where do i go from here

i have a 97 cherokee with the specs listed below. i pretty much bought it as is, and its my daily driver. i dont see myself ever getting serious about real offroading. its pretty much just a cruiser. and a mall crawler for me

it currently has the stock gears, and i doubt ill go bigger than the 32s i have now, if anything maybe a 33 but thats it. since the pinion seal is leaking, and im sure it may have very old gear oil in there its time to regear

that said, are these the correct transmission gear ratios; 2.80, 1.53, 1.0, .75? and is this the actual redline; 5300 redline? if so i believe 4.30 is probably the best ratio to go.....? im hoping to pick up some fuel economy, and drivability. id rather be more on the conservative side, than geared towards offroading but im open minded to the best ratio.


also, my sway bar links, and sway bar bushings are shot. any advice on which brand/where to shop for said parts would be incredibly helpful. i also need an electric fan, where is the best place to pick one of those up? beyond that, ive got some maintenance to take care of as well, does anyone know where i can pick up nvh foam? the kid that had this truck before me didnt rotate the tires/align the truck so EVERYTHING rattles horribly on the highway im thinking if i stick some foam in between things, that may help. thanks in advance guys!


EDIT
4.30s

RPM 1st 2nd 3rd 4th gear
500 4 7 11 14
600 5 8 13 17
700 5 10 15 20
800 6 11 17 23
900 7 13 19 26
1000 8 14 21 28
1100 8 15 23 31
1200 9 17 26 34
1300 10 18 28 37
1400 11 19 30 40
1500 11 21 32 43
1600 12 22 34 45
1700 13 24 36 48
1800 14 25 38 51
1900 14 26 40 54
2000 15 28 43 57
2100 16 29 45 60
2200 17 31 47 62
2300 17 32 49 65
2400 18 33 51 68
2500 19 35 53 71
2600 20 36 55 74
2700 21 38 58 77
2800 21 39 60 80
2900 22 40 62 82
3000 23 42 64 85
3100 24 43 66 88
3200 24 45 68 91
3300 25 46 70 94
3400 26 47 72 97
3500 27 49 75 99
3600 27 50 77 102
3700 28 52 79 105
3800 29 53 81 108
3900 30 54 83 111
4000 30 56 85 114
4100 31 57 87 116
4200 32 58 89 119
4300 33 60 92 122
4400 33 61 94 125
4500 34 63 96 128
4600 35 64 98 131
4700 36 65 100 133
4800 37 67 102 136
4900 37 68 104 139
5000 38 70 107 142
5100 39 71 109 145
5200 40 72 111 148
5300 40 74 113 151


4.56


RPM 1st 2nd 3rd 4th gear
500 4 7 10 13
600 4 8 12 16
700 5 9 14 19
800 6 11 16 21
900 6 12 18 24
1000 7 13 20 27
1100 8 14 22 29
1200 9 16 24 32
1300 9 17 26 35
1400 10 18 28 37
1500 11 20 30 40
1600 11 21 32 43
1700 12 22 34 46
1800 13 24 36 48
1900 14 25 38 51
2000 14 26 40 54
2100 15 28 42 56
2200 16 29 44 59
2300 17 30 46 62
2400 17 32 48 64
2500 18 33 50 67
2600 19 34 52 70
2700 19 35 54 72
2800 20 37 56 75
2900 21 38 58 78
3000 22 39 60 80
3100 22 41 62 83
3200 23 42 64 86
3300 24 43 66 88
3400 24 45 68 91
3500 25 46 70 94
3600 26 47 72 96
3700 27 49 74 99
3800 27 50 76 102
3900 28 51 78 104
4000 29 53 80 107
4100 29 54 82 110
4200 30 55 84 112
4300 31 56 86 115
4400 32 58 88 118
4500 32 59 90 121
4600 33 60 92 123
4700 34 62 94 126
4800 34 63 96 129
4900 35 64 98 131
5000 36 66 100 134
5100 37 67 102 137
5200 37 68 104 139
5300 38 70 106 142

parameteres im using are
5300 redline
30.79101433374809 tire diameter
2.80, 1.53, 1.0, .75 transmission ratios
655-revolutions per mile
32x11.5x15 tires

my truck as it sits, 97 cherokee country///np 242 transfer case//auto
rustys 4.5 full leaf lift kit, rustys heavy duty tie rod, rubicon RE1600 track bar, 32x11.5 mud terrains

Why do you need 33s? Curbs too high?

4 10 would probably be better, for you and since you dont offroad (its what jeeps are for!!!) you really dont need to hit the rev limiter or worry about your rpm's

Talyn said:

Why do you need 33s? Curbs too high?

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Yep, pretty treacherous stuff here.

Redsand said:

4 10 would probably be better, for you and since you dont offroad (its what jeeps are for!!!) you really dont need to hit the rev limiter or worry about your rpm's

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Cool thanks for the info. An offroad junkie at my work is trying to get me to go 4.56 or 4.88 lol. Id like to do some light trailing but not a lot of time, nor do i know many people who wheel. Do i have the transmission/rev limiter stats correct? Thanks again

so....why do transmission/rev-limiter stats matter? Do you really think you're going to get the XJ to 140+mph? Wow. This is not a ricer-racer....get real....it's a Jeep!

I can tell you that I run 4:56's with 33" tires. Speedo is only a little off from stock (reads about 5mph high at 60 mph). So, 4:56's will get you back to stock gearing with 33's...pretty much. And, the Jeep stock was pretty peppy.

