6th Gear?

[Minilla]

It most definitely doesn't lug in a stock sport at 55 and 6th. I do it every day I drive my jeep. 55 MPH is the standard a company will use for their overdrive gears. There's no way they would allow an overdrive in a vehicle that lugged at 55 mph.

Sixth gear is for hitting a desired speed and cruising, not passing. I'd argue that even fifth gear is the same. It's like we have two overdrives.....which is wierd but with my gas mileage I don't complain at all.

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[Chugiakguy]

It most definitely doesn't lug in a stock sport at 55 and 6th. I do it every day I drive my jeep. 55 MPH is the standard a company will use for their overdrive gears. There's no way they would allow an overdrive in a vehicle that lugged at 55 mph.

Sixth gear is for hitting a desired speed and cruising, not passing. I'd argue that even fifth gear is the same. It's like we have two overdrives.....which is wierd but with my gas mileage I don't complain at all.

Your experience is different from mine then, Minilla.

Like the previous poster, with my 2-door 2022 Willys Sport, I can just barely comfortably cruise at 60 mph, on flat ground, in 5th. Any meaningful rise in the terrain, and I have to drop it into 4th.

I haven't even tried using 6th, because never driving much faster than 60 mph, I cannot even imagine the lugging that it would cause, when 5th is barely adequate at that speed, and not always even then.

 

[JerseyMark]

It most definitely doesn't lug in a stock sport at 55 and 6th. I do it every day I drive my jeep. 55 MPH is the standard a company will use for their overdrive gears. There's no way they would allow an overdrive in a vehicle that lugged at 55 mph.

Sixth gear is for hitting a desired speed and cruising, not passing. I'd argue that even fifth gear is the same. It's like we have two overdrives.....which is wierd but with my gas mileage I don't complain at all.

I definitely cannot drive 55mph in 6th gear without seriously lugging the engine.
I think the difference in your case is that you have a sport with light 31” tires and a lighter 2 door.
For a 4 door Willys with heavy 32” M/T tires - 6th is really unusable under 75 mph.

 

[Maverick909]

everyone has an opinion, everyone drives differently. I have a 4 door with 34' Milestar Pat MT's and 4.1 Gears up a 15%-20% grade i dont push the jeep to hard. 3/4 gear 60-65mph with zero issues. Nice flat road i run 6th gear 70-75mph right about the 2200rpm mark. dont forget that the 6speed is a double overdrive setup Its not really meant to be in 6th unless its going down hill or on a nice flat road way. The final overdrive is Literally there just to get flat ground MPG numbers up for EPA to keep from being hit with fines and ETC. if you feel like its lugging down shift. if it works for you to be in 6 living a flatter area awesome. Just get out an enjoy driving


Gear Ratios:

• 1st - 5.13
• 2nd - 2.63
• 3rd - 1.53
• 4th - 1.00 Drive
• 5th - 0.81 Overdrive
• 6th - 0.72 second Overdrive
• Reverse - 4.49
• Final Drive ratio - 3.45 standard, (4.10 Rubicon)

 

[Minilla]

I can see the 4 door needing to be in higher RPMs for for 6 gear.

In the end I agree, drive your jeep. when i do end up swapping to 4.88's and 33's I will be in in higher RPM in 6th gear. so everything I said will go completely out the window and I'll have an all new transmission feel. hopefully my 1st and reverse gear experience will improve.

TBH I'm just glad there are so many manual tranny jeepers out there.

 

[58Willys]

Why do most MT jeepers think you have to be above 2500 rpms and cruising? I'm not understanding that. Granted I have a stock sport. But I run 55 in 6th gear and it still pulls. Slow sure ur not passing anyone but...and this is why most of you have a manual tranny...downshift.

If you're in the hills. Then keep it in fourth and call it a day.

Are most of you guys four door? Maybe that's where I'm not understanding, I'm in 2 door.

My 6th gear at 55 has gotten me 33 MPG for a two hour road trip. I will admit that the gears in the jeep are bad but really I only feel that for the first gear and reverse. Between that and towing i occasionally do I'm going for 4.88s and 33s, but I'll sure miss having 1700 RPMs at 60 MPH

I agree you don’t need be be at 2500 rpm. The owners manual list minimum speed to shift into 6th as 65 mph cruising, and 70mph for accelerating. This is for a sport. IMO, 55mph in 6th would be lugging.

