I told myself I'll hang onto my 4.10's until warranty is out, but the more I think about it, a gear change might make sense. Help me decide. Of course you can't do that without knowing my needs, so here they are.

Vehicle is a 2011 4-door, 6-speed, 4.10's, with Cepek 265/75r16 (32") and a TeraFlex 1"R / 2"F leveling lift. The Cepeks are actually more like 30.75" actual diameter, and I'm thinking the stock BFG M/T might be closer to 32". The point is these Cepeks are really the max I want to go right now without a change to a lower gear ratio, especially given that I do some towing.

While I don't yet do much serious offroading, I'd like the Jeep to be capable of some mild offroading - nothing hard core, no serious rock crawling, but would like to be able to handle trails beyond beginner level, but advanced/expert not needed.

Primary needs are:

- daily driver (90%)
- occasional (maybe once every 3-4 weeks) towing of 3,300 lb. trailer - likely my biggest constraint.

The trailer is a recent addition that will likely become a big part of what I do with this Jeep for years to come. It's a big enough "investment" for me that I'm committed to using it frequently, rather than letting it sit idle most of its life. I envision many local trips/overnights in the summer, camping, day trips, and that coupled with the trailer's low stance and great weight (94% of the Jeep's rated towing capacity), if I push the envelope on the Jeep in terms of weight or height (giant tires, etc.), I compromise the ability to tow the trailer. As it is, I've got a weight-distributing hitch on the Jeep which should ideally be sitting a couple inches lower, but I've run out of height adjustmet on the hitch receiver, so bigger tires could pose some problems. It does okay as-is though.

Gearing: When towing this trailer, you really notice it. Handling is fine. Power, not so much. It feels like when I had my 2-door with tall (3.21) gears and 33" tires: Sluggish, and the load caused pinging. I swear now the pinging was caused by the load and gearing. Never heard pinging on the 4.10 Rubi until I hooked up the trailer. My gut feeling - and this is only my experience based on gut feeling and, er, experience - is that the 4.10's are a great compromise between performance and fuel economy for a normally-loaded vehicle with 32" tires (as in the stock configuration), but there isn't too much wiggle room when you start loading it up. Just like the 2010 Sport/X 2-door with 3.21's: Fine with stock 29" tires, but if you start loading it up (bigger tires, etc.), ping & sluggish ensues.

This brings me to the gear change.

My goal is to get more power for towing, even if it comes at the expense of fuel economy (which it will) and top speed. I'm a slow driver, rarely going above 60, maybe up to 65 but no more. Given my needs, it seems like my current 32" or future 33" would be as big as I'd want to go. Yes a 35" would be nice but realistically speaking, it's not compatible with the trailer requirements. So for 32/33, now the gearing: 4.56, maybe 4.88, but I seriously doubt anything beyond that.

Based on your experience, what gearing change would you recommend, if any? And stupid question: if it's a gearing change, will it really help pull this load better (make it feel less sluggish), or do I just need more horsepower? I'm worried that I'll just be moving the shift points and that's all. After all, I'm currently going up to around 2500 or 3000 RPM before shifting, so I'm using a range where there's good power and torque already; so I might not gain anything by moving the shift points. (I don't have the torque/HP curve handy...)

 

Gear for the 99.xx% of your time you are not towing, not the .xx% of the time that you are.

So, go measure your tires and start plugging numbers into the chart in the faq's. Find the rpm range you want to be in and go from there.