I just bought a 4-door sahara 4x4 and i was planning on going w 35s on a 3" lift and i was told by installer that i would loose the 5th and 6rh gear meaning that they would not increase the speed of the car in highway and that i should change the gears to a much higher ratio . Can anybody please clarify this for me , thanks in advance,

 

Yeah this is true. Probably not 5th and 6th. But due to the diameter and ratio you will be at such a low rpm in 6th that it will be unusable. You need 4.88 gears with a 6 speed. Or deal with not having 6th. Your speedo will also be off. You "might" get better gas mileage by having the correct ratio in there. Not better than stock but better than having the wrong ratio with larger tires.

 

Saltman ,thank you so much for your input i'll keep that in mind !!Do you have an idea on how much it would be to change this to a 4.88 ratio ?

 

Well sort of. On a long flat highway, you can still cruise in 6th but if you start climbing a long hill or need to pass someone, it will be useless to you. 5th isn't too bad though and on surface streets, you won't hardly notice a thing. I ran 35's on the factory 4.10 gears with my 6-speed Unlimited and felt that it worked okay. For the record, I do have 5.13's in my JK now and can tell you that they are well worth getting - 4.88's will do the job as well but 5.13's will make your JK feel like it has a new and stronger engine

 

If you have 3.21 gears its going to be a dog. You could live with 4:10s.

 

The labor to change over varies a lot from place to place. You're probably looking at 1000 bucks per axle including gears, labor, etc.

5.13 is the way to go if you off road a lot. Personally, that's what I will be going to. But 4.88 will be a dramatic improvement also. Esp. if you don't have the 4.10 from the factory.

 

Actually, you could probably have both ends done for closer to $1500 but every now and then Off Road Evolution has a deal where they do everything for $1000. Granted, you have to live in SoCal to take advantage of it

 

I had my installer price match Off Road Evolution since I do not live in CA.

 

We have 4.10 with 35 x 12.50 and have had no problems. Yes if you want to pass or going uphill you will have to down shift. We are very happy with our and have made several interstate trips with it.

 

I regeared when i added 35's to 4.88. I have all of my gears again but run at close to 3000 rpm at 70 mph (GPS measured speed as there is no speedo calibrator yet for the JK) If this is your DD you might consider 4.53 to save on your highway mpg. So IMHO choose 4.53 for a DD and 5.13 for offroad...or 4.88 like me if you do a lttle of both.