I should have said if you're close to getting your 35's, I'd go with 4.88 or 5.13 as advised above. I focused too much on your current 33" tire size by saying I'd go with 4.56. My apologies.
North Texas Independent Recommendation for Gearing Ratio Change
- Thread starter Jamie Frost
- Start date
Okay. For my own sanity check, here is what I have taken away. Recap of my key uses of vehicle:
1. Highway 80+%
2. Country (paved roads) - to and from marina (15%)
3. Occasional trails (dirts roads, nothing extreme) +/- 5%
I've confirmed I have the Dana 35 rear. There are 33s on the TJ today with a 2 inch lift. With the current wheel offset, I have great clearance, no rubbing. I am going to stick with these wheels (replace tires with new 33 inch BFG K02s). I'm thinking replace 2 inch lift with 3.5" lift. I'll go with a double steering stabilizer to mitigate chance of wobble. I would regear to 4.56 based on most recent recommendation by Jerry, (or 5.13?) in order to sustain better highway speeds. I don't mind slightly higher revs (effect of regearing) but having to throttle up and down constantly with current gearing will drive me insane
Did I recap correctly based on the expert advise here. I want to get this right the first time.
Thanks again! About to pull the trigger on this.
1. Highway 80+%
2. Country (paved roads) - to and from marina (15%)
3. Occasional trails (dirts roads, nothing extreme) +/- 5%
I've confirmed I have the Dana 35 rear. There are 33s on the TJ today with a 2 inch lift. With the current wheel offset, I have great clearance, no rubbing. I am going to stick with these wheels (replace tires with new 33 inch BFG K02s). I'm thinking replace 2 inch lift with 3.5" lift. I'll go with a double steering stabilizer to mitigate chance of wobble. I would regear to 4.56 based on most recent recommendation by Jerry, (or 5.13?) in order to sustain better highway speeds. I don't mind slightly higher revs (effect of regearing) but having to throttle up and down constantly with current gearing will drive me insane
Did I recap correctly based on the expert advise here. I want to get this right the first time.
Thanks again! About to pull the trigger on this.
No worries, Jerry! This is all good knowledge. I don't want to fuss with a new axle so I'll just stick with my 33s. It's drives great today (apart from the highway sluggishness) and If I was able to retain that with a little more height, that works for me. The guy is checking but initially said I should go 4.10. I told him no. ;-)
Whoops with your Dana 35 rear end confirmation stick with 33's... 35's would be too big and likely cause an axle shaft failure. With that in mind I'd stay with 33's and my earlier 4.56 recommendation.
Your Jeep's steering box will not handle the dual dampers, in fact it will most likely damage it. One damper is plenty for the Jeep. If you have wobble or death wobble, the damper will only mask the problem, it needs to be fixed.
The knowledge runs deep! Thanks for letting me know. I am starting to suspect this shop's experience since none of this has been called out. I guess to them, I am just doing all this to try to be cool. :-/. Thanks CodaMan.
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Many shops are there to make money and don't have your best interest in mind. Forums like this one have hundreds of users that have no problems offering up their opinion, most are accurate, those that are not will get corrected by others. As far a "experienced shops", the most experienced shop you will find is the one in your own garage, so do the work yourself after much research and many questions. And remember that the great thing about the TJ, you can do it ALL yourself.
Sunder
TJ Enthusiast
Just as an awareness (and not necessarily a recommendation):
If money is an issue (because unfortunately it very much is with me), if you were to consider the 4.10 gears, it could end up being cheaper for you to buy a used dana 30 (an HP from an XJ or a LP from a TJ) and dana 35 that already have 4.10 gears in them.
Why?
4.10 gears were a factory option on 2.5L Jeeps.
A dana 35 may not be that difficult to find as a lot of people upgraded from them.
Depending on where you live and who you get to change the gears, it may be cheaper to buy an entire axle than to re-gear your current axle.
What is the catch?
You just have a more limited selection in gear ratios, with 4.10 probably being the deepest you'll find.
If you re-gear, you can pick any ratio you want, such as 4.56, 4.88, 5.13, etc.
ie: a shop may charge $500/axle in labor to change your gears, plus $150-$250 in the ring/pinion vs potentially finding a 4.10 Dana 30/Dana 35 for $200-$400.
