Regear or Not

[c20040215]

Some people want to go REALLY slow. The problem is if you're trying to get there via axle gears you'll be going slow on the freeway too. I've yet to find an obstacle where I needed more gearing than 1st gear, 4LO, even with 4.10s but you do you. With 5.38s and the 101-1 crawl ratio I found 1st gear was almost useless. Even if I wanted 120-1 I'd go atlas 4 speed tcase and 4.56s so I could still drive cross country comfortably at 85mph.

Good point. But I have better tools for cross country highway cruising. My Jeep to me is either casual summer cruising around town, or low speed rock crawling.

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[Beach Nut]

I’m prone to go with a gear shops recommendation…I’ve spoken to 3…all concur…4.56 with 35s, 3.6, 8spd automatic transmission…4.88s with 37s. Just what I’ve been told by professional shops…I’m just shopping prices now!

 

[grimmjeeper]

I’m prone to go with a gear shops recommendation…I’ve spoken to 3…all concur…4.56 with 35s, 3.6, 8spd automatic transmission…4.88s with 37s. Just what I’ve been told by professional shops…I’m just shopping prices now!

Not a bad combo. If you were out west here in the mountains I would consider 4.88s. But 4.56 with the 3.6 and automatic are good all around for the east coast.

 

[Zandcwhite]

You'd be wrong.

Jeep put inadequate gears in the base models to meet CAFE standards driving on an unrealistic test loop.

Inadequate how? The 4.7 1st gear is so low for an auto that you don't need more gearing. I know you've been doing this long enough to know that tens of thousands of us wheeled all the same trails we do now in autos with 2.86 1st gears. Those "inadequate" 3.45s are the same as running 5.66 gears in a TJ, XJ, early JK etc. You can't honestly say that's inadequate for 32" tires when nobody was running gears that deep for 35"+ on those other Jeeps. The 8 speed isn't masking anything, final drive ratio period. Disingenuous is suggesting that because 100:1 has its place paired with a manual it should be paired with an auto as well. Again if you are only going to crawl with it, or never go over 70mph, there's no loss in going super deep. Comical how you'll agree 5.38s is overgeared for 38s but also suggest 5.13s for 37s... just as overgeared. But I'm betting disingenuous sharing the real world experience with THIS transmission. Not comparing it to a manual. Or speaking in hypotheticals. In reality the stock 4.10s and 33s are closer to optimal for a balance of freeway and crawling. 4.56s and 35s had me looking for 9th gear at freeway speed.

 

[c20040215]

Not a bad combo. If you were out west here in the mountains I would consider 4.88s. But 4.56 with the 3.6 and automatic are good all around for the east coast.

One thing I would add to consideration is if you have 4.1 to begin with, going to 4.56 would be waste of money in my opinion. The gap is too small to justify the cost. Same goes to 3.73 to 4.1. I would go directly to 4.88. Might be slightly aggressive but gives you some flexibility for 37s in the future.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Good point. But I have better tools for cross country highway cruising. My Jeep to me is either casual summer cruising around town, or low speed rock crawling.

Low speed rock crawling... in Indiana? Moab 1,100 miles from home, I want to be able to set the cruise control at 85mph and get there ASAP to start wheeling. If you tow yours everywhere then by all means gear to the moon.

 

[grimmjeeper]

One thing I would add to consideration is if you have 4.1 to begin with, going to 4.56 would be waste of money in my opinion. The gap is too small to justify the cost. Same goes to 3.73 to 4.1. I would go directly to 4.88. Might be slightly aggressive but gives you some flexibility for 37s in the future.

Absolutely. If you have 4.10s, going to 4.56 isn't enough juice to make the squeeze worth it.

