Impressions from a 5.13 gears install on a JL Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (JLUR)

[word302]

No this is a Jeep thing. I have made many calls to Dana tec line and they say they are not allowed by contract to sell the sensor. Same thing with the locker. Call and try to buy just the locker.

Yes, but Dana hasn't made these parts available to Jeep to sell individually either. Again, do you really think Jeep wants to replace an axle every time one of these sensors goes bad? The point is nobody can buy them, not even Jeep.

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[chris4prez]

Yes, but Dana hasn't made these parts available to Jeep to sell individually either. Again, do you really think Jeep wants to replace an axle every time one of these sensors goes bad? The point is nobody can buy them, not even Jeep.

Has anyone contacted Jeep cares and see what they think of the whole situation and/or if they can provide any help on rectifying this mess? I’m going to assume so and it went no where based on the fact some of the folks here have really gone the extra mile badgering both sides for us with no immediate resolution coming and lots of finger pointing from both sides on whether it’s a Jeep or Dana issue.

To me it boils down to the lawyers, contract writers, and bean counters all came to a solution that works on paper for them but is a logistical nightmare and anti consumer and likely shifted the costs out of any of their cares so they let it be. Hopefully with increased shipping costs and continued repairs someone in a position of wanting to make a name for themself goes why the hell are we spending 10M on axels per year vs. 100k per year on sensors replacement and shipments.....

 

[JimLee]

Yes, but Dana hasn't made these parts available to Jeep to sell individually either. Again, do you really think Jeep wants to replace an axle every time one of these sensors goes bad? The point is nobody can buy them, not even Jeep.

It has a Mopar part number on it, not a Dana part number, it is 100% not a Dana problem.

 

[wibornz]

I have spent hours and hours and hours and hours on the phone with Jeep, Dana, and Chrysler. I have approximately 40 calls to them. They know my voice on the phone. This is a 100% Jeep/Chrysler problem. The guy at Dana, begged me to stop calling him. Stating there is nothing they can do. They have a contract with Chrysler/Jeep and can not sell the part to anyone other than Jeep.

 

[RockyMtJL]

I am upgrading to 5.13’s on Monday and was wondering if there is any real reason to hold onto the OEM 4.1’s? It doesn’t look like many people are actively looking to buy 4.1 take offs. Just figured I’d ask for those that have upgraded.

 

[conFUcius]

I am upgrading to 5.13’s on Monday and was wondering if there is any real reason to hold onto the OEM 4.1’s? It doesn’t look like many people are actively looking to buy 4.1 take offs. Just figured I’d ask for those that have upgraded.

No, just toss them. The installer would have to remove the existing gears a certain way to preserve them too which they likely wouldn’t do...

 

[wibornz]

That setup will last about a year.

Hey, my set up has made it a year. It did not catch on fire and blow up. Yea for me. Did pull my camper about 17,000 miles and wheeled all over the country though. Must be that I was luckey.

 

[Call911man]

I think it should be made clear, regearing this low isn't for everyone. If you are a rock crawler it will be beneficial. For a daily driver, especially for a driver that spends much of their time on the highway, you will not want to do this.

Coming from someone who has owned many regeared jeeps, constantly running at the higher RPMs doesn't result in a relaxing ride, and can be almost exhausting.

The best way that I can explain it for people who haven't regeared before is the following. Imagine driving a manual transmission vehicle in a gear too low for an extended period of time. This is what gearing super low feels like. It may be peppy but not relaxing or smooth.

Does this mean that I think nobody should regear? No. However, for the average joe, choosing gearing to stay near the stock power band is more beneficial.

I agree with your post for the most part. I still think you should plan ahead with parts like gears. If you currently have 35s and want to regear to 4.56, but plan on running 37s in the near future, I would just regear to 4.88 or 5.13 depending on your build and plans.

I daily drive my JL with 37s and 5.13s. The rpms going 70-75mph on the Hwy are not what I consider high or over-revved.

There are countless posts in this forum about this topic and many different opinions. My advice is to plan ahead, take your build into consideration for added weight, towing, activities etc. and look for people with similar builds to ask questions and get your concerns figured out.

To your point. If someone is just looking to stay in the city, will not be turning their Jeep into a heavy overland build, will not be towing, rock crawling or running tires over 35 with a small lift, I would just stay closer to 4.10 - 4.56. Anything over that would be overkill.

I agree with your post for the most part. I still think you should plan ahead with parts like gears. If you currently have 35s and want to regear to 4.56, but plan on running 37s in the near future, I would just regear to 4.88 or 5.13 depending on your build and plans.

