Errrm, are you sure your 33's are actually 33's? I run 33's with 3.21's (my 33's are 32.1 inches tall) and sixth gear is pretty worthless below 75 going downhill. 5.13's are probably a bit much for 33's. You might as well step up to 35's.

 

I have a 2dr 6 speed on 32's (31.5" at street pressure on the ground) that had 3.21's. I pretty much hated it for DD-ing. It just didn't seem to work well. The gear spacing didn't seem right with the tall gears the lack of low end torque. It actually was okay off road in 4lo.

I just put in 5.13's (I do plan on 35's). I love them, but I don't drive Interstate day to day. I think the only time it's been on one is the first week I got it I had to go to Chicago and my truck was in the shop.

I do drive it on 2 lane highways, 60-ish, and it's fine. It'd be fine on the Interstate, too, as far as the gears/RPM, but Wranglers suck on the Interstate anyway.

 

[QUOTE=planman;1736534]

^ I take that back... I just found out today I don't have 3.21 gears with my 33's. Well I called my dealer and asked what gears I had like 5 months ago because i was planning on 35's. So I gave him the vin and he looked it up. 3.21 he said. So I belived him. Well a few weeks ago I busted my front axle/housing. It was in the shop all last week to get a new one on, finally got it back the other day. Took it wheeling today, poped her in 4 lo and something was wrong. My front tires are rotating at a faster pace as my rears!!! It was weird. I am almost posotive they put 3.21 gears in front because they asked the dealer what came on the jeep. Well now I am thinking the guy who bought the jeep before me added 3.73 or 4.10?? who knows. I always wondered why I have so much power in 1st gear compared to my buddys x who lost 6th gear after his 33's, I am using 6th gear around 40-50+ MPH

SOooo sorry for the confusion about the 1st post i put on this thread.

I obviously have no clue about gears.
haha

 

Were your front hubs upgraded to manuals as well? If not, those front gears, and that front driveshaft, are always spinning. I'm guessing you would have torn up your tcase driving down the freeway, long before you ever got it offroad and dropped into 4wheel drive...

This was posted by Ronjenx a while back, you might want to do it on both ends:

 

Why would the transfer case care about different ratios front to rear in 2 wheel drive?

 

It wouldn't. When the front is not engaged , it's just free wheelin at the tcase. The prob begins after you engage, as he found out. Luckily he wasn't in 4hi and travelling at speed.

 

Oh dude there is no way I would have even been able to go faster then 10mph in 4hi. It felt like my front wheels were locked up or something. they rotated, but at a different ratio than my back. Does that makes sense? If I would not press the gas and ease off the clutch they would crawl at the same time but as soon as I hit the gas my back tires would spin faster/slower than the front dont remember wich one exactly. Also when tossed back in 2WD it my fronts wouldnt pop out of 4WD unless I backed up a few feet then I felt it pop back in 2WD. But it drives fine in 2wd.

Does that even sound like a gear problem? I am going to go straight to the shop tomorrow to make sure they fix it right free of charge!

 

That's what I've always understood. Didn't know if something was different about our TC's.

 

You definately need to take it back. Sounds like your front is loading up, definately a gear prob.

 

Maybe I'm thinking too much into it, but have you read the section on recreational towing in the owners manual? The parts where it says not to use front or rear wheel lifts? (where one set of wheels is stationary and the other is moving) And indicates that "Internal damage to the transmission or transfer case will occur" by doing this?

Again, maybe I'm making something out of nothing, but if the factory says you want both axles spinning at the same speed to avoid damage, regardless of being in 4wd or not - then maybe having them spinning at different speeds can also cause damage, right? Or not?