I'm running a 3.5" lift on 35s. Its an 09 and I have 3.73 gear ratio right now.

Here's how I feel. When it was stock, things felt more...loose. And 6th gear was outstanding.

Right now, my gears are very bareable. I noticed a huge mpg drop but I don't care. It's a jeep and I signed up for that. However 6th gear doesn't exist. Not a chance. Even if I'm doing 120 KM/H my rpms shoot low enough I have to downshift.

I went to a pretty big jeep event last month where I got to test my rig on some tougher trails. I felt like I could climb rocks fine. It was steady in first gear and climbed pretty well. But steep uphill trails was tough. Felt like it really needed a push.

But here's what I noticed most : my compression braking was pretty crappy compared to wehn I had 32s. When I would throw it in 4lo and try to crawl down a hill it went faster than I would have liked.

What's your opinions? Should I regear to 4.88 or is it just not worth it?

Also are the 3.73 putting stress on my tranny or engine? Mathematically it seems like it would be..

Thanks guys

 

I think you should be fine. The gear ratio chart below is very accurate and will help you. Doing 4.88s would work great, but I think your current gears are fine. Higher RPMs will generally mean loss in MPG too.

 

I should add its a manual tranny and this is my DD

 

Thanks man. My guy tells me I'm fine without regearing..but I feel like everyone else is saying REGEAR!!

Looking for any experience of people who have had similar set ups and regeared

 

I run my Rubi gears (4.10) with a 3" lift and 35s and am very happy. The 6 speed gives you a good advantage. Just had the Jeep in the mountains at freeway speeds to Vegas and back with no issues. I can still crawl around on trails just fine, and ride home on the freeways without feeling like I'm going to red line it.

 

Yeah well now looking at that chart 4.10 or 4.56 seems more suitable for me

 

I had a 6 speed rubi with 4.10s. When I went to 35s I felt it was barely liveable. I'm not sure how you do it with 3.73s.

I have 4.88s now and love them. I would definitely suggest regearing. You will not regret it. I'd go with 4.56s if you do a lot of highway driving. I'd do 4.88s if you don't.

Seriously your theoretical top speed with 35s and 3.73s in 6th gear at 6,000 RPM is 200 MPH. That's just a silly how excessively tall your gears are.

If the fact that 6th gear is useless doesn't tell you something is wrong nothing will. I'll say it again. You will NEVER regret regearing to something like 4.56s. You will love 4.88s as long as you aren't on the highway for hours each day. Don't bother with 4.10s, they will still be way too tall.

 

Ditto. Regear and don't look back.

 

At the moment I don't do highway driving but in the near future I may...

What does 4.88 feel like on highway? Just high rpm or...?

 

Since your issue is performance and not fuel economy, I would definitely re-gear. You said you don't do much highway driving, so 4.88's would be the logical choice to give you the most torque and power