5.13s or 5.38s for 35s??

I was just talking to a friend and this question came up in my mind. I will be building a Tera 50 and a Dana 60 for my Jeep so I can stop spending time and money on my axles and stop worrying about them. I have 4.56s and 33s now and wish I had a little bit deeper gearing. With that said, would you run 5.13s or 5.38s for 35s. I know that the "norm" for 35s is 4.88s, but since I'm already wanting deeper gears for 33s, I figured 4.88s wouldn't be deep enough. Thanks

Ary

P.S. I'm assuming 5.38s can be had for a HP 44 and a 60, am I wrong?

I know you can get 5.13s for HPD44s and LPD60s, don't know about 5.38s, but I think so. Go to Randy's website and it'll have it listed.

Are you really going to stop at 35s? that's the real question...

Well since most people run 4.88s with 35s, I figured even if one day I wanted to go bigger, 5.13s or 5.38s would be good for the next step up as well. I don't really know, I don't even know if I want to go to 35s yet, I really haven't wheeled anywhere near the potential of 33s yet, and I know it. I'm just thinking out loud. I do know that my rear axle has got to go, and soon, so that's part of what started all of this... Thanks

Ary

I was debating real hard about buying 37s for my next set (33s now) and finally (after months) decided that I'm gonna stick with 35s both for streetability and just so I can have more fun on the little stuff and be more challenged on the big stuff. Less chance of breaking too.

Something for you to consider, I know bigger is cooler, but you just gotta resist sometimes.

5.38s can be had for both those axles. They would be my choice. Lower is better.

lower also means weaker gear sets (except with a Ford 9"), though I don't know at what point that needs to be a consideration.

you can get 5.89s for standard D44s and D60s, not sure about HPs.

holy crap thats low. Yu guys don't drive these things on the highways I take it.

Sure I do, I didn't get 67k miles on my Jeep since May of '01 by walking everywhere.

Honestly I drive somewhere far(at least 200 miles each way) every weekend. However, I tend to get tickets, and I figure if I limit how fast I can go with my gears, I will get less tickets, and have better off-road manners to boot I can cruise all day long at 75-80mph about 2750 RPMs with 4.56s and 33s. I still have to downshift on any sort of a major hill though, and there are plenty around here. I'm really just wondering if 5.38s will be TOO low to be practical on the highway. Thanks

Ary

"I can cruise all day long at 75-80mph about 2750 RPMs with 4.56s and 33s. I still have to downshift on any sort of a major hill though, and there are plenty around here. I'm really just wondering if 5.38s will be TOO low to be practical on the highway."

I find 33" and 4.56 way too streety for my tastes...and my junky 220k 89 is way less fresh than your 01 4.0.

I have to pull hills or pass munglehead slopokes in third way too often for my liking...It'll torque on with the TC locked in 4th... but with 5.13 or 5.38 either it'd be a throttle-on thing in OD.

If I had to choose, I'd go with the 5.38:1 and fill up the tank a bit more often.

I would have though 2700 was almost too high considering stock is around 24-2500 at 75-80. Hows your mpg? I've been batting the gear ratio question around for awhile. I'm not concerned with crawl ratio per say(thats what the crawl box is for) but more highway driving.

Woody, I don't quite follow what you mean by "too streety."

Weasel, I drive like a$$ and know it, I average 15 around town on the highway and I "get it" everywhere I go. The few times I've kept my foot out of it on the highway and gone 65-70 I get around 18-19 mpg. It's hard to go that slow when both lanes are full of trucks going 75-80 and there's nothing stopping you from keeping up. As for revs being too high, I'm pretty sure I ran at 2700 stock going back and forth to the ex-gf's place doing about 75-80. I'm hoping Beez will chime in on this 'cause I know he was running 35 MTRs on 5.13s for a while and I don't know what he's running now with 37s. He's also a strong advocate for letting the 4.0 run high in the revs. Thanks

Ary

lower also means weaker gear sets

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If theres one bit of misguided "info" I'd like to see stay off of the jeep forums for good, its this one.....

