Help with re-gearing.

TapouT

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2008
Location
Hickory nc
I have a '96 Cherokee. It has a 4.5" lift with 31" tires on it now. I've thrown around the idea of re-gearing it and putting 33's on it. Is 4.88 the optimal gear for that tire size? (33/12.50/15)...who is the best to buy gears from and is there a good shop around Hickory, NC that could do it? I'll do most stuff when it comes to the Jeep but I'm not ready to tackle gear changes.
 
TapouT said:
I have a '96 Cherokee. It has a 4.5" lift with 31" tires on it now. I've thrown around the idea of re-gearing it and putting 33's on it. Is 4.88 the optimal gear for that tire size? (33/12.50/15)...who is the best to buy gears from and is there a good shop around Hickory, NC that could do it? I'll do most stuff when it comes to the Jeep but I'm not ready to tackle gear changes.
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Mostly highway use? 4.0l im assuming?

If so, i would go 4.10/4.56. 4.88 is good choice if primarily offroad, imo.

I would call up Metalwerx. Here in hickory, can get you everything and do the work.
 
I am running 265/70/17 with 4:10. I am good on the highway and around town. Jeep is primarily DD. 99 xj
 
I'm preparing to go to 3:55 from 3:07, 31" tires. I hope to just help out a little bit on the hwy.
 
GotWood said:
I'm preparing to go to 3:55 from 3:07, 31" tires. I hope to just help out a little bit on the hwy.
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I realize it's not entirely apples to apples, but I ran my 94 explorer with 31's with 3:27 and 3:73 gears from Greensboro to Sylva/Waynesville many times.switching the gears didn't help that much on the highway except for not having to gear down up hills. The main place that I found it helped was in town it was easier to get the bigger rubber rolling from a dead stop.

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This was 4.56 on 36" TSLs. Loved it. (44+9) 4.56 is a great choice. It'll open you up to a 35" which would be the most I'd run on stock axles.
 
Manual or auto XJ? I seem to recall the auto XJs having a really high overdrive, where 4.88s were good with 33s. If the trans is geared similar to a TJ 5 speed, 4.56s and 35s is perfect for mixed driving.
 
I had 4.56 gears on my xj while on 30" street tires for a short time. Yeah highway driving was screaming at 70 mph, like almost 3k rpm if I remember correctly. That was probably 50k miles ago. The 4.0 can handle it brah.

Then slowly worked my way up to 35s. I wouldn't bother with 4.88s Re gearing is one of the best investments you can ever make in this hobby.
 
Go 4.10's IMO if you're only going to a 33. That's what I ran in my old YJ for a while.
you can do some looking and pull the front axle from a 4cyl manual cherokee (I think they had 4.10's) for about $200. If youre doing this, then go ahead and find an explorer 8.8 with discs and 4.10's for the rear. ($150)
You get a much stronger axle, discs, and 4.10's for way less money.
But you don't have any warranty on the used stuff like you might a new set of gears.
:smokin:
 
Van-go said:
front axle from a 4cyl manual cherokee
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This is how I got my 4:10 gears in the front. Then I just re geared the 8.25. I did both axles for about 375$
 
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