Absolutely. Weight of the tire/wheel combo, tire tread type, tire psi, weight of the mods, engine type, transmission type, type of terrain, and even elevation are all small factors that when combined make a difference in the equation. Because of that the spectrum of “what works best” can be pretty broad. What some are calling a “sweet spot” is probably the midpoint/average of the spectrum.
JLR 2.0T auto, 37's and stock gears. Yes, lower gears will improve 0-60 on the strip, but who cares. My rig is not a daily driver but wheeled hard every weekend. I can climb 38 degrees in M1 at just over 1,100 RPM. Stock I could idle up.
My bt39.com/GearWheelSpeed agrees with you:
Exactly
Why, so you can tow in 8th gear? I tow my 2,200 camper with my JLR fine, although the fastest I've gone is 60 MPH, and that was over the speed limit. That was uphill. With the turbo it pulls fine at 10,000 ft.
Exactly again, but I do wish the JL had a 10 speed like the Bronco.
With a 2.0T, auto, and Ruby 4:1 xfer case, what advantage do lower gears offer offroad? I can climb vertical in M1 at 1,200 RPM.
The mass of the vehicle is what matters, the increase in rotational inertia from a larger diameter tire is insignificant compared to the inertia of vehicle.
I'm 100% offroad on 37's, 38's soon with stock gears.
Companies like Yukon will give the best advice on what gearing. DIfferent models of Jeep salso have different requirements. From what they told me, the 2.0 with the auto requires taller gears with 37s than the 3.6L 6 speed Manual does. I have the manual JLUR and Yukon recommends 4.88 gears to put me back closer to stock (shceduled for next week). The JK will have different requirements. Whether you get better gas mileage depends on where you drive. In Florida with wide open roads, with no traffic, and where you can keep your speed up, Ok maybe you'll get slightly better mileage. If you have any kind of up hills or a lot of traffic, such as in Atlanta, you will have to gear down more often for the hills and pull otu more with the stop and go traffic. Gearing down always means revving the engine higher and therefore you get worse gas mileage. 5.32s I believe was the number they recommended to get a JL back to stock with the 2.0 and the 8 speed auto.
If they recommend deeper gears for the 2.0t they've clearly never driven both, although you did say taller gears initially which would be Numerically lower. In my experience, the manual could use more gearing. For 37's and the manual I'd go 5.13s, 3.6L and the auto I'd go 4.88s, and 2.0t I'd go 4.56's.
A slip of the pen, so to speak but my logic is still valid with the rev's. Mine has the 3.6, manual, and stock 4:10's. My gas mileage sucks. I live in Atlanta and I'm from N.E. Tennessee where I owned a couple of CJ's previously. I know how I struggle with my JLUR, in Atlanta, having to constantly change gears. I bought it this way so my point of reference is manuals that were geared properly and how much better they drove. If I have to be doing 90 to use 6th gear on the highway, that is a problem. 1 problem being my Toyo MT's aren't rated for those speeds for extended periods of time. It puts more strain on my clutch because first gear is too high and so I have to rev and slip to pull out. Reverse doesn't work as well either since it is a higher gear than first is 3.x vs 5.x. Now add my tools, on-board air, hi-lift jack, winches, under body skids,....etc and I've added a lot of weight which exacerbates the issue. Which goes back to my other point, it depends on where someone lives, drives, and how the rig is outfitted as to what works best for a particular situation.
I'm not telling anyone how they should gear, just my experience. Comparing to "proper" gearing in a CJ can be misleading in either direction. Depending on the year they had between a 3.05 and a 4.03 1st gear and a 1-1 top gear. For a cj to have a similar 1st gear ratio in HI range to a stock JL rubicon it would need 6.89 gears. To have a similar top gear ratio it would need 2.95 gears. Crawl ratio gets even wilder with the 4-1. The CJ would need 10.1 axle gears to match stock JL crawl ratios. The massive gear spread of both the manual and the auto in the JL allows you to effectively run just about any gearing you want. We have double the power of those old CJs and way more gearing options. That huge gear spread is the reason you'll get guys running 5.13s and 35's while others are more than happy on 4.10s and 37's. I preferred 4.10s to 5.38's with the auto and the 2.0t on the same tires, and somehow it was a half second quicker 0-60 with the 4.10s. Reversing in HI range was the only place I'd say the Jeep was better with the 5.38's, but LO range is an option and I spend way more time at freeway speed than I do reversing in deep sand/mud/snow where I'd want deeper reverse gearing in HI range. Toyo mts are Q rated, good for 99mph all day by the way (as are most MTs and on 2k+ mile road trips I can confirm they will roll 90mph for 10+ hours at 25psi).
I agree. I'm on 38x13.5R17 Nittos on Raceline beadlocks with stock gears.
I wouldn't regear if offered for free for that reason.
