Looking for advice on re-gearing

Peppergat

TJ Enthusiast
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Jul 24, 2022
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Northeast Texas
I’ve never personally owned a Jeep before. I have had a few samurais that I had built up to one point or another. My primary vehicle is a Subaru crosstrek that I have spent way too much money on building it up. Anyhoo , I very recently received this Jeep after my son passed away so , I decided to try and do all of things that he had in mind in his honor. With that being said , I have figured out that these really are a money pit just like anything else that we try and make suitable for off road fun.
It’s a 2005 TJ with the 4.0 and the 6 speed. It’s lifted 4” on 35 Mickey Thompson Baja something or another. It does have the sye. I did discover Sunday that it has a ford 8.8 swap. It’s pretty beefy. It’s currently running 3.73 gears. So far I have replaced all 8 of the control arms , the front and rear track bars , heavy duty steering, new steering stabilizer. Had a horrible death wobble because everything was wore out. It wasn’t any fun to drive. It’s an in progress thing for me. I’m itching to get it in better shape and do more work to it. I am going to regear next. Definitely would like to hear what folks have done as far as ratio. I do need to do some interior work such as center console and some kind of floor coverings. It’s really hot in there when it’s really hot outside. I’ll post more and better pictures as I progress.

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Some would argue 5.13 for 35's with a 6speed.

But it depends if you're gonna wheel it or just drive and enjoy it.

I don’t know that I plan to keep the 35’s once it’s time to replace. I may go down to 33’s. I do want to be able to have some Highway manners as well. This thing sucks gas like crazy so , I don’t reckon that I’m so worried about fuel economy as much as I am getting it to where it’s got power for off-road and just general driving.
 
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I don’t know that I plan to keep the 35’s once it’s time to replace. I may go down to 33’s. I do want to be able to have some Highway manners as well. This thing sucks gas like crazy so , I don’t reckon that I’m so worried about fuel economy as much as I am getting it to where it’s got power for off-road and just general driving.

I would recommend no higher than 4:88's if you might drop the tire size. 456 would be better with the 33's if you plan on driving on the highway at any speeds above 60 mph. I recently had a set of 33's on my TJ with 5:13 gears and the driveshaft would vibrate so much at highway speeds that I just took the back roads everywhere. As mentioned elsewhere it kind of depends on if you would rather have better off road performance, or better street manners.
 
I would recommend no higher than 4:88's if you might drop the tire size. 456 would be better with the 33's if you plan on driving on the highway at any speeds above 60 mph. I recently had a set of 33's on my TJ with 5:13 gears and the driveshaft would vibrate so much at highway speeds that I just took the back roads everywhere. As mentioned elsewhere it kind of depends on if you would rather have better off road performance, or better street manners.

I’m looking for the best of both worlds. I won’t do any heavy duty Rock crawling it , I will do trails and general exploring. I want to be able to drive it wherever I go. I’m not concerned with driving 75. I’m in no hurry. As I mentioned earlier , I’m kind of on the fence over 4.56 vs 4.88.
 
I’m looking for the best of both worlds. I won’t do any heavy duty Rock crawling it , I will do trails and general exploring. I want to be able to drive it wherever I go. I’m not concerned with driving 75. I’m in no hurry. As I mentioned earlier , I’m kind of on the fence over 4.56 vs 4.88.
For 35's 4.88 is definitely the much better choice over 4.56 which is slightly undergeared on the highway for 35's. You'd find yourself having to downshift for even barely perceptible minor grades.
 
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I would choose 4.88 for 35s and 6 speed for sure. Will be a good balance of power and highway rpm and great offroad as well with the low 1st gear on that transmission. 3000 @ 75 on the highway: perfect. If you're going to go to 33's, try to decide on that now. I'd go with 4.56 if going to 33's, although 4.56 and 35's would not be terrible, it's about the same as the 5 speed on 4.88 with 35's. I'd try to make up the tire decision now and choose the ratio accordingly. Or worst case, enjoy the lower gearing and drive 5 mph slower on the highway.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your son, hopefully his Jeep makes the loss a little bit less hard. I'm sure he'd want you to have it.
 
I’m looking for the best of both worlds. I won’t do any heavy duty Rock crawling it , I will do trails and general exploring. I want to be able to drive it wherever I go. I’m not concerned with driving 75. I’m in no hurry. As I mentioned earlier , I’m kind of on the fence over 4.56 vs 4.88.
If you plan on running trails I would run the higher numerical gearing, plus with the 4.88's you won't need to be in a hurry to replace the 35's. Who knows, you might end up liking them after a while.