4.10s and 33s?

[RCP Phx]

10 years now on 4.10's and 33's,I tow my trailer all over the US when I travel,I can do 70 easy thru the "Million Dollar Highway!

 

[over2land]

Yep, 3.07s in this thing now, and with the 30s I put on it, I think that 3.55s would be better gears for it.

I have no idea how often I'll be hauling axles... but parts, pretty frequently. The axles were just an example.

Thanks all for the input.

 

[the_weirdo]

IMO, if you are undecided between 2 gear ratios, choose the deeper gear ratio. I've never thought "damn, I went too deep". I have often thought "damn, I didn't go deep enough."

Edit: insert snide comment about sex here.

 

[over2land]

LOL, yeah, and its a good rule of thumb too.

Thing is, I have the 4.88s right now in that front axle.

I'm thinking I'm gonna stick with the original plan and just put the 4.88s in the rear and if I don't like it, try to swap with someone later. I'm doing the setup, so not like I'll be out money there, and the carrier brake on both axles is within the range of gears I'm contemplating, so I won't be out money there either.

 

[Hellbent]

also(was mentioned earlier) 4.10's+33's in an ax-15, is quite different from the same set up in an aw-4(in terms of a DD). i drove an auto with that set up, and it felt like a complete turd. there's a lot to be said for the lower 1st in a manual, and the ability to freely pick your gears.

 

[KRAKER]

I have 4.56's and 32's on a DD. I don't like it for everyday use. Highway RPM's are too high for my taste.

 

[over2land]

KRAKER is yours a manual trans?

 

[winkosmosis]

IMO, if you are undecided between 2 gear ratios, choose the deeper gear ratio. I've never thought "damn, I went too deep". I have often thought "damn, I didn't go deep enough."

Edit: insert snide comment about sex here.

Ever drive a 90s sports car? They geared them too deep because the speed limits were 55 and also because people feel the need to accelerate even in top gear. My Miata was turning at 4000rpm at 70mph. A lot of people would spring for a taller overdrive gear if it wasn't so difficult to install.

 

[90XJay]

I run 33x15.5s on 4.10s with an auto renix. I DD it. Does fine for me. Reaches somewhere around 80ish on the highway (speedo cabble is broken, I just know the average speed on said highway and keep up). I'd like to have 4.56 for wheeling but the money was an issue and I found stock 4.10's in a dana 30 and 8.25 (being replaced with a 8.8 soon)

 

[1990heepxj]

ya im on a renix 4.0 ax-15 33s and 4.10s and mine puls very nicely. i play around and chirp 1st in parking lots while in already rollin. it feels great and is my dd. o and 90Xjay ull love the 8.8 i swapped mine in about a month ago its awesome

 

[Ivan]

I have 4.56's and 32's on a DD. I don't like it for everyday use. Highway RPM's are too high for my taste.

Good point on a matter of taste...

I on the other hand have a 5 spd with 4.56's and 32's as my DD, and it works just fine for my taste at 65 - 70 mph. As noted before, it's not a sports car... it's a modified tractor built to cruise comfortably at 65 mph....

 

[winkosmosis]

Good point on a matter of taste...

I on the other hand have a 5 spd with 4.56's and 32's as my DD, and it works just fine for my taste at 65 - 70 mph. As noted before, it's not a sports car... it's a modified tractor built to cruise comfortably at 65 mph....

If it's not a sports car why do you want sports car style low gearing?

 

[Ivan]

If it's not a sports car why do you want sports car style low gearing?

Because with my set up, I want to my money's worth out of 5th gear. 32's brought major on suckage on 3.07 stock gearing. Two days later I had 4.56's.

....Do you really not get it?

 

[iroll919]

i have 4.88s and 33" bfg all terrains and i hate it with my ax-15 first gear is about useless and when im cruising around 45 im in 5th gear and my rpms are right around 2000 rpms

personally i would stick with 4.10s if i were to do it again and if you want more than that then go with 4.56s but i hate 4.88s its great offroad but sucks for daily driver purposes in my opinion

 

[winkosmosis]

Because with my set up, I want to my money's worth out of 5th gear. 32's brought major on suckage on 3.07 stock gearing. Two days later I had 4.56's.

....Do you really not get it?

I don't get why you need your engine spinning at high RPMs on the highway. If it's not accelerating fast enough for you, downshift. The belief that you always need max power, even in top gear, is why so many cars are way less efficient than they should be.

 

[1990heepxj]

ivan u should realize on a manual and 32s you only need 3.73 for stock so 4.10s woulda been plenty of power over what u had on stock tires

 

[Ivan]

I don't get why you need your engine spinning at high RPMs on the highway. If it's not accelerating fast enough for you, downshift. The belief that you always need max power, even in top gear, is why so many cars are way less efficient than they should be.

ivan u should realize on a manual and 32s you only need 3.73 for stock so 4.10s woulda been plenty of power over what u had on stock tires

Again, it's all about personal tastes, as I've mentioned. I simply stated my situation as another point of view.

My daily driver is also my trail rig. I'm not a mall crawler, and actually off road my XJ to it's full capability. At the same time, I can drive my vehicle at 65 - 700 @ 2750 RPM on the highway all day long, but I'm by no means red lining the engine. Plus, I live in a fairly hilly rural area, where I need the deeper gearing to haul my heavier and no longer stock vehicle around. Do I give up some mpg? Perhaps, perhaps not; but's its a trade off I'm willing to take to be able to have my XJ perform under the conditions that I need it to. I have confidence knowing that my XJ will perform great off road, with the gearing I have; and I have proven it to myself many times. Not once have I said to myself, "Dang, I'm geared too low...what a horrible mistake"

I've been wheeling my XJ since 1999, and have been a member of this board since 2002. I've learned a lot from this board, and listen to peoples achievement and also their mistakes; to make the decisions I have for my particular application.

Is is right for you? Who knows, and I don't really care. But like all the other posts I've learn from, I've culled the info from the ones that fit my need. Click on any other "What gears should I run" posts, and I bet you that the majority of those responses follow my line of thinking. Why? Because they been there. But then again, draw your own conclusions from what you can and should learn from others that have been there.

Remember, good judgement is based on experience; experience is based on bad judgement.......

 

[CharlieMopps]

Everyones not mentioning the elephant in the room. You can get 2 axles with STOCK 4.10s in them for under $300. And at the same time upgrade them to like an 8.8

Or you can have the axles regeared for $600 to $800

Can't get stock 4.56s or 4.88

 

[ChiXJeff]

I ran 4.10 gears with 31x10.50s for 3 or 4 years (94 4.0l with an AX15) as a daily driver around Chicago. When I went up to 33x12.50s, I could tell that it struggled a little more on the highway, definitely did *NOT* like towing a 2,200 lb. pop-up camper, and just did not work as well off-road.

Go 4.56 and don't look back.

 

[stoneattic]

I ran 3.73s with 31s for a few years with my 4.0/AX-15 and always thought it could use a little deeper gears. When I went with 33s a couple of years ago I put 4.56s in. I like the 4.56s around town but long for less gear on the highway. I lost 3mpg or so going from 31s/3.73 to 33s/4.56s. I don't know much of that was the gears, or the worse aerodynamics, or the heavier tires.

It's a DD that gets wheels a few times a year at Rausch Creek and the occasional camping/fire road/beach trips.

It seems to me 3.91s with 31s and 4.30s with 33s would be perfect for me with my AX-15, but seems like those gears aren't available (or at least rare) for the D30/D44s I'm running. They were more common for my 8 3/4 rears back in my Mopar days.