I daily drive my JL with 37s and 5.13s. The rpms going 70-75mph on the Hwy are not what I consider high or over-revved.

There are countless posts in this forum about this topic and many different opinions. My advice is to plan ahead, take your build into consideration for added weight, towing, activities etc. and look for people with similar builds to ask questions and get your concerns figured out.

To your point. If someone is just looking to stay in the city, will not be turning their Jeep into a heavy overland build, will not be towing, rock crawling or running tires over 35 with a small lift, I would just stay closer to 4.10 - 4.56. Anything over that would be overkill.

Adding on to what WranglerAdvs said
While I agree that it is not for everyone, nearly everybody adds larger tires and that has an affect on performance, each vehicle was designed to be in a specific RPM range to provide the best overall performance based on the torque curve. When larger tires are added, this skews the desired window. A gear change can restore optimal engine and transmission performance as long as the ECU is updated with the new information. Modern vehicles like the Jeep JL can include an 8 speed Automatic transmission where 7th and 8th gear are both overdrive with 8th running 0.67 to 1. 6th gear is 1 to 1, like the final gear on many older vehicles. The significant overdrive and the 4 to 1 Rubicon Transfer case allows for an aggressive crawl ratio with minimal impact to RPMs at higher speeds.

Just using the advertised tire height numbers, not the actual measurement for this example:
Jeep JL Rubicon with stock 4.10 and 33 tires 1958 RPMs at 70 MPH
Same Jeep with 4.10 and 37" Tires 1746 RPM at 70 MPH
However, 8th gear is rarely used because of the drop in RPMs.
Same Jeep with 4.10 and 37" tires running 7th gear at 70 MPH will run 2189 RPMs (higher than 5.13 in 8th) and on small up hill grades, often runs in 6th at 2606 RPMs. So in this example for a daily driver vehicle running 37" tires, a switch to 4.56 will almost return the vehicle to stock performance. Added weight should also be a consideration, especially the added rotating mass of large tires and wheels.


Same Jeep with 4.56 and 37" Tires 1942 RPM at 70 MPH
Same Jeep with 4.88 and 37" Tires 2078 RPM at 70 MPH
Same Jeep with 5.13 and 37" Tires 2185 RPM at 70 MPH

It is a personal decision but returning the vehicle close to stock will be an improvement for daily drivers on larger than stock tires. I chose 5.13 on 38" tires because I live in the mountains, don't often drive the freeway and crawling is my primary off road choice. I like what it does for 2nd gear low range as my primary gear for crawling and I have 1st gear at 96 to 1 when needed.

GrimmJeeper has a great page where you can enter your stock numbers and experiment with different ratios and tire sizes.
http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html

 

[wibornz]

Just as a follow up.. I started this thread, In a year or so with the 5.13 gears swap from 4.10 gears.

I re-geared to 5.13 the Jeep had about 19,400 miles on it. My Jeep now has about 42,500 miles. So it has a little over 23,000 miles on it since it was re-geared to 5.13. My JLUR is primary a drive to the trail, Jeep and a Jeep that tows a camper. I towed the camper about about 17,000 miles with the 5.13 gears. It shares time as a daily driver with an old SBXJ. I try not to drive the JLUR for normal driving, but sometimes I do because hey its fun driving a lifted big tire Jeep around.

I live in Michigan and I have taken the Jeep as far west as the Rubicon Trail in California , and as far east Virginia to go wheeling. I will be leaving soon to wheel in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. I see 8th gear all the time. In town, I will see 8th gear as low as 45 mph. I have zero issues running 80 mph on the hwy in 8th gear. When towing my camper trailer, I run between 66 mph and 68 mph. This seams to be the sweet spot for mileage. I usually get between 13.8 and 14.5 mpg towing depending on the weather and terrain. I have seen as low as 12.5 mpg in the winter while towing. When just driving the Jeep with out towing, I will see high 18 to low 19 mpg on the hyw when the conditions are right. This is a lifted Jeep running Cooper STT PRO 37x12.5r17 tires on heavy bead lock wheel.

I was told early on in this thread that my set up would not last a year. Well fortunate for me, my Jeep has not blown up and caught on fire.......

If I had to re-gear again, it would be 5.13 gears again. The eight speed Transmission works great with the 5.13 gears. At approximately 70 mph, in 8th gear the Jeep is running approximately 2100 rpms. So there is not excessive rpms at hwy speeds.

Just know that I wheel all over the US and drive my JLUR to those spots. The jeep being geared to 5.13 with the eight speed auto is a non issue for hwy driving or daily driving. My Jeep willl not be as fast as a stock Rubicon in the 0-60 run, but I don't expect it to as I have added heavy wheels and tires, a lift, steel bumpers, a winch, and many other things. But hey, I did't buy it for 0-60 times anyways. There are thousands of vehicles that are far superior for 0-60 times over a wrangler.

The 5.13 gears are amazingly better on the trails and in the sand.

Love them for towing.

Love them on the rocks of the Rubicon Trail,

For overlanding

and playing in the sand.

As a bonus, I added some 40s for mall crawling. With the 40s, it wants to drive 80 mph on the hwy.

 

[TxJeepers]

Coming from someone who has owned many regeared jeeps, constantly running at the higher RPMs doesn't result in a relaxing ride, and can be almost exhausting.

Still not exhausted running 5.13s on the JL with its 8-speed auto tranny. Mix of city, highway and rocks. When I want relaxing ride, I drive my Honda Pilot, which drives real nice and comfy.

 

[Call911man]

Just as a follow up.. I started this thread, In a year or so with the 5.13 gears swap from 4.10 gears.

I re-geared to 5.13 the Jeep had about 19,400 miles on it. My Jeep now has about 42,500 miles. So it has a little over 23,000 miles on it since it was re-geared to 5.13. My JLUR is primary a drive to the trail, Jeep and a Jeep that tows a camper. I towed the camper about about 17,000 miles with the 5.13 gears. It shares time as a daily driver with an old SBXJ. I try not to drive the JLUR for normal driving, but sometimes I do because hey its fun driving a lifted big tire Jeep around.

I live in Michigan and I have taken the Jeep as far west as the Rubicon Trail in California , and as far east Virginia to go wheeling. I will be leaving soon to wheel in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. I see 8th gear all the time. In town, I will see 8th gear as low as 45 mph. I have zero issues running 80 mph on the hwy in 8th gear. When towing my camper trailer, I run between 66 mph and 68 mph. This seams to be the sweet spot for mileage. I usually get between 13.8 and 14.5 mpg towing depending on the weather and terrain. I have seen as low as 12.5 mpg in the winter while towing. When just driving the Jeep with out towing, I will see high 18 to low 19 mpg on the hyw when the conditions are right. This is a lifted Jeep running Cooper STT PRO 37x12.5r17 tires on heavy bead lock wheel.

I was told early on in this thread that my set up would not last a year. Well fortunate for me, my Jeep has not blown up and caught on fire.......

If I had to re-gear again, it would be 5.13 gears again. The eight speed Transmission works great with the 5.13 gears. At approximately 70 mph, in 8th gear the Jeep is running approximately 2100 rpms. So there is not excessive rpms at hwy speeds.

Just know that I wheel all over the US and drive my JLUR to those spots. The jeep being geared to 5.13 with the eight speed auto is a non issue for hwy driving or daily driving. My Jeep willl not be as fast as a stock Rubicon in the 0-60 run, but I don't expect it to as I have added heavy wheels and tires, a lift, steel bumpers, a winch, and many other things. But hey, I did't buy it for 0-60 times anyways. There are thousands of vehicles that are far superior for 0-60 times over a wrangler.

The 5.13 gears are amazingly better on the trails and in the sand.

Love them for towing.

Love them on the rocks of the Rubicon Trail,

For overlanding

and playing in the sand.

As a bonus, I added some 40s for mall crawling. With the 40s, it wants to drive 80 mph on the hwy.

Awesome feedback!
Thank you!

 

[1996cc]

I am upgrading to 5.13’s on Monday and was wondering if there is any real reason to hold onto the OEM 4.1’s? It doesn’t look like many people are actively looking to buy 4.1 take offs. Just figured I’d ask for those that have upgraded.

I know 2 guys with diesels that would love your take off 4.10s. Yes, there is a market for them.

 

[Call911man]

I know 2 guys with diesels that would love your take off 4.10s. Yes, there is a market for them.

I am willing to ship mine. 6800 miles on the factory 4.1, loving the new 5.13 on 38s!

 

[word302]

I've got a set as well.

 

[Tdog495]

I read this whole thread and the only issue I have is with ppl saying a heavy Jeep on 4:88’s can’t hold on to 8th gear for a long time. Stop lying. Please don’t comment on anything you don’t have a personal experience with. It holds it perfectly

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