4.56 or 4.88 gears?
- Thread starter TJJeepGirl
- Start date
Mobusaki
TJ Enthusiast
I followed the typical gearing and tire size advice. My goal was 33" tires. I have a 5 speed, 6 cyl, so I went with 3.56 gears. On 31's it felt perfect. I have 32's now and it doesn't feel as good. This is perhaps a bit subjective, but many things are not. On 31's with 4.56 gears it: towed better, started from a stop better, and offroading was better (slower crawl speed). It was perhaps a bit high RPM on the highway with 31's, but I don't spend much time on the highway. On 32's it seems perfect up to 75mph, but I'm comfortable sitting at 3000 rpm (and so is the engine).
I wish I had gotten 4.88's, or even higher, because 4.56 will not feel good to me on 33's.
So unless your state has 75mph+ highways and you spend a lot of time on them, my advice to anyone who offroads their Jeep, or may ever (EVER!) go to a larger tire size than they have now is... gear higher.
I wish I had gotten 4.88's, or even higher, because 4.56 will not feel good to me on 33's.
So unless your state has 75mph+ highways and you spend a lot of time on them, my advice to anyone who offroads their Jeep, or may ever (EVER!) go to a larger tire size than they have now is... gear higher.
Definitely 5.13 for 35s and the 5 speed and freeway use.
I am on 35s with the 6 speed and 4.10 gears, and mainly only use 5th gear (or lower) on the freeway, which is the exact same ratio as 6th gear on 4.88s. So I plan to go to 4.88, which is roughly equivalent to 5.13 on the 5 speeds due to the taller OD of the NV3550 or AX-15.
I have not read the whole thread, so my experience and view may not apply, but ill share it just in case.
I am on 31.5's with 4.56 and 6 speed.
The most i would go up to is 32-33ish with same gears, only because i would must rather do 2500rpm at 65mph and not 60. I am okay with giving up just a tiny bit, only because Jeep feels just a tiny bit overgeared... Other than that, i am fine and happy... like really efing happy with my set up, and my Jeep is happy too !
If someone came to me and gave me a set of 35's for free, i would of told them unless they are paying for the regear to 4.88 or even better 5.13, they can take those 35's and go back to where they came from. No!
I came from 3.07, it is like traumatized childhood experience ... i am not going back to that feeling, i am not taking my Jeep back to those times, no, no way.
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In my opinion, if you are going to 35s, the topic should read 4.88 vs 5.13
and key factor in that decision making will be daily driver(4.88) vs toy (5.13)
I am on 31.5's with 4.56 and 6 speed.
The most i would go up to is 32-33ish with same gears, only because i would must rather do 2500rpm at 65mph and not 60. I am okay with giving up just a tiny bit, only because Jeep feels just a tiny bit overgeared... Other than that, i am fine and happy... like really efing happy with my set up, and my Jeep is happy too !
If someone came to me and gave me a set of 35's for free, i would of told them unless they are paying for the regear to 4.88 or even better 5.13, they can take those 35's and go back to where they came from. No!
I came from 3.07, it is like traumatized childhood experience ... i am not going back to that feeling, i am not taking my Jeep back to those times, no, no way.
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In my opinion, if you are going to 35s, the topic should read 4.88 vs 5.13
and key factor in that decision making will be daily driver(4.88) vs toy (5.13)
I do a lot of long road trips, all the cool places are far from Florida.
One common thing i have noticed on any highway in any state is that, unless you can find a semi to tail, doing a speed limit is a pita. It is a constant deceleration, merging, and acceleration.
The most peaceful cruising is when you speed by 10-15 mph or below the speed limit by 5-10 mph.
In speeding scenario you are mostly in the (left) passing lane, and it is a smooth sail, unless some slow ignorant dumb fuck hugs the lane to himself... But, you have no business of being in the passing lane in the Jeep to begin with.
In slow scenario you are in the (right) slower lane, everyone goes around you, even merging traffic traffic from the ramp has more time to adjust to you. And that is why i have started preaching 65mph top speed to all jeepers.
65 mph = jeep is more controllable and quieter, ride is smoother and peaceful. Travel distance over time difference is meaningless on shorter than 10 hour trips.
So if highways speeds is a deciding factor in gear selection, aim for 65mph.
I've run my TJ at 90 miles an hour heading back into Chicago for almost a full tank of gas. Probably wouldn't recommend doing that to be honest. I would still prefer 5.13's over my 4.56's with 35's and a 5 speed. 4.88 was the recommendation for years, but that got changed to 5.13 at some point. If you prefer slightly lower highway RPM and driveshaft speeds, 4.88 isn't a bad bet. If you don't mind the revs, 5.13 is good too. Just depends on what you are looking for.
