Rocky Mountain Billy Goat Build

I might be controversial, but I don't understand the 42RLE hate. It's not a great transmission, but even with 5.13s and 35s I was more than capable of keeping up on the highway in the mountains.

I did notice some performance reduction when it got a bit hotter on the way home (pulled 60 up the Eisenhower climb), but I have a cooler sitting there to address that.

The shakedown run at least showed me it works fairly well and I was able to start playing. However it was pretty wet, so the playing was fairly minimal. I need more seat time crawling this.
 
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rasband said:
I might be controversial, but I don't understand the 42RLE hate. It's not a great transmission, but even with 5.13s and 35s I was more than capable of keeping up on the highway in the mountains.

I did notice some performance reduction when it got a bit hotter on the way home (pulled 60 up the Eisenhower climb), but I have a cooler sitting there to address that.

The shakedown run at least showed me it works fairly well and I was able to start playing. However it was pretty wet, so the playing was fairly minimal. I need more seat time crawling this.
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I bought two of them. It’s not like there are a lot of stock options. Sure, the 32rh may be mo’ better, and the .69 OD may be hated, but just gear it deep, do the OD Off mod, get a cooler, and be done with it. 😏
 
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JMT said:
I bought two of them. It’s not like there are a lot of stock options. Sure, the 32rh may be mo’ better, and the .69 OD may be hated, but just gear it deep, do the OD Off mod, get a cooler, and be done with it. 😏
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After owning a 42rle for a year (previous Jeep was a 6-speed), I don’t think I would take a 32rh over it because the tall OD allows for the use of ultra deep gears. My tj on 33s with 5.13s is much quicker around town than it has any business being and as slow as I’d want on the Rubicon which I did recently.
 
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HornedToad said:
After owning a 42rle for a year (previous Jeep was a 6-speed), I don’t think I would take a 32rh over it because the tall OD allows for the use of ultra deep gears. My tj on 33s with 5.13s is much quicker around town than it has any business being and as slow as I’d want on the Rubicon which I did recently.
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The 6 speed is definitely peppier with an otherwise same build - but not any more fun necessarily. I never thought I'd get rid of that manual, but here we are on the other side and I'm very content with the change.
 
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rasband said:
I might be controversial, but I don't understand the 42RLE hate. It's not a great transmission, but even with 5.13s and 35s I was more than capable of keeping up on the highway in the mountains.

I did notice some performance reduction when it got a bit hotter on the way home (pulled 60 up the Eisenhower climb), but I have a cooler sitting there to address that.

The shakedown run at least showed me it works fairly well and I was able to start playing. However it was pretty wet, so the playing was fairly minimal. I need more seat time crawling this.
Click to expand...

Just give it time 🙂

I really like my 5.38s with 33s. Never once have I felt it's over geared. Passes the @jjvw test for rpm vs speed in the final gear.
 
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psrivats said:
Just give it time 🙂

I really like my 5.38s with 33s. Never once have I felt it's over geared. Passes the @jjvw test for rpm vs speed in the final gear.
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I recognize 5.38 would be better for me, but that won't happen until I replace the Rubicon lockers/carriers. There's one more option higher than that, but then you get into crazy driveshaft speeds I'm not sure I want to have to worry about.
 
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rasband said:
I recognize 5.38 would be better for me, but that won't happen until I replace the Rubicon lockers/carriers. There's one more option higher than that, but then you get into crazy driveshaft speeds I'm not sure I want to have to worry about.
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Sure the 5.38 gearing (116 RPM difference at 70 MPH on 35" tires) wouldn't hurt, but isn't worth the money/effort!
 
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Found a puddle in the garage. Time to follow the wizard's advice and drop the lube locker.

PXL_20220821_201433471.jpg
 
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You're lucky they didn't just "deliver" them to the middle of your driveway.
What are you doing with your old sliders??
 
rasband said:
I might be controversial, but I don't understand the 42RLE hate. It's not a great transmission, but even with 5.13s and 35s I was more than capable of keeping up on the highway in the mountains.

I did notice some performance reduction when it got a bit hotter on the way home (pulled 60 up the Eisenhower climb), but I have a cooler sitting there to address that.

The shakedown run at least showed me it works fairly well and I was able to start playing. However it was pretty wet, so the playing was fairly minimal. I need more seat time crawling this.
Click to expand...

Be careful going against the establishment. I think there is big difference in power between one 4.0 and another. My 4.0 is a dog above 60 mph with 5.38s and 35s. It doesn't take much of a hill to slow me down at 650' above sea level and I can't imagine what it would be like where y'all live. Buying tuning software helped increase torque of the 4.0 and the 42rle behaves fine with out turning off the OD but in my case my 4.0 needs a freshen up.
 
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