like I said before, IMO SC is the way to go. If you want the best of both worlds, then get a SC and gears!

Anyone in Denver want to put these theories to the test? Lets have a race up I-70! My SC vs your gearing.

 

[Collkid]

Assuming you are talking about what to do after lift/tires, I would say start with gears.

Then, if you're looking for more power, go with a supercharger.

If you go with a supercharger from the start, you are pushing your engine harder, which may cause it to fail.

 

[96RedRunner]

Drive trains are designed to you use the power band of engine+ drive ratios of trans+diff final drive ratio. For efficiency and reliability.
When we add larger tires we change the formula for operating engine in power band which stresses engine and auto trans. Manuals load up clutch.
Add more weight from armor more stress.
By adding SC only you are still not operating in the effiency reliability power band of the drive train. Your covering up the gearing inefficiencies with more power = more stress.
Doing gears first gets the Drive train back into designed efficiency reliability parameters.
Top that off with more power from SC sounds better to me.
But then that's my opinion.

 

[JayRolla]

I'll answer these though

Beer

Neither they are all junk

Redheads

And Sideways for the direction

You forgot this.

SUPERCHARGER OVER GEARS.

 

[JayRolla]

Drive trains are designed to you use the power band of engine+ drive ratios of trans+diff final drive ratio. For efficiency and reliability.
When we add larger tires we change the formula for operating engine in power band which stresses engine and auto trans. Manuals load up clutch.
Add more weight from armor more stress.
By adding SC only you are still not operating in the effiency reliability power band of the drive train. Your covering up the gearing inefficiencies with more power = more stress.
Doing gears first gets the Drive train back into designed efficiency reliability parameters.
Top that off with more power from SC sounds better to me.
But then that's my opinion.

As I understand what your saying. The low power of this motor even with the supercharger (still underpowered IMO) is not enough to cause any issues on the stock drivetrain running up to 35's. The stock gears front and rear are really strong. I have only seen failures on high HP applications like turbos.

The only major fail point when running large tires is the CV shafts and changing gears wont save those.

Good thing about gearing is you usually want to go dual locked at the time which will help you 200 times over on the trail compared to the SC.

 

[WenatcheeSkier]

Heartbeat [✓]
Hole [✓]

:thumb3:

Genuine LOL at my desk......:lol:

 

[96RedRunner]

As I understand what your saying. The low power of this motor even with the supercharger (still underpowered IMO) is not enough to cause any issues on the stock drivetrain running up to 35's. The stock gears front and rear are really strong. I have only seen failures on high HP applications like turbos.

The only major fail point when running large tires is the CV shafts and changing gears wont save those.

Good thing about gearing is you usually want to go dual locked at the time which will help you 200 times over on the trail compared to the SC.

Yea what I said was more engineering Mumbo jumbo, my profession.
Yes HP is always nice and addictive!
The Toyota diffs are solid
Been out in the middle of nowhere and popped CV's
Dual lockers have dug me out of some chit
Have had 32-36" tires, 4:30 to 4:88 gears on 96
96 has 4:56's & 33's good blend with duals, trail and highway.
01 stock open 4:30's &32's

 

[Hepar]

I have never understoood this "logic"

If you have to keep the engine running at 4500+ RPM to keep your speed up a hill, wouldn't that be worse on the motor than being able to run 2500 RPM up the same grade? Plus it uses more gas at a higher RPM.

From my experience, adding a SC decreased wear and tear on the driveline because I am able to keep the RPMs down to a reasonable level while keeping the same speed. Do you realize how hard the 3.4 has to work to go up a hill with full armor and 33's?? It's scary to say the least.

Once you get to the point of full armor and large tires, that's when you need one or the other. It's up to you to choose. Like I said before, IMO SC is the way to go. If you want the best of both worlds, then get a SC and gears!

Anyone in Denver want to put these theories to the test? Lets have a race up I-70! My SC vs your gearing.

I definitely know it's going to extend the life of my transmission. The amount of shifting I would force it to do in one drive up the pass was insane.

 

[euroke23]

Supercharger for sure

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[4runnerfiend]

Wanted to revive this thread/not post a new one.... Hopefully.

Can anyone give feed back on running stock 4:10 with 33's and adding SC. Do you think you should have done Gears? MPG improvement or decline?

Thanks!