Too low of a gearing?

[Joopin]

1067852

Next month I am finally be doing my SOA. I picked out some Super Swamper Thornbirds 33x11.5 r15s. I was origninally going to upgrade to a 4.11 ratio... but now I'm thinking of getting 4.56 gears.
Now for the questions...Is there such a thing as having TOO low of a ratio? How will 4.56s affect my jeep with 33x11.5s? Thanks for any help.[addsig]

 

[dingus]

1067853

is your rig a daily driver? the only "bad" thing about gearing too low is a loss of top speed... but true off-roaders aim for as low as possible... doin' 20 mph in 5th gear revved out lol[addsig]

 

[Joopin]

1067854

Yeah it is a daily driver, and I don't want to loose much top speed. But I thought it was the other way around? If I go with 33s and stick with the 3.07 ratio then my power and top speed will suffer. I guess I need to find a happy medium, perhaps 4.11 ratio is it. [addsig]

 

[Jeepster05]

1067855

Why not go with 35s or bigger if you're doing an SOA. Ive got 33s right now and am doing a SOA this summer but i don't know how good it would look with just 33s. As for thornbirds, I've heard they cake with mud real quick and don't do so good. But if you're the type that's going for the aggressive look I think they look pretty cool. But if you ask me I'd go with some TSLs for that much money. [addsig]

 

[rockwrangler]

1067857

I have a buddie that did a soa on a YJ and I have to tell you that the 33's that he had did look a little small. If you could I would go ahead and do the 4.56 gears and the 35's
I'm sure that would'nt regret it other that having to have a ladder to get in and out of it.[addsig]

 

[Joopin]

1067878

The pic below is this guy Nathan that has the identical Jeep I do, he did an SOA and put 33s on it... don't know how wide. Anyway he says it performs great with 4.11s on and offroad... These don't look to small to me. It would be nice to have 35s but I have to keep in mind that it is a daily driver... man now I'm gettin second thoughts!!! Just when I thought I had everything planned out!

Nathans Jeep ramped about 900 on a 23 degree RTI ramp with the SOA.

edited by: Joopin\', May 14, 2003 - 03:55 PM[addsig]

 

[Snitty]

1067902

in no way do 33s look bad with an soa... BigBlackJeep did the soa, and had a 1.5" shackle on top of that... and he ran 32s.. it looked just fine... plus... its not about how it looks.. its about how it works... the 33s add another 1/2 inch ground to axle clearance... but his 32's would allow another 1/2" flex clearance.... stick with 4.11 if you are keeping it on the road

edited by: Snitty, May 14, 2003 - 10:05 PM[addsig]

 

[far_right]

1067904

stick with 3.11 if you are keeping it on the road

did you mean 4.11?[addsig]

 

[JE420EP]

1067907

Dude i have a 2.5l with 33's and 4.88 gears. Drives great on road. Get the gears, the more gear you have the better.[addsig]

 

[Gspotracing]

1067915

What motor do you have? What rear diff. are you running?

4.88 are cherry for 4popper
4.11 or 4.56 for 6cyl.
If you have a strong diff. definitely go with 35. oohh yeah!!! :evil: :evil: [addsig]

 

[Sully]

1067918

I would go for the 4.11's.They are about right.Remember,bigger tire = bigger circumference,in other words,more top speed.It just depends on how efficiantly and fast do you want to reach high speed. Hope this helped. :wink: Sully[addsig]

 

[Joopin]

1067943

Gspot, I have a 4.0L and the stock differential still (which I don't know what it is). I just want it to perform well ON the road AND off the road, so if I can keep the same acceleration etc. with the 33s and the 4.11s than thats for me. As for getting 32s for 1/2" more of articulation, I'm not offroading that much where it would matter. [addsig]

 

[jterp]

1067976

I would go with the 4.11. In answer to your earlier question, yes you can have too much gear. 3.07 with 33's is not enough gear-- result is when you shift into fifth the engine RPM drops so low that you cannot accelerate or sometimes even maintain speed. 4.56 gears with 33's would be too much gear-- You will get through the gears much quicker, but will not gain as much speed. Therefore when in fifth gear maintaining 70 MPH, the RPM will be very high. This kills MPG, limits top speed, and is generally not good for your engine. 4.11 will be a happy medium. [addsig]

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

1068015

Don't buy Thornturds, run far, far away from them. Most other swampers are excellent.

There are many gear calculators on the web that will tell you what gear to use to return to stock performance. Remeber, the gears make up for the larger diameter, but not for the increase rotating mass. You may have to gear slightly lower than the chart recommends for better performance. I'd get the 4.11, swap in some 4banger axles, it's a lot cheaper and easier.[addsig]

 

[pitchone]

1068017

Check out this link www.webejeepin.com/Gears.htm. The table at the bottom tells the story.[addsig]

 

[TommyJeep]

1068107

Depends on the primary wheel'n you like to do. If it's mostly mud, then 4.11's would be fine, IMO. If you're talking about rock crawling and stuff like that (slower), then you're gonna end up replacing those 4.11's with 4.56 or 4.88's down the road.

I have a calc on my web that's pretty useful for these situations. It shows crawl speed in feet/sec, and also highway speed at whatever RPM you like (I start with 2,000). I don't have any automatics selectable though :-( I need to work on that.

http://www.tommyjeep.com/apps/ratio/index.htm

edited by: TommyJeep, May 15, 2003 - 05:06 PM[addsig]

 

[Snitty]

1068126

thats a nice calculator you have there, i saved it... very nice tool[addsig]

 

[jprtroy]

1068341

Yes, there is a such a beast as being too low geared. My CJ-5 has that issue currently. I can only get 62mph (2800rpm max) out of her right now with 33" bfg's, T-18 transmission (w/granny) and 4:10's Off road, she's a freakin tank, while in 1st, it's spooky how slow I can go! The "grunt she has OMG! This is good while rock crawling. For hill climbing, it's not so good, need 2nd, or 3rd. My biggest dissapointment was the amount of top end I lost. I kne I'd loose some, just not that much! I'll be redemying this in the future with either new 3:73 gears or 35"BFG's. (which sucks and my 33's are still brand new!)
Oh well.......

[addsig]

 

[MudDawg]

1068377

When I put 33's on my XJ it KILLED the power, and the fuel economy. After much thought and listening to advice from the folks here as well as people i know, I had the 3.73's removed and 4.88's installed...before it would not go on the road well at all. And forget pulling a boat or running the A/C...about 50 was all it would do..and the slightest hill would slow it down more...the stock gearing and tires had the motor turning 2,750 RPM at 60mph...now it turns 3,075rpm at 60mph...and the fuel milage improved from 9.5mpg to 15.6mpg...and the extra pulling power is handy too.


Dawg[addsig]