well guys im in need of some help, im purchasing my gears and lockers on friday and im still in the air on what to go with. ive been researching for over 2 weeks now on all the forums and still haven't found a definitive answer and im pulling my dam hair out.....heres the deal i have a 00 xj with a 4 liter and automatic, it has a 8.25 rear and i have a hp 30 im going to swap in whith the gear change and lockers, its on 33-12.50.15 nitto trail graps ...question is WHAT SIZE GEARING? DTS is telling me to go with 4.56s but alot of the post ive read on this people say to go with 4.88s. the jeep is mostly city driven or trailered to wheeling spots but there is some occasional highway driving on our summer camping trips and what not. there is a chance that it might move up to 35s but its not 100 percent and it will be a ways down the road if so seeing as how the 33s are still new (less than 2500 miles). any help or opinions will be greatly appreciated and thank you for your time in advanced, Gary

 

4.56 will give more gearing to performance over stock with 33's, 4.88's will give even more performance over stock. Just flip a coin. with 33's you cant go wrong with either. It will only be like a 200 RPM difference between the 2 sets. Cherokeeforum is worse then Mustangforum when it comes to gears. Always threads about should I go with 3.55, 3.73 or just do 4.10 blah blah blah..

When I geared my jeep I never needed to ask what to go with.. there was already 100 threads asking the same questions for me!

 

x2 i prefer 4.56s but it's what i'm used to putting in my jeeps

 

Id say if you're going to do it, go with the 4.88's. That way you will be set when you go to 35's, and you WILL go to 35's eventually.

 

if u dont do alot of highway go 4.88 if u dd and go on the highway lots go 4.56. With the lower ratio of 4.88 it will me much nicer offroad, not saying 4.56s wont be good.

I run 4.56's with 33x12.50 tires but i have a Manual XJ i have plenty of torque im over geared a lil

 

www.grimmjeeper.com
Use the gear calculator and do a side by side comparison to the stock ratio and tire size.

Subtle Hint ahead...
































4.56

 

i ran 35's w/ 4.56 on my cj & it was fine on the street, w/ a small v-8 & a auto trans. latter i went to 37's & it still was decent power on the street,then for more grunt offroad did the 4.0 low range in the tc.so im saying 4.56 is good w/ 33 or 35 dd use for more serious off road power if you go to 35's you can do the tc low range gear reduction. oh yeah 35's & lockers = broken stock axle shafts & u joints, better figure in some aftermarket hardened shafts & joints. or stay off the rocks.

 

x2

 

I have a 98, 4.0. aw4, same axles as you. $.88s are perfect for me, but i dont drive over 75.

I have 33x12.50 awell

 

Similar setup as you. Running 295/70r17 nittos with 4.56. Happy with it.

 

This is the reason I went with 4.56. I would doing a doubler setup in the near future.

 

Use the link Serious posted. I also vote 4.56s

 

I have the same setup as you... I'm running 4.56's an love it.

 

i have the same stock setup as you with 33 12.5s. i do the same amount of city/ hwy that you do. I am doin 4.56s too. however i dont ever plan on goin to 35s. my jeep is a mall crawler. with 35s comes alot more problems if you wheel alot and the type of terrain has alot to do with it too. trails vs rocks.

so if you are goin to ugrade the failure points and doin 35s; then i say 4.88s

I can totally understand why your havin a hard time deciding.lol.

 

well guys i really appreciate all the help and suggestions but its still some say one and some say the other lol... i checked out the gear calculator serious posted and if my calculations are correct it should be as follows

4.56 4.88

70mph 2438rpm 2609rpm
75mph 2612rpm 2795rpm

so i guess my next question is if its less than 200 rpms different does it really matter? does that 200 rpm make that big off a difference at cruising speed on the highway? i mean it seems like for the few more bucks i should just go with the 4.88s and not have to ever worry about re-gearing if that time ever comes???? unless i did the calculations wrong or theres something i dont know about that extra 200 rpm at cruising speed.....anyone willing to shed some light or tell me if the rpms i posted are about right?.....and again thanks in advanced, Gary