Beez, how you gonna leave me hangin like that, after I specifically pointed out that I hoped you would chime in?? sniff sniff:bawl:

Ary

ary, you could do either.

yes, I did run 5.13's with 35's and though it was awesome!

ask goat what he thinks too.

right now I'm running 5.38's with 37's....

as you know, its a total trail rig now, so I cannot comment on rpm/speed relationships, since its no longer an issue, but if "top speed" is still a concern for you, choose wisely....

5.13's would be a good choice if this is the case, and its still plenty of gear if you go to 37's in the future.

good luck!

Beez, thanks for your words of wisdom, hopefully goat will chime in too.

Ary

Too Streety

I mean that with 33" (?) and 4.56:1...

Gotta drop to third for any sort of + grade if I want to maintain Headway . And even then the acceleration isn't stellar...just enough to keep it in the wind @ 60-75

They can rev up way above 3000 for a spell...especially an 01 with good oil pressure and bearings. Don't be afraid :viking:

OTOH my Junk ran 350 mi. from Crawford's to home on one tankful this time... It'll probably blow up on the way to work this morning :dunno:

Re: Too Streety

woody said:

I mean that with 33" (?) and 4.56:1...

Gotta drop to third for any sort of + grade if I want to maintain Headway . And even then the acceleration isn't stellar...just enough to keep it in the wind @ 60-75

They can rev up way above 3000 for a spell...especially an 01 with good oil pressure and bearings. Don't be afraid :viking:

OTOH my Junk ran 350 mi. from Crawford's to home on one tankful this time... It'll probably blow up on the way to work this morning :dunno:

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Chit, 350 on one tank, those were the days...I haven't gotten more than 250 miles out of a tank as far back as I can remember. I understand what you mean though now. My motor is getting a little tired as it quickly approachs 70k, but not as tired as yours. Good luck on the drive to work tomorrow

Ary

Ary, with all this serious mod chat you're talking about doing in the future, I hope you have a Daily Driver budgeted in there.

PhatXJ said:

Ary, with all this serious mod chat you're talking about doing in the future, I hope you have a Daily Driver budgeted in there.

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Dave, my daily commute is less than a mile (college is good for that), and my long trips usually have something jeep related tied into them so I have to take the Jeep anyway. As far as after college is concerned, I've got that covered, and I've still got 3 years to go anyway even though I'm a junior now(switching majors and losing a semester to health issues will do that). The whole point for me in building these axles is to build out breakage and unreliability so that I can retain the Jeep for DD duties until I graduate. I'm also still young enough and stupid enough to think being impractical is fun and exciting But, if all else fails, my parents do have an extra car that I can borrow in case of an emergency, in other words, my brother who just got his liscense would be out of a car for a little while Thanks for the concern though, I've definately thought about it and as I said above, I'm still not even 100% I'll go with 35s, might just keep with my 33s till my rig is the limiting factor.

Ary

I felt the same way, 4.56's were just a little tall for 33's, so I went with 5.13's in the new axles with 35's. I think it works great. I can pull low hills now in OD, and on most steep (interstate type) hills I can run any speed I want in 3rd. To cruise between 75-80 I'm in the 3000 rpm range, but that won't hurt a 4.0L. I wouldn't do the 5.38's, I think it would be a little too low.

Now I'm putting in a stroker, and will probably wish I had 4.88's. Maybe I'll just have to get 37's next time....that should work out just right.

I'm with Beezil on the lower is weaker scam. I just don't see it. Fewer teeth engaged, but more leverage......looks like mostly a wash to me. I know an extremely high ratio could be weaker, depending in the size of the r & p, but in most ratios I don't see it.

As far as tire size, I just went to 35's, and didn't see much difference in performance from the 33's. I've run, and been with other's who have run, many, many hardcore trails with 33's. I say if you have the axles for 35's run them, if you don't, don't worry about running 33's. We wheel for fun, and it's no fun to break on the trail. If showing off (big tires) is more fun for some, so be it, but I want to wheel without breaking......that's what's fun for me.