toybota

I have two trucks that i am using to make one nice ride of. My question boils down to if I should put the 5sp in the auto truck. I will have to swap pedal assembly, clutch MS, tranny and t case, mounts to I believe. I myself love the driving a 5sp. But in that case my dd which is the 4runner is manual and my race car is a manual as well. Baisicall i was wondering how much if any milige that the 5sp seems to average. Are auto's better for off-road, easier to hold in place, (modulate throttle without smelling a clutch)?

Flash319

I have a 4 runner with an auto and a truck with a 5sp. THe truck has way more power (feels like it anyway). I am not sure about the milage thing. THe 4 runner will cruz at 2500RPM at 65 and the truck is at 3000. But the runner gets worse milage then the truck, probebly the weight though. The auto is also always shifting with the 22RE behind it. Not sure with a 3L. I would not hesitate to put the 5 speed in. Way better in my opinion. The only thing is put in some very good synthetic oil. The input bearing goes out of them, I have gone through 3 for that reason. (over 400,000km though).

EWAYota

What engine you going to run with the 5sp or auto?

fillsrunner4

A manual if driven right will long out live a toyota auto tranny always and hell the manual is stonger too. for offroad it depends but still I would say 5spd all the way unless you have a 350 or somthing then an auto would be the way to go. i messed with my 3.0 and its auto tranny till it ate the big one. Both sucked and truely if its not a new truck like a 96 or newer then the auto is a pile and robs HP and has terible timing problems. swap in a 5spd

toybota

The motor is going to be a 3.0. Thanks for the replies and keep them coming. If anyone knows closer to what mpg differences are let me know. I was driving the 5speed for a while and liked its performance, not that it was good.

EWAYota

Do you plan on adding larger tires? 5 speed will be more gear friendly for you as the auto will make you gear 1-2 ratios lower (higher numerically)

toybota

So you are saying that the truck will rev higher on the highway. So it will turn larger tires more easily because of the higher ratio like say 5.29>4.11 or something of that sort. In that cause I should prob swap the diff's too because the largest tires I plan on going are 33by12.5. Thank you all for the replies, please keep them coming.

WCorbett

5spds are way more fun to drive. they get better MPG to.

4rnr

manual on road

auto offroad

the only way to go.

Jay351

I know with the autos you generally got a higher geared diffs because the auto wasted so much power.

5sp into the auto and you are already geared for a bigger tire

Dare44

i have both and i prefer the auto for everyday driving for the comfert factor, i like the manual for the fun factor, both are fun offroad manual adds difficulty but can help in some situations, depends on the person

colsoncj

agreed... almost:

manual for the fast car

auto for offroad and the DD (i'm lazy)

Matt16

I like the control off road with a manual. In low range, my truck crawls over obstacles and idles down the other side. I've never driven an auto 4Runner, but I've driven plenty of autos and the engine braking is not as good.

That said, I have wished I had an auto sometimes going up a slippery hill and need a little more speed than 1st but more torque than 2nd. No way to shift fast enough and not pop the clutch and spin tires.

Ultimately, it boils down to preference and what you are more comfortable with. People drive both offroad and there are excellent drivers from both camps. I myself am not comfortable driving automatics in sticky situations as I end up stabbing for the clutch at times and not being able to find it.

toybota

Thats kinda what I'm gearing towards to with the auto. I have a AWD eclipse with a built motor running 11.4@128 in the quarter mile. It is a manual and a fun driver in the nicer months. In the winter and as a DD I have the 4runner. Its a leather loaded one so I'm kinda going the nice with a little lift maybe 33's. Would putting the diff's out of the manual in the auto be a good option? I just kinda want to have both an auto and manual as vehicles. Isnt it only rated at one mpg difference on the window stickers from that year?

Jay351

If you put the manual truck's diffs into the auto trucks, your gearing will be WAY to low and the truck will be VERY slow and get worse then usualy mpg.

It is a known thing, the auto's in these trucks ( up to 96) got worse mpg, worse performance, were harder to upkeep and did not last as long as the manuals. The 3.0 5sp is probibly the stoutest tranny toyota ever made!

Flash319

The manual is geared lower then the auto. The truck I have has 4:10s in the back and the runner had 4:57's? or whatever comes with the 31inch tires. If you run the auto with the 4:10s, which is pretty standard, then you will be even more doggy. Go 5speed, you have a lot more options then. I have 31's on both trucks. I would not go any bigger then that with a 22re but since you are going with the 3L then you could probebly run 33's with the 5speed with great results.

EWAYota

meaning, if you run a 5 spd with 33's, you'll want 4.88 gears. That gives you room to upgrade. If you decided to jump up to 35's, you still have 5.29's and could run the 5.29's with 35+ size, or throw in 5.71's.

Auto and 33's your already looking at 5.29's, some may even suggest 5.71's. If you wanted to run 35's, gearing wise your stuck, so you might as well put in a 5spd.

morrison

I'm going to be doing this same swap in a few weeks. So what you guys are saying is that the 3.0 auto 4-runner came with 4.57 diffs and the 5 speed came with 4.10's? Mine is a 94.

Also does anyone know the overdrive ratio of the auto as compared to 5th gear on the manual? (I suppose I could look this up . . .) I have 31's on it now and a strong headwind just sits you back on your a--. It revs only 3000 @ 75 but has no power on hills.

Thanks!
Jim

toybota

Ok so the auto truck came with larger gears (something like 4.57:1 or 5.29:1)? The manual came with 4.10:1? So if I put the manual trans in the auto truck then I will have super steep gearing and the truck will rev to the moon on the highway and get bad mileage around town. So what I am saying is for what I am looking for, <33in tires, I should swap the manual trans and diff's which would give me the same gearing as the 5sp truck. The 5sp truck used to rev to 3k on the highway and I thought that was annoying. That was with the 225/75/15 tires, so with the 31in tires it should be better because of the larger tire?

Jay351

If your 4runner had STOCK 31" tires chances are it came with 4.88 gears. Check the gearing with your spec sticker in your door jam, or do the lifted tire/spin method.

If you were to put the 5sp tranny into the auto 4runner ( im not touching all the aspects of the swap BTW) you will be geared for 33" tires. So your truck will rev pretty high with stock sized tires. Just so you know the 5sp trucks were designed to rev high on the hwy. I know it doesnt seem right, but if you have driven a low reving auto you will understand

Just so there is no confusion check this table out for your gearing questions.

92-95 4runner w/ automatic 3vze and 31" stock tires

4.88 gears

89-95 pickup with manual 5sp 3vze and 31" stock tires

4.56 gears


The automatic needs the higher gearing for hwy crusing, as some of you found out that the auto revs LOW compaired to the 5sp.