Who is running 5.13s or 5.38s with 35s???

I'm building a set of axles for my automatic '01, and am at the point of choosing what ratio I want. Originally I thouhgt I would do 4.88s with the 35s since I had 4.56s on my last XJ with 33s, and it was ok. But, I'm thinking of going a bit deeper now.

This XJ is not a daily driver at all, but it does need to be able to make the 6+ hour drives to Moab, Durango, ect (through the mountains). I don't want to gear it too low, but don't want to feel like I should have gone a bit lower later down the road.

The axles that are going under it are a HP 44 front (haven't decided between drive flanges or locking hubs yet) and FF 60 rear (will most likely have a detroit in it). With the extra weight of the Dana 60 axle, and running a 35" tire, I was thinking a 5.13 would be a good comprimise between drivability and low gear ratio here in Colorado.

Anyone runnig a sililar tire / gear set up? How do you like it? Is it ok on the highway?

Right now I'm starting to lean toward the 5.13s, would 5.38s be way too low?

Go 5.13's and don't look back. I went back to 4.88's and I want my old gears back. I'm on 37in creepy crawlers (35.75" tall) and I dd it. 4.88's bring the suck.

haha im glad i dont have an auto

53guy said:

Go 5.13's and don't look back. I went back to 4.88's and I want my old gears back. I'm on 37in creepy crawlers (35.75" tall) and I dd it. 4.88's bring the suck.

Click to expand...

I remember sometimes wishing I had 4.88s with the 33s on the old XJ, so I am defiantely leaning toward 5.13s. Anything will be better than the stock 3.55s I have in this one now with 33s. It works ok, but I always have to drive it in 3, can't maintain speed well in OD.

emr1101 said:

haha im glad i dont have an auto

Click to expand...

No way... I wouldn't have it any other way for crawling.

ROKRWLR said:

I remember sometimes wishing I had 4.88s with the 33s on the old XJ, so I am defiantely leaning toward 5.13s. Anything will be better than the stock 3.55s I have in this one now with 33s. It works ok, but I always have to drive it in 3, can't maintain speed well in OD.



.

Click to expand...

Lemme put it to ya this way. Go 5.13's or deeper if you plan on going larger than 35's. With 35's and 5.13's, I could do 80 no problem....the motor screamed, but I never got better gas mileage than with 5.13's. I regret not putting the 5.13's in these axles. The only bad part about them is I out crawled my brakes stupid easy. It could have been shitty brakes, but I loved 4 low and 5.13's, super for crawling. Just keep it below 80mph and you'll be good.

Im running 5.38's with 36'' TSL's, Love the combo. Alot more gear then tire, I like it that way.

Mine with 5.13's and 35's (5speed) is runnin 2700 rpm's at 65mph, helps on pulling the passes. But still a little bit of a struggle, kind of wished I would have went 5.38's.

shouldn't a person worry about how small the pinion is getting at 5.13-5.38's?

5.13 just sounds very low to me. I'm in a gearing debate myself and I'm afraid that 5.13 will just be tooo low. My XJ will not be driven daily but it will take occasional long highway trips to the mountains.

5.13 would be ok on the highway and if you needed to go lower for offroad you could go with a lower tcase gear for low range

whitneyj said:

shouldn't a person worry about how small the pinion is getting at 5.13-5.38's?

Click to expand...

No, there was an article I read the other day about how gears low like that puts less stress on the pinion or something. I'll have to try to find it again.

5.13's with an auto or 5.38's with 5 speed.

Thanks for all of the input.....

I'm set on going with 5.13s now.

As far as strength, I'm not too worried about it in the High Pinion 44 or the rear 60. I don't think the 4.0L will be too much strain on the ring and pinion.

And I definately think a little lower gear will help making it over pass at 11,158 ft through the tunnel on I-70. I end up flogging the crap out of the jeep Hasta now to get over Vail Pass and through the tunnel at the divide.

i run 5.38's on 36" tsl's with an auto

love it.

can cruise at 70 all day long and gets decent mpg as well.

i won't hesitate to run 35's on these gears

53guy said:

Go 5.13's and don't look back. I went back to 4.88's and I want my old gears back. I'm on 37in creepy crawlers (35.75" tall) and I dd it. 4.88's bring the suck.

Click to expand...

Hey Nick, Bring them back over, we'll put them in..

whitneyj said:

shouldn't a person worry about how small the pinion is getting at 5.13-5.38's?

Click to expand...

No, just more village wisdom in my opinion. The teeth pattern contact is the same if they are 3.55 or 5.38 gears. the thinest part of the pinion is the shaft, and that is the same no matter the ratio.

I have snapped 4.56 and 5.38 rear pinions, both snapped at the front bearing.
Also ate the teeth off of a low pinion d44 front doing front digs at 4.56 and 5.38. No real difference in the week points, IMHO.

I'd love to, but I'm about to PCS and its 50/50 if I'll sell it or keep it. If I keep it, we'll be over in a heartbeat. I'll bring the Carona and a sleeping bag.....and possibly a 14bt instead of that FF44 we did. Hawaii isn't so kind on Jeeps so if we go there, I'd rather see it go to someone who'd use it for what we built it for.