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In my opinion, axle gears are mainly to opitimize performance on the street, t-case gearing is to optimize off-road performance. You simply can't get nearly the percent amount of change with axle gears as you can with lower t-case gears or a doubler.
I'm by no means a Toyota guy but we are talking about a little 22R 4-banger and not a V-8 so the powerbands are drastically different. Don't these trucks usually come with 4.10 gears stock with somewhere around 28" tires? I can see how 4.88 and 31's might be slightly low for street driving but it's only a couple hundred RPM at 65 mph higher than stock, which is probably perfect because you aren't just overcoming the added tire height but also the heavier weight and rolling resistance of the tire. I do know a guy in our club that put 33's on his stock 4.10 geared Toyota and 5th gear was completely useless even on flat roads.
Of course my idea of trails are apparently different than the original poster in regards to the comment about using 4 hi so my opinion may not work for him. I can't remember the last time I used 4 hi on any type of trail, if hi range is needed than I don't need 4wd and if I do need to go faster in 4 low I just shift into a higher trans gear. I also wheel regularly with a couple guys in Sami's with 6.5:1 t-cases and they just use 3rd or 4th gear, or even 5th gear, in the open spaces.
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