Topic: Lower gears Vs Bigger engine

[Dark Chaos]

I like 4 Cyl engines especially Toyota’s. People tell me why waste your money in a 4 Cyl. When you could get a 6 or an 8 and build on that. I would never give up my 4 no way no how. Which brings me to my question, Would you keep your 4 cyl and add some performance enhancements and put in lower gears or Swap in a larger engine?

[yotaboy79]

im gunna be going the route that brandon whent with a 5.0 out of a mustang its all in personal preference

[WHITE_TRASH]

Basically I have both.  My 84 has a 350 and the 90 has a re and a doubler.  The 84 has been reduced to a yard ornament till gas prices go down a ways.  Dont get me wrong the truck is a riot to drive and wheel but its way too easy to start grenading stuuf everytime you tickle the stupid pedal.  The re is far more controllable with the doubler and I actually enjoy being under powered, it adds a bit of entertainment to driving.  I find myself laughing at almost every hill I come too thinking which gear is gonna make this the fastest?  4th and 3k or 3rd and 5500?, its a whole lotta fun I actually missed the lack of power.  Of course maybe I should lose the 3.90's and 38's?? lol

[robrocketanski]

as long as you use a toyota engine bigger is cool. a 7mge, 5vzfe, or if you can afford it a 2jz or 2uzfe 

[donkeykong]

on the trail I have seen a 5.0 and a 22r do the same trail with little diffrence.  But going up a hill when us 4 bangers are inching along those big boys fly by.

[hawaii500_1999]

my first rig had a pumped 454 in it.  it was a blast to drive.  stop light drags and it mudded like you wouldn't believe.  but all that hp breaks stuff and it over heated when i tried to crawl it.  now i'm into crawling i like smooth power, no over heating and mainteneace free.  that's pretty much what the stock 22re in my runner is. 

and yes it is geared low.  dual case with 4:1 in the back and 5:38 axle gears.  that little 4 banger has no problem pushing the 35's over rocks.  and it gets better milage then the big block and it doesn't break stuff like the big block and it doesn't ever, ever over heat.

i have to admit.  i do miss the power sometimes.

my last rig i had a mildly modified 22r.  it had more beans getting on the freeway but for crawling i didn't notice it too much over the motor when it was stock.  i had 4:88's with 4:1 t gears and 33's.

[Prismo]

Keep the reliable 22r(e) & go 529's.

[81Toy4x]

I totally agree with Dan.

[84runner]

I like the reliablitlity of my mostly stock 22r but would like to have more power also.  With lower gears you get a lower crawl ratio 

[FIREBALL]

I loved my 22R. It would wheel over the rocks with no prob. Especially with the ultimate, 5.29s and 37s, but there were a lot of times that I wanted more juice in the snow. That's why the new rig has a 4.3. I've always owned yota's, and never wanted to run any other motor, but the 3.0 sucks, and the 3.4 was too spendy.

[Dark Chaos]

My engine is a 3RZ

[Brandon]

I can't begin to tell you how UNreliable my 22r was, but I guess that is the exception to the rule (piston, multiple HG's, etc etc).

Gears should go wether you have the power or not though. I want gears, but I don't have an overdrive and I like to be able to drive 90 so that limits me even with 37's but that would be the case no matter what engine you have..

So, I'll probably go to 4.88's and still be able to cruise. If I had an OD like the toyota tranny I would run the appropriate gears for it (5.38's or so)

So.. basically gears have nothing to do with motor - you should have them when you increase tire size regardless of the motor..

[lowgeared]

I flogged my V8 for years offroad.  Great in the snow and sand dunes.  I have a 350hp amc 360 sitting in the garage with over 2000.00 into it and zero miles fresh from the machine shop(been sitting there two years now) and still put around on the wrangler engine I swapped in a few years ago.  One yota has a 22re and the other a carbed 22r.  I really, really, really want to swap efi into the other one too.  A person cannot go wrong with a 22re.  I live 8 miles from 20,000+ acres of dunes and love the four popper even out there!  Except for the big hill climbs, it does just fine.

[kyle_22r]

does your truck have a wrangler engine it?

i think an AMC v8 swap would be cool to see in a toyota, though those motors are getting fewer and fewer since they haven't been around for quite a while.  i'm considering putting in a GM v6 of some sort, but it always makes me feel kinda dirty just thinking about it.  i love the toyota reliability, but i live in a hilly area and i need something that'll tow my boat faster than 45mph 

[lowgeared]

No my Jeep does.  All the Toyotas still have Toyota engines.