Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator

Going down in tire size (33s and 4.88 gearing)

Peppergat

Peppergat

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I have decided that I’m going a different direction with my Jeep. I would like to get rid of the metalcloak fenders front and rear and install factory front fenders along with fender flares. Along with this I am going down to 33’s from 35’s. With all that being said, I already did a gear change to 4.88’s couple of years ago. It’s pretty awesome but I do find myself under geared at times. Not that it’s super hilly where I operate but, I notice it at highway speeds. I do have the 6 speed and the 4.0 as well.
So, I’ve looked that the gear calculator so I know there isn’t a great deal of difference between the two tire sizes so I’m confident that it will bo good. What I’m looking for is a real world comparison from folks that have the 33” tire and 4.88 gearing or have had it.
Thanks for any insight.
 
I was on 33 when I went to 4:88s and its felt really good when driving it around town and very well offroad. I went up to 35's it made me wish I went with a deeper gear but on 35s I'm not disappointed either
 
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Peppergat said:
What I’m looking for is a real world comparison from folks that have the 33” tire and 4.88 gearing or have had it.
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I'm pretty sure @jjvw loves 33s with 4.88s. Maybe he'll throw an opinion your way.

Any particular reason you're stepping down to 33s? I'm on 33s and I think 4.88s will be my next move, maybe 5.13, but I'm not committed either way. Maybe 35s too.
 
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BlueC said:
I'm pretty sure @jjvw loves 33s with 4.88s. Maybe he'll throw an opinion your way.

Any particular reason you're stepping down to 33s? I'm on 33s and I think 4.88s will be my next move, maybe 5.13, but I'm not committed either way. Maybe 35s too.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking 5.13s for 33s myself. Very mountainous where I am and the extra 170ish RPM on the highway won't hurt me either way.
 
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BC Moto said:
I was on 33 when I went to 4:88s and its felt really good when driving it around town and very well offroad. I went up to 35's it made me wish I went with a deeper gear but on 35s I'm not disappointed either
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Thank you. Like I said, the 4.88’s are pretty awesome for sure.
 
TerryD said:
I'm thinking 5.13s for 33s myself. Very mountainous where I am and the extra 170ish RPM on the highway won't hurt me either way.
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The OP has the 6-speed, so 5.13 is probably a little too low.

I have the 6-speed with 33s and 4.56. I love it, but I would be perfectly happy with 4.88 too.
 
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BlueC said:
I'm pretty sure @jjvw loves 33s with 4.88s. Maybe he'll throw an opinion your way.

Any particular reason you're stepping down to 33s? I'm on 33s and I think 4.88s will be my next move, maybe 5.13, but I'm not committed either way. Maybe 35s too.
Click to expand...

I’m doing this because I am tired of the “look”. I’m going for more of the mildly modified Jeep rather than the stripped down rock crawler thing. I’m not going to do any of that. Nothing against the Metalcloak stuff, it’s good stuff. I’m just not into the look.
So…here I am. If I can’t locate stock silver fenders I’m not sure what I’ll do.
 
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Peppergat said:
I’m doing this because I am tired of the “look”. I’m going for more of the mildly modified Jeep rather than the stripped down rock crawler thing. I’m not going to do any of that. Nothing against the Metalcloak stuff, it’s good stuff. I’m just not into the look.
So…here I am. If I can’t locate stock silver fenders I’m not sure what I’ll do.
Click to expand...

Metalcloak fenders are ugly.

And there is no meaningful benefit from them for tire clearance, unless your goal is to build an ugly Jeep.
 
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I’ve got 33” tires & 4.56 gears with the 6 speed transmission & I think it’s perfect for me. If I had 4.88 gears my 1st gear would essentially become a “granny gear” which would be kind of useless. Of course, it would be awesome off road.
 
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Peppergat said:
I have decided that I’m going a different direction with my Jeep. I would like to get rid of the metalcloak fenders front and rear and install factory front fenders along with fender flares. Along with this I am going down to 33’s from 35’s. With all that being said, I already did a gear change to 4.88’s couple of years ago. It’s pretty awesome but I do find myself under geared at times. Not that it’s super hilly where I operate but, I notice it at highway speeds. I do have the 6 speed and the 4.0 as well.
So, I’ve looked that the gear calculator so I know there isn’t a great deal of difference between the two tire sizes so I’m confident that it will bo good. What I’m looking for is a real world comparison from folks that have the 33” tire and 4.88 gearing or have had it.
Thanks for any insight.
Click to expand...

With the 6-speed and 33’s I had 456 gearing and had plenty of gear. With 488 I’d think 1st is going to be really really short. Have you plugged the numbers into Grimm Jeeper? As long as you’ve done that and are ok with it then 👍🏼
 
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Mudflat said:
I’ve got 33” tires & 4.56 gears with the 6 speed transmission & I think it’s perfect for me. If I had 4.88 gears my 1st gear would essentially become a “granny gear” which would be kind of useless. Of course, it would be awesome off road.
Click to expand...

It’s a difference of 150 rpm at 10 mph in 1st, I don’t think it would be that dramatic of a difference.
 
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machoheadgames said:
It’s a difference of 150 rpm at 10 mph in 1st, I don’t think it would be that dramatic of a difference.
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There are a lot of guys out there who are shifting way too early. Wind it out to the high 3k's and even into 4k before up shifting.
 
jjvw said:
There are a lot of guys out there who are shifting way too early. Wind it out to the high 3k's and even into 4k before up shifting.
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I don't typically run mine up that high, I usually shift somewhere around 3K, depending on what I'm doing, but you're right, a lot of people seem to be racing through the gears, shifting way too low in RPM, or even running in 5th/OD at 35 mph. I've seen people who thought they had to shift by 2,500 for some reason no matter what, and at that range most engines are lugging bad into the next gear.
 
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jjvw said:
There are a lot of guys out there who are shifting way too early. Wind it out to the high 3k's and even into 4k before up shifting.
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I've started doing this over the last couple of months and its such a better driving experience in the subsequent gear after the later shift. Granted I'm still on 4.10s and ~32s.
 
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PRNDL said:
I've started doing this over the last couple of months and its such a better driving experience in the subsequent gear after the later shift. Granted I'm still on 4.10s and ~32s.
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I was doing it with 4.88 pushing 33s and the 5 speed, way back when more people were arguing that was too much gear for the tire size.
 
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