Issues after 5.29 gears

So I had my gears swapped for 5.29 this summer by the local Toyota dealership. Did the proper break in and had the diff oil changed at 500 miles. I am currently running 315/70/17 tires. Performance wise seems like it’s back to stock.
However I seem to have a few issues. I have a slight growl/whirring noise at around 22-25 mph with slow constant speed driving. Don’t notice it accelerating. Took it back to the dealer they said everything looked ok. Said they checked the backlash but don’t believe they checked. Also feel like my torque converter is not locking up at highway cruising speeds. Hooked up my obd reader and syncd it to my phone app. Says I’m at 60-65% load when I’m cruising on flat land with cruise set at 60. Feels like the engine is under load but rpms at around 2000. Any ideas what’s going on? Thanks

 

Which brand gears? I read that one company said noise is normal. Specs of truck - 2wd or 4wd?

 

tag

 

Sounds like your issue is similar to this thread https://www.tundras.com/threads/my-privateer-motorsports-gear-install-by-mattb813.79270/ might want to throw your comment in there and they should be able to help you through some troubleshooting

 

Nitro 5.29 gears on a 4wd 2010 5.7l

 

Does the sound go away in 4wd? Search for front diff bearing and see if you have the same symptoms, like a growl and driving on rumble strips.

 

Sound doesn’t go away in 4wd. Does anyone know anything about the load % reading I’m getting on my obd device. What is normal load when cruising at 60mph?

 

Did they open it back up? How long did it take them to "check"?

 

I’m assuming they didn’t open it back up b/c they didn’t use any more of the case of gear oil I had brought with me

 

I will see what my engine load % is tomorrow when cruising at 60 and 70 mph. I installed 5.29s back in February. I am on 295/70R18 (34.3x11.5). My rpms are higher than pre gears, but engine load is less and no searching for gears.

 

Cruise set st 70 and on flat road, load at 50%

 

5.29 noise is fairly well known with Nitro gears (as well as Revolution). Currently the consensus for quietest 5.29s is Yukon. I had a mean whine on the rear Nitro 5.29s on my Tacoma. Pulled the diff apart checked spec and bearings, replaced the ring, pinion, bearings, etc. just as a precaution since I had it apart. Still ended up with the same whine.

 

How do you check it if you don’t pull it apart? I would have called them on that.

I have lockers in the front and rear both with Nitro 5.29’s. A little noisy at first but it gets better. Don’t think it will go away from what I have heard but I am good with that, with the exhaust and radio I don’t hear anything

 

Off topic, is that the Edge Insight? Is it simply plug and play and you are able to read all those parameters?

 

That was my point too, seems like if they took the truck then gave it back even within an hour or so there's no way they checked backlash.

Perhaps they popped the fill bolt off and took a peek, lol.

 

It is the Edge CTS2. It plugs into the OBD2 port and can read a lot of parameters

 

Give Keith Carty of Dirty Deeds Industries a call at 760-877-4234 and talk to him about the gears. He can probably help you with this.

 

Update- did my first real road trip since the gears going from Tx to Colorado. Average about 14mpg going to Colorado and about 17 on way back. Seemed like the truck wanted to downshift more going uphill than it did pre-gears. Also seemed like it is very slow to upshift. Also when going downhill in mountains it seemed to need a lot less braking- like it was engine braking- but rpms weren’t going up.
Any ideas what could be going on?

 

that sounds very odd. my truck downshifts a lot less and will be in 6th gear at 45mph. I only get 14mpg at best on 100mile trips, so you getting 17 is awesome.

 

5.29 Nitro's here. I pulled the rear out many times trying to get it to quiet down. Even consulted with Just Differentials installer and with Zuk himself. Still whine. They perform great so I'm just leaving it. Not sure where your performance complaint could be coming from.

 

I had my 2015 4x4 re geared with nitro 4:88's by a very reliable shop and I have the same gear noise when around 45 down to about 20 mph. They said it was normal.

 

Cfincke, Off Topic; I checked out your build thread. Bad Ass, that is exactly what I am shooting for, if you had to do it all over would you still have chosen that color?

 

Just by looking at this chart your pre-gearing setup was ok for the 65mph RPMs. After re-gearing your 65mph RPMs jumped up. Which to me explains why going downhill you noticed more engine braking. For going uphill it would upshift quicker but then probably struggle and then go back down - which sounds like it would've been hunting gears. 4.88s would've been a better gear ratio for your size tires. Would be a good excuse to join the Dirty Sevens club.

EDIT: I know, stock Tundras have 4.30s. This is just a close enough representation to get the gist of things.

 

@mcchase Is your truck tuned?

Had a bad install from the Revolution gear group buy on here, whine on acceleration and deceleration low speed, as I understand that means set up wrong. Pulled diff, took to Zuk, no whine now. Some uneven wear on the gears from botched install, so not perfect. Zuk re-install pics..

 

Damnn that truck looks hella good!

 

I’m not tuned but have been considering it for a while now.
I really am not concerned about whine or noise, but something just feels off. Seems like the engine is working harder than it needs to, but rpms seem fine- just wondering what else I need to check. Is it possible something got messed up when they did my brakes with the gear change. Something wrong with transmission?

 

I think 4.88s might be better all around and I have 37s. My mpg is same or worse, and truck felt like it was working too hard also, but it’s normal on mine. I tune it myself and everything is adjusted for gears and tires. Logged everything and it is working perfect, just really low gears for highway. It’s a beast off road though.

 

Thanks! I love the sunset bronze color. I wanted the color a year or so prior when I first saw it. I had bought a brand new black 2016 SR5 and had regret, so I took a small loss to get the truck I wanted.

 

How loud is this "whine"?

 

After going back and re-reading your tire size I agree that 5.29 is probably a bit overkill. I know there's some others on here that prefer 5.29s with 33s but they must not drive on the interstate or love to hear their engine wound out. I think 5.29 are almost too much gear for 37's, I'm a bit higher in rpm at any given cruising speed than my stock tundra but I figured with all the extra weight added it would be best for offroad too. I would match 4.88s to 35s and at 33s just leave stock gearing. Now that I think about looking at the "load" parameter on my tuner just after regear it read above 50% cruising on the interstate as well, probably 60-80%. It doesn't downshift earlier it just actually uses some rpm range in 6th gear now. It definitely engine brakes better when I let off, you would notice this even more with your tire size. Considering 37s? It would help and...they're cool

Edit: Also doing the regear myself as a first timer I found the front to be very straightforward and looked like how all my research led me to believe the patterns should look, changing things made logical sense. The rear was harder to read patterns, shim changes did weird things. It took a lot of playing around so I wonder if that's why a lot of us end up with more rear end whine than we expected? Or just 5.29s on the 10.5" 3rd member sing. My front is silent, go pro strapped underneath in 4wd to verify.