I think bolting in a new axle is easier than changing gears. (Because I can bolt on an axle myself, but I definitely cannot change gears)
If you do that, you save money AND have 4 spare axle shafts.
Or...try to sell your old axles...which probably would go for less than what you'd pay for the 4.10 axles...because who wants to buy a dana 35?
Again, I am NOT recommending against 4.56 gears.
I am only bringing AWARENESS of another option you may or may not be aware of to consider that may or may not end up being cheaper.
A lot will depend on the quote you get to re-gear.
It still may be cheaper to re-gear in your area.
Me personally, I currently have 3.07 gears in my dana 35. To save money on a re-gear, I bought a Ford 8.8 rear axle with 4.10 gears and LSD instead of re-gearing the Dana 35.
I would have preferred deeper gears, as I know I "want" to put 35" tires on at some point, but my wallet was telling me to do this. Plus I have the 3-speed auto, so 4.10 is pretty good with 33" tires. (You have a different transmission, so your ideal gear ratio is different). I also got a limited slip improvement.
Although in that situation, the re-gear would be a bit cheaper as I had to buy additional things to adapt the Ford to my Jeep, but I did it for the extra strength, traction, and ability to put 35" tires on in the future. (And the fact that one of those rare unicorn dana 44's would cost me 4-5 times that amount. To be clear, I'd prefer the dana 44, but couldn't realistically obtain one).
If money is an issue (because unfortunately it very much is with me), if you were to consider the 4.10 gears, it could end up being cheaper for you to buy a used dana 30 (an HP from an XJ or a LP from a TJ) and dana 35 that already have 4.10 gears in them.
Why?
4.10 gears were a factory option on 2.5L Jeeps.
A dana 35 may not be that difficult to find as a lot of people upgraded from them.
Depending on where you live and who you get to change the gears, it may be cheaper to buy an entire axle than to re-gear your current axle.
What is the catch?
You just have a more limited selection in gear ratios, with 4.10 probably being the deepest you'll find.
If you re-gear, you can pick any ratio you want, such as 4.56, 4.88, 5.13, etc.
ie: a shop may charge $500/axle in labor to change your gears, plus $150-$250 in the ring/pinion vs potentially finding a 4.10 Dana 30/Dana 35 for $200-$400.
I think bolting in a new axle is easier than changing gears. (Because I can bolt on an axle myself, but I definitely cannot change gears)
If you do that, you save money AND have 4 spare axle shafts.
Or...try to sell your old axles...which probably would go for less than what you'd pay for the 4.10 axles...because who wants to buy a dana 35?
Again, I am NOT recommending against 4.56 gears.
I am only bringing AWARENESS of another option you may or may not be aware of to consider that may or may not end up being cheaper.
A lot will depend on the quote you get to re-gear.
It still may be cheaper to re-gear in your area.
Me personally, I currently have 3.07 gears in my dana 35. To save money on a re-gear, I bought a Ford 8.8 rear axle with 4.10 gears and LSD instead of re-gearing the Dana 35.
I would have preferred deeper gears, as I know I "want" to put 35" tires on at some point, but my wallet was telling me to do this. Plus I have the 3-speed auto, so 4.10 is pretty good with 33" tires. (You have a different transmission, so your ideal gear ratio is different). I also got a limited slip improvement.
Although in that situation, the re-gear would be a bit cheaper as I had to buy additional things to adapt the Ford to my Jeep, but I did it for the extra strength, traction, and ability to put 35" tires on in the future. (And the fact that one of those rare unicorn dana 44's would cost me 4-5 times that amount. To be clear, I'd prefer the dana 44, but couldn't realistically obtain one).
I've wondered about this very thing bc I'm looking at parts from a 2003 and 2005 Rubicon next weekend and was definitely going to get the flares ($50) and wondered what the guy might take for the rear Dana 44. I know 4.10 is not ideal for my engine and transmission, but it would be better than my 3.73. Would I need to do anything to the front axle? I have the Dana 30, of course. Does the Rubicon have a Dana 30 up front too? Is the gearing in the front the same as the rear?
How do you like that combination? I mean I know you want to go to 5.13 so it's not perfect but...
It works best offroad although my offroading is a lite version. Around town it could be better. I had 3.73 it was bad. What ever gear, that 4 speed auto needs a cooler. I went with your cooler write up it was very help ful. Also 5.13 was not available when I regeared.
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