Gear ratio Split

I have an 88 Cherokee. I broke the Dana 35 gears so I swapped in a Dana 44 with 3.73 gears. I was on the phone with a guy at Rusty's Off Road asking about gears and such. My Jeep is Green stickered in California since it won't pass smog so it is for offroad use only. My front Dana 30 is 3.54 gears. The guy at Rusty's actually told me since I ONLY drive it offroad (to save some money) to just leave the 354's in the front and the 373's in the rear. I said ok, but to me, that just does not sound right. What do you guys think about the advice I got?
Also, anyone know what front gears came in a 91 Cherokee Laredo 4.0 I6, auto trans, that has part time/full time 4WD?

auto trans = 3.55 gears

ive always heard that you need the same gears front and rear.

there is normally a axle tag bolted on the diff using the diff cover bolts, take a wire brush to it and you should be able to read it... and as for having different gears, i came across this same problem with a comanche, when i swapped it to 4wd the axles had different gears, if you drive it at all on the road in 4wd or on the rocks in yourr case your front axle will try to go faster than your rear, this may cause hard turning or depending if your in a bind it could help break axles, i would get the same gears front and rear IMO

Having different gears is OK only if you do not use the 4 wheel drive... better yet, remove the front drive shaft.

I have 3.55 front and 4.10 rear. Done about 5,000 miles leaving the front drive shaft in the store room at home.

Thats too much of a difference to use 4wd.. you will bind up your tcase and or break something. it will be ok i its like 3.54 and 3.55 but 3.55 to 3.73 is too much of a gap.

babers1328 said:

The guy at Rusty's actually told me since I ONLY drive it offroad (to save some money) to just leave the 354's in the front and the 373's in the rear. I said ok, but to me, that just does not sound right.

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Billy

I wheel with a guy who has a similar split...3.73 front, 3.55 rear. No breakage and the rig works fine.

Then again, it's a D60 and 14 bolt. YMMV.

Thanks for the info. That's kinda what I thought. Hopefully the front axle in my spare 91 Cherokee has 3.73's.

Dont expect any luck because most come with 3.55's

Don't run it in 4 wheel drive with that gear split, it will destroy your T Case as soon as you get any kind of traction. And yeh 4.0 liter with an auto were pretty much standard with 3.55 gears.

babers1328 said:

The guy at Rusty's actually told me since I ONLY drive it offroad (to save some money) to just leave the 354's in the front and the 373's in the rear

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What an idoit!

No wonder he's associated with Rustys.

2% is about the max difference in gearing.