 

[grimmjeeper]

Inadequate how? The 4.7 1st gear is so low for an auto that you don't need more gearing. I know you've been doing this long enough to know that tens of thousands of us wheeled all the same trails we do now in autos with 2.86 1st gears. Those "inadequate" 3.45s are the same as running 5.66 gears in a TJ, XJ, early JK etc. You can't honestly say that's inadequate for 32" tires when nobody was running gears that deep for 35"+ on those other Jeeps. The 8 speed isn't masking anything, final drive ratio period. Disingenuous is suggesting that because 100:1 has its place paired with a manual it should be paired with an auto as well. Again if you are only going to crawl with it, or never go over 70mph, there's no loss in going super deep. Comical how you'll agree 5.38s is overgeared for 38s but also suggest 5.13s for 37s... just as overgeared. But I'm betting disingenuous sharing the real world experience with THIS transmission. Not comparing it to a manual. Or speaking in hypotheticals. In reality the stock 4.10s and 33s are closer to optimal for a balance of freeway and crawling. 4.56s and 35s had me looking for 9th gear at freeway speed.

I swear, talking to you is like trying to push a rope.

For the record, I wouldn't recommend 5.13 to you for 37s. You have an automatic and an aversion to running the engine up in its power band, not to mention a drive to matche CAFE fuel mileage.

For someone else, say someone with a manual transmission who rock crawls and doesn't fear RPMs on the freeway, I absolutely would recommend shorter gears for them.

Again, just because you figured out what you like doesn't mean that it's the right answer for everyone else.

 

[Twisted10]

no issues w 38's in my 392 w/ 4.56's

if i went to 40's id regear.

 

[Zandcwhite]

I swear, talking to you is like trying to push a rope.

For the record, I wouldn't recommend 5.13 to you for 37s. You have an automatic and an aversion to running the engine up in its power band, not to mention a drive to matche CAFE fuel mileage.

For someone else, say someone with a manual transmission who rock crawls and doesn't fear RPMs on the freeway, I absolutely would recommend shorter gears for them.

Again, just because you figured out what you like doesn't mean that it's the right answer for everyone else.

I'm the last person "afraid of rpms" or averse to running the 3.6L to its peak power output...at 6300rpm. I also don't need it to be pushing 3k rpms downhill with a tailwind. That defeats the purpose of having 2 overdrives. 80-1 is plenty of crawl ratio on the Rubicon, Fordyce, Pritchett Canyon, or anywhere else with an auto. I've said a million times that the higher side of gearing is optimal.for MY use, but the extremes in either direction suck. I agree that spending regear money for 1 step in either direction isn't worth it. That's why neither Jeep is getting regeared even though 4.56s would be perfect for 37s for me and 4.88s would be perfect for the 39s. They also get driven regularly in the mountains, and I disagree with adding gearing there. It downshifts plenty for the uphill sections, and rolls low rpm coming down...automatically. like it was designed that way.

 

[JeepinPete]

Another data point. I've been running 37" KO2's for the last 45k miles. Stock 4.10 gears, 6sp manual. Most of my Jeeps life is spent below 400', so basically sea level. It works. Wheeling at AOAA or RC is fine, I have no issues with power or speed.

I have a set of '37 STT Pros that I swap on for playtime. They are taller and heavier than the KO2's. If that was my everyday tire, gears would be high on the list.

When I head up to the mountains to go camping, the altitude saps power. And that is only a couple thousand about sea level. I can definitely understand why folks out west want deeper gears.

With stock gears and the KO2's, I get identical mpgs whether running 5th or 6th gear on the highway. This is hand calculated over four years. Typically run between 70-80mph fwiw.

One of these days I will do a gear swap, probably 5.13s.

 

[c20040215]

Low speed rock crawling... in Indiana? Moab 1,100 miles from home, I want to be able to set the cruise control at 85mph and get there ASAP to start wheeling. If you tow yours everywhere then by all means gear to the moon.

Whats wrong with Indiana?
I am just not brave enough to drive an off road vehicle with dual solid axles, long travel suspension, high side wall ratio offroad tires, high center of gravity, and weak brakes at 85mph on the consistent basis. It would do it all day long but I don't need it to. God forbid if I need to do any emergency maneuvering at that speed.

On 4.88, I love it sitting at 2500 rpm @ 75mph, 6th gear. Holds speed reasonably great. 100:1 crawl ratio is nice. Had I learned Nitto has the RG in 38x12.50R17, I would have gone 5.13.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Whats wrong with Indiana?
I am just not brave enough to drive an off road vehicle with dual solid axles, long travel suspension, high side wall ratio offroad tires, high center of gravity, and weak brakes at 85mph on the consistent basis. It would do it all day long but I don't need it to. God forbid if I need to do any emergency maneuvering at that speed.

On 4.88, I love it sitting at 2500 rpm @ 75mph, 6th gear. Holds speed reasonably great. 100:1 crawl ratio is nice. Had I learned Nitto has the RG in 38x12.50R17, I would have gone 5.13.

The ability of the modern Jeep to drive freeway speeds, over mountain passes, for hours at a time while simultaneously being able to outwheel anything else from the factory ever IS what makes it so impressive to me. Had plenty of built crawlers that were shit on the road over the years. The JL and JT are so far from that it is ridiculous. Nothing wrong with Indiana, but my point was you probably have to drive somewhere to go wheeling? I'm not gearing lower than I've ever needed for crawling 7+ rated trails only to make our Jeeps worse on the road. I'm fully aware that my use is different than most. Our AZ property is 540 miles from home. Its also 15 miles out a wash board dirt road. I need my Jeeps to be capable everywhere from thousands of miles every year at 85+ to freeway speeds in the dirt in the desert to rock crawling which is why the extremes in either direction are not good. With the massive range and number of gears in the 8 speed there's no need to live in the extremes. Not only am I comfortable doing freeway speeds all day the JT sees the 100mph limiter in the dirt regularly. I don't need more gearing anywhere.

 

[c20040215]

The ability of the modern Jeep to drive freeway speeds, over mountain passes, for hours at a time while simultaneously being able to outwheel anything else from the factory ever IS what makes it so impressive to me. Had plenty of built crawlers that were shit on the road over the years. The JL and JT are so far from that it is ridiculous. Nothing wrong with Indiana, but my point was you probably have to drive somewhere to go wheeling? I'm not gearing lower than I've ever needed for crawling 7+ rated trails only to make our Jeeps worse on the road. I'm fully aware that my use is different than most. Our AZ property is 540 miles from home. Its also 15 miles out a wash board dirt road. I need my Jeeps to be capable everywhere from thousands of miles every year at 85+ to freeway speeds in the dirt in the desert to rock crawling which is why the extremes in either direction are not good. With the massive range and number of gears in the 8 speed there's no need to live in the extremes. Not only am I comfortable doing freeway speeds all day the JT sees the 100mph limiter in the dirt regularly. I don't need more gearing anywhere.

Good for you. Keep doing what you do and let others have a normal conversation about regear according to their requirements and applications. Nothing is extreme.

 

[grimmjeeper]

The ability of the modern Jeep to drive freeway speeds, over mountain passes, for hours at a time while simultaneously being able to outwheel anything else from the factory ever IS what makes it so impressive to me. Had plenty of built crawlers that were shit on the road over the years. The JL and JT are so far from that it is ridiculous. Nothing wrong with Indiana, but my point was you probably have to drive somewhere to go wheeling? I'm not gearing lower than I've ever needed for crawling 7+ rated trails only to make our Jeeps worse on the road. I'm fully aware that my use is different than most. Our AZ property is 540 miles from home. Its also 15 miles out a wash board dirt road. I need my Jeeps to be capable everywhere from thousands of miles every year at 85+ to freeway speeds in the dirt in the desert to rock crawling which is why the extremes in either direction are not good. With the massive range and number of gears in the 8 speed there's no need to live in the extremes. Not only am I comfortable doing freeway speeds all day the JT sees the 100mph limiter in the dirt regularly. I don't need more gearing anywhere.

You do know that other people havve different Jeeps with different transmissions and different ways they use them, right?

I don't want to shock you too much, but it doesn't always have to be about you.

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