I found my 4.56 with 33's to be pretty good. Never had a problem with that setup, but 4.88's wouldn't be terrible either. I think the difference between those two ratios is pretty negligible honestly. If you only go 65 MPH just get 5.38's and forget about it.
I found my 4.56 with 33's to be pretty good. Never had a problem with that setup, but 4.88's wouldn't be terrible either. I think the difference between those two ratios is pretty negligible honestly. If you only go 65 MPH just get 5.38's and forget about it.
Cruise control + proper gearing makes maintaining a speed easy, especially with a manual transmission. I usually aim for 70 or whatever the majority of traffic is. It takes a lot of fuel to sustain anything higher than 80. Above 85, my fuel economy goes to a single digit.
The biggest issue I think people have is not downshifting frequently enough. When passing slow cars on a two lane road, sometimes a 6 to 3 downshift is called for. Trying to pass someone while only doing 3000 RPM is not going to be easy. And climbing mountains on the freeway often calls for 4500 or even 5000 RPM sustained.
When I merge, I run it right up to redline (~5200 RPM) before shifting. Much safer to merge at the same speed as traffic, as opposed to the people that panic and merge moving much slower than everyone else.
I have the 6 speed manual, it seems like 5.13 is where it's at for 35s - hoping to get to both before next year.
It is not about that, sorry if i painted a wrong picture with my words.
I saw words "road trip" and "highway", to me it means a prolonged period of time on the highway. If you get a kick out of merging, shifting, flooring, braking, and reshifting for 5 -10 hours in your Jeep - more power to you.
My days of racetrack and doing 120mph on the freeways were over when i purchased this Jeep.
Just be aware that's about the equivalent of 5.38 on a 5 speed.
The 6 speed has an OD of 0.84, but the 5 speeds have an OD of 0.78/0.79.
Although there is part of me that wants to go straight to 5.89...
I wouldn't mind driving both the 4.88 and 5.13 with this transmission to get a better feeling - it's hard to picture the difference without!
I agree. It really depends on where you are driving. I-90 up the east coast with heavy traffic? You're going to be changing speeds a lot. I-79 through West Virginia? Prepare to downshift. I-29 in North Dakota? Set the cruise control and just run.
Appalachia tends to have a hill or two, so I end up having to downshift quite frequently, whether I want to or not.
Do you have 4.10s currently? If so, 5th gear and 4.10s have exactly the same drive ratio as 6th gear and 4.88s. So pretend 6th gear doesn't exist. That will give you a very good feeling for how 4.88s will be on the freeway.
4.88 x 0.84 = 4.10 x 1.00
I recently had 5.13s installed (6 speed/35s) and I drive a lot of freeway (SoCal) but I've always preferred to have more gear rather than less. While the rpms are slightly higher than the factory 4.11/30.5" combo on the freeway, I like the way it moves and if anything it will help me drive at a more reasonable speed.
I recently had 5.13s installed (6 speed/35s) and I drive a lot of freeway (SoCal) but I've always preferred to have more gear rather than less. While the rpms are slightly higher than the factory 4.11/30.5" combo on the freeway, I like the way it moves and if anything it will help me drive at a more reasonable speed.
define freeway.... freeways in TX and CA are two different things
I had 33's with 456's in my YJ and always kind of wished I went more. it was actually fine driving around but 4 low was just not quite low enough for my taste. Honestly there isn't a whole lot of different between 456 and 488, but now in my Tj I am running 488 and front and rear elockers with 33's. I find 4 low to be satisfying. Also I have the 4.0 5speed.
I also tow about a 1000lb trailer (with my quad in it). I don't have any problems. I can go 80 on the freeway with no issues, once I dialed in my front end, but that is a whole other story. My vote is 488's, but I don't think you will be sorry either way.
If you still can't decide, see if you have anybody around your area that has what you want where you can drive or at least ride with them.
I also tow about a 1000lb trailer (with my quad in it). I don't have any problems. I can go 80 on the freeway with no issues, once I dialed in my front end, but that is a whole other story. My vote is 488's, but I don't think you will be sorry either way.
If you still can't decide, see if you have anybody around your area that has what you want where you can drive or at least ride with them.
One thing I see pretty consistently is that when people take the plunge and go deep, they really like 3000rpm at 75mph. That means deeper gears than many assume is appropriate. The benefits are both on the highway and on the trail.