If you stick with the 32s I would go 4.10s (never heard of 4.30 gear ratio before) but if you ever think you'll go larger, 4.56. I have 4.56 with both 33s and 35s. Both still drive great. I actually prefer the 4.56-35 combo because of the lower revs at free way speeds. Imo

32" rires and 4.10 gears will get you the best MPG. As for the rattles, its a JEEP, they rattle, buy lots of foam. Dam things rattled from the day you took them off the lot new.

Flyfisher said:

so....why do transmission/rev-limiter stats matter? Do you really think you're going to get the XJ to 140+mph? Wow. This is not a ricer-racer....get real....it's a Jeep!

I can tell you that I run 4:56's with 33" tires. Speedo is only a little off from stock (reads about 5mph high at 60 mph). So, 4:56's will get you back to stock gearing with 33's...pretty much. And, the Jeep stock was pretty peppy.

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they matter so i can calculate where i will be at rpmwise at freeway speeds-60-80 mph. without that, im just shooting in the dark and hoping for the best.

nochance9 said:

If you stick with the 32s I would go 4.10s (never heard of 4.30 gear ratio before) but if you ever think you'll go larger, 4.56. I have 4.56 with both 33s and 35s. Both still drive great. I actually prefer the 4.56-35 combo because of the lower revs at free way speeds. Imo

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cool, thanks for the info. im more of a mustang guy, and 4.30s are pretty common in certain applications. i was getting mixed info, and people were saying go 4.10s, and go 4.56, so 4.30 would be the middle ground. with your 33/4.56 tire combo where are you at 60-70 mph?

93gc40 said:

32" rires and 4.10 gears will get you the best MPG. As for the rattles, its a JEEP, they rattle, buy lots of foam. Dam things rattled from the day you took them off the lot new.

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:laugh: so ive heard. its only really bad in a few spots. thanks for the input

v8venomgt said:

they matter so i can calculate where i will be at rpmwise at freeway speeds-60-80 mph. without that, im just shooting in the dark and hoping for the best.

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http://jeep-xj.info/HowtoSpeedoGears.htm

This should help you some. :read: especially the bottom section.

My XJ always read 100 RPM +/- above the calculated speed. :dunno: Maybe it's an AW4 thing :huh:

Weird, his numbers are way different than mine, i wonder where the difference is between the 2, and who is more accurate lol

v8venomgt said:

they matter so i can calculate where i will be at rpmwise at freeway speeds-60-80 mph. without that, im just shooting in the dark and hoping for the best.


cool, thanks for the info. im more of a mustang guy, and 4.30s are pretty common in certain applications. i was getting mixed info, and people were saying go 4.10s, and go 4.56, so 4.30 would be the middle ground. with your 33/4.56 tire combo where are you at 60-70 mph?

:laugh: so ive heard. its only really bad in a few spots. thanks for the input

Click to expand...

Former mustang guy as well and I wanted 4.30's when I had 32's too haha.

With 32's and 33's, definitely go 4.56. I had 32s and 4.56s for a couple years and it was great on the highway. I'd drive 80 all over the place and the revs weren't too high. You're gonna want the low end torque when going up any sort of hill or towing anything. Even if I wasn't offroading, I wouldn't hesitate to get the 4.56s again. Now that I'm on 35's, I wish I had even more gear to get up hills and stuff.

4.10s for budget friendly, can find em in d30s and 8.25s and 8.8s at the yard
4.56s if you're going to pay to regear

Don't worry about rev limiter speeds, aim to have your usual cruising speed (whether it be 65, or 80) somewhere between 2500 and 3000rpm. With 3.55s, 33s, and an AW4 I can hit mid 90s topped out in second gear. I've never hit rev limiter in third because frankly, I'm afraid to even try and the Saudis start salivating when I even think about it.

sunburned said:

Former mustang guy as well and I wanted 4.30's when I had 32's too haha.

With 32's and 33's, definitely go 4.56. I had 32s and 4.56s for a couple years and it was great on the highway. I'd drive 80 all over the place and the revs weren't too high. You're gonna want the low end torque when going up any sort of hill or towing anything. Even if I wasn't offroading, I wouldn't hesitate to get the 4.56s again. Now that I'm on 35's, I
wish I had even more gear to get up hills and stuff.

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im still a mustang guy, the jeep is just the dd lol. what rpm at what speed were you at?

kastein said:

4.10s for budget friendly, can find em in d30s and 8.25s and 8.8s at the yard
4.56s if you're going to pay to regear

Don't worry about rev limiter speeds, aim to have your usual cruising speed (whether it be 65, or 80) somewhere between 2500 and 3000rpm. With 3.55s, 33s, and an AW4 I can hit mid 90s topped out in second gear. I've never hit rev limiter in third because frankly, I'm afraid to even try and the Saudis start salivating when I even think about it.

Click to expand...

3k rpm sounds high on a 5500 rpm redline? Maybe im over critical, but it seems for anything over a 200-300 mile trip would work the motor over pretty good?

v8venomgt said:

3k rpm sounds high on a 5500 rpm redline? Maybe im over critical, but it seems for anything over a 200-300 mile trip would work the motor over pretty good?

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Redline is 5000, rev limiter is at 5250. I've had mine at 5200 for hours on end. No problems yet. Might be working the motor over pretty good, but I haven't had issues with it... oil pressure is great, no bad noises, pulls like a horse, etc.

Hey bro :wave1: