4.88 Final Drive review / Spencer Fabrications

[Lunatic]

I have an automatic FRS. Switching to 4.88's was the 1st mod I did to my car and 40,000 miles later I'm still loving it. Even now with a supercharger.

[makesdrivingfunagain]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

If only more people realized that a 4.88 FD would make your car more enjoyable to drive on the street versus some pricey catback or huge wing with stickers....

I actually have the 2013 AT and upgraded to the 4:56 gears. I was pleasantly surprised that the car actually drove better around town and on the freeway. It takes less effort for the car to accelerate now under normal conditions. Also, when I push it, the car accelerates faster. I am glad I did this. This mod works, you can feel it. My car use to shift at 61 mph into third gear with the stock 4.10 gears but now it shifts at 55mph. It revs up faster

[Uplink]

Originally Posted by phrosty

4.3 is only in the 2017 MT so far. Good luck finding one of those!

Regardless, you won't feel a significant difference going 4.1 to 4.3; I wouldn't bother. Much better things to spend money on.

This is exactly what I'm debating. The part number is 41110-18030 'Carrier Assembly Differential' for the 17MT. Prices vary WILDLY however with a PA dealer quoting $2,500, and TX as low as $2,200 (though that would admittedly require shipping) but my local Toyota dealer quoted me $3,300 (with tax that becomes almost $3,600)!!!



The up side being, it's a factory new full carrier that you bolt right in and has a 1yr warranty.
Downside is obviously cost and it's only a jump to 4.3. It would make things a tiny bit peppier without hurting fuel economy, top speed or drastically affecting traction, but that's still a big chunk of go-fast change.

[Lantana frs]

I think you guys with the autos are better off, especially with forced induction and bigger gears. I love my manual but there are those days when wish I had that effortless acceleration. Lol

[Freeman]

Originally Posted by Lunatic

I have an automatic FRS. Switching to 4.88's was the 1st mod I did to my car and 40,000 miles later I'm still loving it. Even now with a supercharger.

Ugh I just need to do this mod already. I have a feeling it'll be worth all the sleeping on the couch that it'll get me.

[Lantana frs]

Originally Posted by Freeman

Ugh I just need to do this mod already. I have a feeling it'll be worth all the sleeping on the couch that it'll get me.

Me too. Lol.

[congee]

I'm torn between getting a 4.88 final drive OR a oft + jdl / tomei uel header + op combo. Both will cost roughly the same in canada ($1500sh)

What do you guys suggest? I daily drive with about 80% highway time for about 30 mins.

[phrosty]

Originally Posted by congee

I'm torn between getting a 4.88 final drive OR a oft + jdl / tomei uel header + op combo. Both will cost roughly the same in canada ($1500sh)

What do you guys suggest? I daily drive with about 80% highway time for about 30 mins.

imho the sound from header will be way more fun.

[DAEMANO]

Originally Posted by congee

I'm torn between getting a 4.88 final drive OR a oft + jdl / tomei uel header + op combo. Both will cost roughly the same in canada ($1500sh)

What do you guys suggest? I daily drive with about 80% highway time for about 30 mins.

Agreed with above. The OFT+header combo would be better bang for the buck and much more fun. The overpipe wont net much (if any) additional power or torque just noise/rasp. That's about $1 - $1.2k depending on new or used delivered.

[RichardJ]

Originally Posted by congee

I'm torn between getting a 4.88 final drive OR a oft + jdl / tomei uel header + op combo. Both will cost roughly the same in canada ($1500sh)

What do you guys suggest? I daily drive with about 80% highway time for about 30 mins.

I have all of those. I went with the header and tune first. I would recommend you do the same, you'll love the sound your car makes and the difference of drivability from the tune. From then on if you want more acceleration, the gears are for you.

After gears this car is pretty quick. Feels like a different car man. I do lots of highway and its fine. Effortless acceleration is a huge plus

Edit: To put things into perspective, before I had the gears I could slam the throttle at any rpm in 1st and 2nd gear and most of the time TC wouldn't come on. After the gears I have TC flicker all the time if I'm not being light on throttle. The torque down low is verry nice around town.

[fungus]

Hey all,

Wondering after all this time/mileage, any complications with drive axles? I've heard FWD run into common problems due to the heavy load/output.

How does it fair for our RWDs? any issues?

As well as Diff Oil Changes; what intervals are you doing? OEM is every 48k KMs or 40k Miles.

[fika84]

Originally Posted by fungus

Hey all,

Wondering after all this time/mileage, any complications with drive axles? I've heard FWD run into common problems due to the heavy load/output.

How does it fair for our RWDs? any issues?

As well as Diff Oil Changes; what intervals are you doing? OEM is every 48k KMs or 40k Miles.

Considering the stock diff also transfers load between axles I wasn't expecting any issues.. I haven't had any issues thus far with 4.88 and MFactory 1.5 way LSD. I'm probably only at 10,000 miles on them though with 2 or 3 track days.

Oil changes without aftermarket clutch type LSD is the same, if you change the diff to a clutch type then oil changes (at least for MFactory) are every 15k miles.

[Lonewolf]

Bumping this thread for newer members...

[86TOYO2k17]

Since it was bumped, might as well add my experience.

Disclaimer: This is for general all purpose fun spirited driving (if you are tracking/autox specific then deciding on an FD has a specific method to align gear/rpm with the track and specific usage to get the most benefit from it, but i wont go into further detail in this post)

2017 AT
When i was NA full bolt ons, custom tune, full drag reduction, 100+lbs weight loss, etc... Switching from 4.1 to 4.56 was up there with ace header / custom tune in terms of performance and acceleration feel. header/tune and then FD swap in that order is what i would do for NA. Highly recommended for NA. Personally i wouldn't go more aggressive though, if i was MT i would probably do 4.44.

Then i went FI probably at around 285whp/220ftlbs. and 4.56 was just too short now. Traction in 1st was an issue, 4th (1-1 gear same as MT 5th gear) topped out around 114mph which came up way too quickly, always wishing for a little more gear. If i was cruising at 75mph+ (common cruising speed since FI) and floored it, it would either only shift to 4th because it was too close to topping out 3rd (83mph) it wouldn't bother shifting to it, or i would shift it to 3rd but then about 1/2second later it would top 3rd and shift to 4th, so the start of my pull was either wasting time shifting back and forth or trying to pull in 4th at lower rpm. NA wasn't a big deal since it pulled slower the time between downshift/upshift was longer and i usually cruised around 70mph instead of 75mph. (that low end torque makes your foot heavy...)

Then i swapped back to 4.1 and went from a 225 tire to 255 tire at the same time which solved my 1st gear traction problem (still couldn't launch at all though) and i liked the higher MPH per gear but not the slower acceleration feeling despite the power pulling to almost 130mph in 4th now (with 255 tire) felt kind of slow. so Finally settled on a 4.3FD. Can still hit 120mph in 4th (1-1 gear), 3rd gear with the 255 tire shifts at about 89mph so i am not just double shifting or bogging down at start of pull. and the 5% more mechanical torque to wheels made acceleration that much better. 40/60-120mph pulls are awesome now. Seems perfect for 250-300whp range on an AT.
I would probably stick to 4.1 with MT at 260whp-300whp range, maybe 220-260whp a 4.3 would be great. Below 220WHP a 4.44FD. would pair well. Again all for general purpose fun spirited driving.