^^ what he said.

Sorry, getting tired and lazy here - been on the forum all night long. Making up for time away.

@ the OP: decide what you want, what you're doing to do with it, how much money you want to spend, and what your time frame is for modifying it. Those will be a big factor in your decision(s).

Bowing out of this thread so the experts can chime in!

 

Gears then chip. Then again, if you buy an X, you might be looking at a new front axle down the road, even with 35's. The Rubi Dana 44 should do a much better job handling 35's than the X's Dana 30 (at least I think it's a 30)...and the never ending list of "if you do this you should do that" begins.

 

Dawn's advice is good advice, and I for one am certainly no expert on anything related to Jeeps. The real point is that we all have different ideas in our heads about what we want and why we want it. You (the op) need to make some of those decisions for yourself to ensure YOU get what YOU want. It may be a Rubi with light mods, it may be a Sahara with 10k in mods...it doesn't really matter so long as it is what you want.

 

Well I'm running a sahara with 35's, price wise what would gears be compared to programming? And would gears tear up my rig in the long term? I've kind of gotten that notion.

 

I think you can expect gears to run you between about $1k and maybe $1200 including labor depending on who does the install. I don't remember the going rate on a Superchips Flaspaq but I imagine it's about $350 or so (no labor cost for install). With the gears (actually with the bigger tires as well), you need at least some sort of programmer to correct your speedo. You can do it cheaper than the Flaspaq, but it has some extra features that most people seem to feel are worth the extra price.

As far as new gears tearing up your rig, I'm not sure why that would happen. If anything, I would thing the more appropriately matched gears (to tires) would create less wear on your rig because your engine doesn't have to work as hard to get the bigger tires moving. I'm sure someone else can offer a better (more technical) explanation though.

 

Sounds like the flashpaq is a definite buy with or without gears then?

 

There are a lot of threads on the Flaspaq. It's not going to give you the performance benefit that gears do, but it might help if you aren't ready to get gears. Spend some time searching around the forum and reading the various threads that are on topic. You need to formulate your own opinion based on a lot more opinions than just mine. Reading what everyone has to say is part of the fun of the forum.

 

Get a JK diesel and you"ll have the power without any Rubicon gear requirements.

Sorry that's right you cannot buy a diesel

 

The biggest differences that will cost you $$ later between the two are:

1- Sahara D30 front axle, Rubi D44
2- Rubi has better transfer case for wheeling
3-Rubi has E-(push button lockers F/R) Sahara has none..Some have Limited slip rear.
4-Rubi has better factory shocks and springs
5-Rubi comes with the BFGs At 33, Sahara Bridgestone AT 32 with 18" wheels.

Now depending on what you plan on doing with it. Should dictate what you should by. If you plan on doing a lot of hardcore wheeling. Buying an X with the S package would be the route I would go if I had to do it all over again. Then I would take all the saved money and build it up.

If your not going to wheel too hard then maybe getting a Rubi, and adding BB, and bigger tires and DS should be more then enough.

 

Well said