Deciding on differential gear upgrades

[DanielD]

Hello,

I’m new here and I apologize if this has been asked already. I searched the forums but didn’t find anything, but perhaps I wasn’t searching correctly. I don’t know.
Well, to my question/vehicle background:
I have a 2011 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. The previous owner put on 35in tires and a 3.5in lift. He didn’t regear the differentials and now I’m thinking of doing just that.
The rubicon comes with 4.10 gears, so my question is should I go with 4.56 or 4.88?
I don’t plan on doing heavy rock crawling but will definitely take it off-road and perhaps do slightly more technical stuff as my skills improve, and I get more comfortable four wheeling.
This is our only vehicle, so it does plenty of city driving and some highway speeds (living in Port Angeles, WA the fastest we would go is 60MPH)

So My thought process is that perhaps the 4.88 will be a little much, but going from 4.10 gears to 4.56 doesn’t seem like much of a difference if I’m going to be spending the money doing the regear.

Of course another option is to leave it like it is and deal with a slow going Jeep on the hills and take offs. Haha

Thanks for the help.

Daniel

 

[Billiebob]

Why not just buy 33s ??????????????????

 

[Chadlyb]

Hello,

I’m new here and I apologize if this has been asked already. I searched the forums but didn’t find anything, but perhaps I wasn’t searching correctly. I don’t know.
Well, to my question/vehicle background:
I have a 2011 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. The previous owner put on 35in tires and a 3.5in lift. He didn’t regear the differentials and now I’m thinking of doing just that.
The rubicon comes with 4.10 gears, so my question is should I go with 4.56 or 4.88?
I don’t plan on doing heavy rock crawling but will definitely take it off-road and perhaps do slightly more technical stuff as my skills improve, and I get more comfortable four wheeling.
This is our only vehicle, so it does plenty of city driving and some highway speeds (living in Port Angeles, WA the fastest we would go is 60MPH)

So My thought process is that perhaps the 4.88 will be a little much, but going from 4.10 gears to 4.56 doesn’t seem like much of a difference if I’m going to be spending the money doing the regear.

Of course another option is to leave it like it is and deal with a slow going Jeep on the hills and take offs. Haha

Thanks for the help.

Daniel

Hi Daniel,
I hear what you're saying and I have one piece of advice. Call the experts on this so you don't waste the money and they answer all the right questions for you. Nitro gears are in Cashmere Washington and were just at the RALLY in Plain Washington. Great people and products. Try giving them a call. Just a suggestion.

 

[Billiebob]

so, why not just downshift ?

For the past 50 years, since the 1970s gas crisis gearing has been all about stretching how far a gallon of gas will go. We saw lock up torque converters, overdrive transmissions, lean burn engines. But in the 4WD world all that engineering is gone once the idiots forget how to drive. Which drives the elimination of the manual transmission.

An Audi A8 with a 8 speed transmission hits top speed in 5th gear. And loses speed with every shift into 6th, 7th, 8th. Because the last 3 gears reduce fuel consumtion, extend range, reduce emissions. Trust me..... the world will figure out how to combat/defeat/win against this idiotic 4 wheeler need to regear. YOU will lose. Obviously you already have since no pickups are sold with a clutch today. The neanderthals always lose..... and go home crying.

I dtive a TJR with 33s and 4.10s. I wish I had and might regear to 3.73s.

 

[Billiebob]

Call the experts

The experts??????? They are all sales guys building sales. Use yer brain.... Ignore the hype, ego driven idiots.

 

[Billiebob]

heh heh,

I too tow a trailer, but I do it for work, daily. On 33s with 4.10s,
I know how to shift. I've got a million miles with an 18speed. I would love to regear to 3.73s.
2000# plus ladders, 12K miles a year towing, 24K miles a year on the TJR.
In the mountains. It is my daily driver plus my work truck.

I love how ego driven idiots ignore technology. Or history. Or education.

 

[DanielD]

Why not just buy 33s ??????????????????

Yes, I forgot to put that on there. That’s another option too.

 

[DanielD]

I have 4.88s and 35s. I had 4.10s stock. I only regeared to gain back power while pulling a trailer. 4.56 will probably suit you just fine. But, don’t ask me, I’m just an ego driven idiot who knows you don’t want smaller tires.

I wouldn’t mind switching back to 33s, actually. But either way I’ll be spending near the same for either new tires or regearing. So I was just looking for some input and experience some may have had with regearing.

 

[DanielD]

Hi Daniel,
I hear what you're saying and I have one piece of advice. Call the experts on this so you don't waste the money and they answer all the right questions for you. Nitro gears are in Cashmere Washington and were just at the RALLY in Plain Washington. Great people and products. Try giving them a call. Just a suggestion.

Even though I was at the rally I didn’t get a chance to go to their booth. :/

 

[Billiebob]

either way I’ll be spending near the same for either new tires or regearing.

no, buy the 33s when the 35s are miled out, you will save money.
To regear is is to change perfectly good gears for different ones....
and no, it is not an upgrade, it is just a change.

Don't try to comvince yourself with flawed logic.

Port Angeles....... one of the few places I'd love to live/move to.

 

[OtherOrb]

Since this is a daily driver, I would sell the 35s and go to skinnier 33s or even back to the stock 32s and drop to a 1" or no lift. Save gas, save wear and tear, and make it a safer and more reliable vehicle. You'll be on pavement 90% - 99% of the time, so build for that plus a bit more capability.

Meanwhile, IMO, your vehicle should always be less capable than your skills when it comes to off-road driving. The more capable your vehicle is compared with your skills, the more likely you are to end up somewhere your shouldn't have gone, with a busted part and an expensive tow and repair bill.

The more "capable" a vehicle is, the more likely its parts are being stressed in ways they were never designed to be stressed. And since---most of the time---those parts aren't providing you with the "capability" you bought them for, you're throwing money away... Once on a part you almost never use, again on replacing worn parts you almost never used, again on stressing all the other parts that you didn't "upgrade," and finally on extra gas lugging around those "beefier, stronger, bigger, heavier" parts that you almost never used.

In my experience, overlanding should be treated like a backpacking trip. Evaluate every single thing you think about bringing and consider its actual, realistic utility versus its weight. In overlanding, other than a spare tire, a fire extinguisher, extra water, and a first-aid kit, it's a huge fallacy that it's "better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it." And when you're not overlanding, you don't need all that extra stuff on the vehicle.

 

[Kent R]

Hello,

I’m new here and I apologize if this has been asked already. I searched the forums but didn’t find anything, but perhaps I wasn’t searching correctly. I don’t know.
Well, to my question/vehicle background:
I have a 2011 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. The previous owner put on 35in tires and a 3.5in lift. He didn’t regear the differentials and now I’m thinking of doing just that.
The rubicon comes with 4.10 gears, so my question is should I go with 4.56 or 4.88?
I don’t plan on doing heavy rock crawling but will definitely take it off-road and perhaps do slightly more technical stuff as my skills improve, and I get more comfortable four wheeling.
This is our only vehicle, so it does plenty of city driving and some highway speeds (living in Port Angeles, WA the fastest we would go is 60MPH)

So My thought process is that perhaps the 4.88 will be a little much, but going from 4.10 gears to 4.56 doesn’t seem like much of a difference if I’m going to be spending the money doing the regear.

Of course another option is to leave it like it is and deal with a slow going Jeep on the hills and take offs. Haha

Thanks for the help.

Daniel

I just went through this process after years of suffering with the 4:10 gears in my 2011 JKU Rubicon with an automatic.
After talking with lots of people, reading way to many forum posts, watching to many YouTube videos all about re-gearing I finally found an axle shop here in Diamond Springs CA. that could come up with a good solution. ($1450)
We decided on 5:13 ratio and I really have been overly impressed with it, better fuel milage, I can use the overdrive now and it feels like a new jeep.
If you have a manual then 4:56 or 4:88 works great also.
PM me here if you have any other questions @Kent R
@Cendee also just re-geared with 5:13's, she has the 3.6l engine.

 

[Cort]

You’ll spend $800-$1000 per diff to regear depending on the mechanic and the quality level of gears. Hardly worth it if you are only going to 4.56 or even 4.88.

Getting 33’s will be half the price if you include selling your 35’s for a few bucks. You will get better mileage, less wear and tear on your drivetrain(35’s are much heavier, think rotating mass). You likely won’t really notice the 1” difference in overall height between the two and it will be easier to get in and out of the Jeep.

5.13s would definitely add some pep. The only downside is that the pinion is getting pretty small and in my opinion is a weak spot. That being said, I haven’t seen any break on the trail so it’s only a thought.

 

[DanielD]

Thanks for the input, everyone.
Each viewpoint has certainly given me plenty to think about.
Thank you!

 

[Kent R]

You’ll spend $800-$1000 per diff to regear depending on the mechanic and the quality level of gears. Hardly worth it if you are only going to 4.56 or even 4.88.

Getting 33’s will be half the price if you include selling your 35’s for a few bucks. You will get better mileage, less wear and tear on your drivetrain(35’s are much heavier, think rotating mass). You likely won’t really notice the 1” difference in overall height between the two and it will be easier to get in and out of the Jeep.

5.13s would definitely add some pep. The only downside is that the pinion is getting pretty small and in my opinion is a weak spot. That being said, I haven’t seen any break on the trail so it’s only a thought.


View attachment 105733

2011 he has is the 3.8l mini van engine check out the other chart

 

[Cort]

My bad!

 

[MidOH]

5.13

Don't fear the gear. Always stuff as much gear as possible, if it's anywhere near reasonable.

For my 6.2l F250 that's 4.88 with 37" tires. For my Mustang it's 4.56.

 

[MazeVX]

So, I can't tell you much about your regear question, but there's a lot said and the gear ratio chart should answer all questions.

What I can tell is what it's like with 33"
I currently drive 285/70r17 without any lift, my plan is to upgrade to 2,5" lift to gain uptravel and improve the ride on dirt roads and stuff because the wrangler is bad in this and under full flex it would get in contact with the fenders. The stock suspension is also bad in handling load and you will bottom out pretty fast on dirt.

Didn't drive technical stuff over here but I don't think I will ever run into trouble with my wheelsize.
I would invest in the best shocks you can afford, go to 33" and maybe shorter springs and you will be perfectly fine for what I call overlanding.

 

[DanielD]

So, I can't tell you much about your regear question, but there's a lot said and the gear ratio chart should answer all questions.

What I can tell is what it's like with 33"
I currently drive 285/70r17 without any lift, my plan is to upgrade to 2,5" lift to gain uptravel and improve the ride on dirt roads and stuff because the wrangler is bad in this and under full flex it would get in contact with the fenders. The stock suspension is also bad in handling load and you will bottom out pretty fast on dirt.

Didn't drive technical stuff over here but I don't think I will ever run into trouble with my wheelsize.
I would invest in the best shocks you can afford, go to 33" and maybe shorter springs and you will be perfectly fine for what I call overlanding.

Nice, thanks for advice. :)