Do I need new gearing on lifted 5 lug 2.4L??

[4mytacoma]

Hello all...

I have a 99 tacoma, 2wd, 5 lug, 2.4L, manual. I got the 6" fabtech lift kit with 31" tires about a year ago, and I am very happy with it. My only complaint, however, is how I can hardly ever use 5th gear any more. I am forced to drive in 4th gear on the freeway! Also, first gear doesn't have the low end torque that it used to. Also, the speedometer is way off. It also feels like the truck's engine is working a lot harder with the bigger tires, and I'm afraid I'm burning up the engine. I have a feeling that I need new gears, but I honestly don't know that much about it. Can anyone please give some advise? Anyone else out there with a simmilar set up on their tacoma? Please help, I feel like I'm killing my engine and loosing out on power. Thanks everyone.

[SEAN_at_TLT]

Take a look at this chart I made to determine what size gears you need to go to to make your truck have stock-like power again.



Also read this article to understand more about gear ratios in our Toyota's.

http://www.trailslesstraveled.com/viewarticle.php?id=58

[Flash75]

I think your truck originally had 27" tires, the chart in Sean's post starts at 29" YOu can see which direction you need to go by looking at Sean's chart. Your differential probably has 3.58 gears. This link has a gear calculator so you can insert the old and new tire size and the differential gear ratio and it computes the gear you need.
http://www.4lo.com/calc/geartire.htm

Clifton

[Flash75]

I should have mentioned you need to verify what gears you now have in the truck before deciding which gear you need. I assumed 3.58 based on a Toyota Tacoma brochure but said my automatic has a 3.73 but I checked the code on the ID label and it has a code for 4.111 gears.

Clifton