Help me decide which gears.

Yes I've searched, and did the gear calculators. Here is what I have. 2000 4.0/AW4/242 w/D30lp and D35. Currently have 2" BB with very trimmed fenders.

I have front and rear 44s to put in. I was going to wait and build them, but found an inbetween point and decided to put in my rear 44. It has 4.10 in it. Here is what I'm doing. Putting a lunchbox locker in the rear, and using wheel adapters to change 6 on 5.5 to 5 on 4.5 (gives about 2' of width). Regearing the front to 4.10 and putting in a Truetrac LS. Putting 1.25 wheel spacer on to match the rear. CV rear shaft. Going to 3.5 lift.

It is also time for new tires. I have 265/75/16s (31.6 OD). 285/75/16 (32.8/11.5)look real attractive.

So here is my delima. Stay with the 4.10 and tall 31s, regear both ends to 4.56, or go to 4.88s. I plan to go to 35s in the future. I will have to build my 44 to put it in. I also plan to put in a real locker in the rear in the future which means new carrier. I just thought 33s are doable which got me to 4.56s Those are hard to get used, so I would have to get new. If I get new, then why not 4.88. Would 4.88s be excessive with my setup? It is my daily driver. I'm tired of the 31s and 3.55s, but don't want to do 4000rpm at 60mph. Help me decide

Dirt Surfer said:

I plan to go to 35s in the future.

Click to expand...

How far in the future??

Id go with 4.88's and toss some cheapy 33's on it for the time being personally, but thats just me.

Good point. I will go to 35s, but probably not for 2 years. To put the front in will take some money. Locker, gears, crossover steering... I didn't even plan on doing what I am doing. My buddy told me I should throw a lunchbox locker in the D35, and here we are talking about 4.88s! How the hell did I get here?!

Anyone else?

my buddy had 4.88's in his jeep (30/44) on 33's and he loved it, he now wants 5.13's for his 35's. its all about what you can tolerate on the road, now that my jeep is trail only, im debating on 5.89's or 6.17's for my 39's

As far as cost and effort is concerned, you're talking about gearing three times. D30, and both D44's. So, it makes little difference if you do the D30 now to 4.10's and then the D44's later to 4.88's, or do both to 4.88's now and then the front D44 when you put it in. If you don't want to spend as much now, and don't want to be forced into different tires now, just stick in the rear D44 and do the D30 to the 4.10's. You can run 33's on 4.10's, it's not as nice as 4.56's or 4.88's, but it's better than 31's on 3.55's. Then you can save up some dough and spend it on gearing when you put in the front D44.

Thanks guys. I just said ok to a set of rear 4.88s on Pirate. When I use a calculator for RPMs with what I have, there isn't much difference between 4.56 and 4.88. About 150 rpms @ 60mph. I was just looking for real world input. Thanks for that.

That was what I was thinking Goatman. It doesn't matter what I do up front since I have to regear the 44 I will put in. But since I have to do the front, and it is time for new tires, lower gears looked real attractive. I've been running the high side for a while now, so WTF, lets go to the low side. Thanks