 

[Seabee1999]

I have a ‘21 2dr JL with a 6 speed. Mine has stock, wheels, gears, etc and hope to, later, upgrade some things. I live in central OK, fairly flat in places, hilly in others. One of the things I wasn’t to impressed with was the throttle lag. So a few weeks back I got a HikeIt throttle controller and now I really enjoy the drive.

I say all the above to say this, an unexpected yet appreciated consequence of this install was that I actually got 6th gear back. In the Sport Mode if the HikeIt, even at 55mph on country roads I can roll around in 6th gear even in the rolling hills around the east SE side of OKC. Before the install, it was very hard shifting to 6th unless I was on the highway. And even with a more “aggressive” setting on the HikeIt, I still get over 22mpg. Just wanted to share my experiences and something for the group to consider.

 

[Newwilly420]

So I have a 2023 4dr Rubicon with the manual and 4.10s. I read so much before ordering about this topic. It’s one of the big reasons I choose the Rubicon over the Willys. The gearing in the rubi makes a difference. So for me I can still accelerate in 5th at 55 and slowly accelerate in 6th above 60 as long as it’s not a big hill. But it’ll will cruise up a decent grade at 55 in 5th and again move around in traffic in 6th above 60 ish. Rpm’s right at 2k which isn’t lugging. Below 2k unless its flat or downhill maybe luggy a drop.

 

[KJKWillys]

I live in New England which is certainly not Colorado but still hilly enough that I’ve never been able to use 6th in my 21 Willys 3.6. That gears just got to be there for when they calculate the MPGs to put a ‘decent’ number on the sticker.

 

[txj2go]

I live in New England which is certainly not Colorado but still hilly enough that I’ve never been able to use 6th in my 21 Willys 3.6. That gears just got to be there for when they calculate the MPGs to put a ‘decent’ number on the sticker.

I think altitude makes a big difference. Around where I live at less than 1000' is quite a bit different from even the Texas Panhandle where it gets above 3000'.

 

[Helloh2u]

My pet theory is that 6th exists only because Jeep uses the same gearbox in the Rubicons and to a Rubicon with 4.10 gears 6th is essentially 5th gear in a Sport.

Can confirm. At 80 mph in 6th, my JLUR revs right around 2500.

 

[Bback58]

Can confirm. At 80 mph in 6th, my JLUR revs right around 2500.

My 2dr Willys revs at 2100 at 80 in 6th. Problem is I rarely get to drive 80. My daily drive at 55 mph it turns 2000 in 4th. it is 1500 in 6th, which wouldn't be so bad if the road was flat as a pool table, but it's not. North Dakota is quite flat, but not THAT flat, LOL!

 

[kis_face]

I have a 2022 with manual 6 speed. Rolling down the interstate at 80 in 5th I am running about 2500 RPMs. Does anyone even use 6th? It doesn't seem to have the juice to run hilly country at 75-80 in 6th and 75 is about the top end of speed limit around here.

I wish I had a 7th after I regeared to 4.56 with 35s. But before I regeared I never used 6th. Gears make the difference.

 

[Apples491]

I've got a 22 JLUR with factory 4.88 gears. Driving home from Granger Motors on I80 with the stock 33s was a lot of fun. I could basically put it in 6th and leave it there. Slow down, speed up to pass; 6th did it all. 1st was also practically useless in that configuration unless I was at a dead stop.

I just finished up my lift and threw 37s on. I took it on a long drive around the metro area this afternoon. 6th feels great from 70ish and up. 80mph has the rpms at around 2600. It dips below 2k rpms around 67 and you can feel that the engine doesn't like it, or maybe it's just the weight of the tires. This is all at 5500-5700 feet elevation. I don't know when I'll be able to get it into the mountains, above 10k feet, but I'll report back when I do.

 

[Red Willy]

I've been threatening to change gearing to 4.10 or 4.56 because with the 3.45, the Jeep is basically a 4 speed with two overdrives. This really came to light when off roading in Tenn a month or so ago. My previous JL was an auto, and with the current manual, couldn't run in 4 high on any real inclines. The only thing stopping me from changing gear ratios (besides money) is the fear that 1st gear will be much shorter than it already is. Do most of you with 4.10 or 4.56 gears use 2nd starting out on the street? (33" tires)

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