downgrade?

[sass3g]

I traded my old bmw for a 92 jeep wrangler. it has the 4.0l I-6 and a 5 speed stick. it has an RE 2.5" lift with a t-case drop. it has 33x12.50x15" tires on it now and the flares have been trimmed. It still has the stock gears and 5th gear will only maintain my speed but will not accelerate. I am new to owning an offroad vehicle but not to offroading. I am a auto tech by trade so im a bit anal about my vehicles and poorly thought out mods annoy me. the horribly oversized tires look cool, but are killing my performance in acceleration and in braking. to keep these tires i know i will need to upgrade my rear axle at the least and regear both axles along with some braking upgrades. i eventually want to upgrade the axles but most likely not until tax return time. This jeep will mainly be used to get me to and from my cabin in the "mountains" of oklahoma, which is about 150 miles of highway and 15 miles of infrequently maintained unpaved roads with a few water crossings (2-6" deep) and two fairly steep climbs. i would like to do some trails in colorado in the future. The soft top on my jeep is falling apart and i would like to replace it with a hardtop and full hard doors. it also needs some new suspension seats, and other comfort and travel related upgrades. so with all of this info, would i be better of keeping the 33's and dealing with the gearing and axle strength issue for now until i can upgrade the drive train and brakes, or step down to 31x10.50x15's and gain some of my performance back while doing all of the other upgrades listed above?

Thanks for any advise!

Dave

 

[Desert Dan]

Get 31 or 32" tires and you will be fine.

If you change axle gearing and add lockers figure 1K per axle including labor air pump etc.

 

[Jeffb79]

Your axles will be fine with 33" tires.
As for gears, if you know an axle upgrade is in your near future, then wait.
You won't get much more for a D35 with 4.56 gears than you would for one with 3.07 gears. I drove my old X model around with 3.07 gears on 33" tires for almost a year before I regeared. Your stock brakes should be fine for now as well. If they need to be replaced, than upgrade your pads to ebc's. If not, again just hold off for now. No point in throwing money into something you're going to be getting rid of.

 

[sass3g]

Your axles will be fine with 33" tires.
As for gears, if you know an axle upgrade is in your near future, then wait.
You won't get much more for a D35 with 4.56 gears than you would for one with 3.07 gears. I drove my old X model around with 3.07 gears on 33" tires for almost a year before I regeared. Your stock brakes should be fine for now as well. If they need to be replaced, than upgrade your pads to ebc's. If not, again just hold off for now. No point in throwing money into something you're going to be getting rid of.

i will probably not get rid of the d35 ill most likely go with a super 35 as my setup will be for mild trails and dirt roads. lol

 

[wADVr]

From reading your post I would say just downsize to 31s and be done with it. if you are interested in progressing in the vehicles capability consider swaping the gears and and installing your choice of lockers or a decent limited slip. I wouldnt waste a dime on a D35 though. look into a swapping in a ford 8.8 with 4.10s, regear the front (or find a used already geared axle) to the same and see if you want to take it to the next level or be content without a fortune wasted.

 

[sass3g]

From reading your post I would say just downsize to 31s and be done with it. if you are interested in progressing in the vehicles capability consider swaping the gears and and installing your choice of lockers or a decent limited slip. I wouldnt waste a dime on a D35 though. look into a swapping in a ford 8.8 with 4.10s, regear the front (or find a used already geared axle) to the same and see if you want to take it to the next level or be content without a fortune wasted.

this is what i was thinking. i really want to spend more money on my travels and less on my vehicle, but i want it to remain reliable and capable at the same time. im thinking that downsizing my tires will allow me to drive the vehicle for now and figure out through experience exactly how far i want to go with it. for now it just sits at my shop not getting driven because 150-200 miles in 4th gear sucks in many ways. lol. is anyone else running 31x10.50 tires on their wrangler with a 2.5 lift?

 

[sass3g]

OR, is it possible too pick some of 5th gear back up if i were to downsize to a 32" tire with a 10.5 width? this would allow me to keep some of my clearance while picking up some accelleration. I know the ultimate goal is a regear, im just trying to figure what i can do for now to get me to tax return season when i can upgrade my d35 or swap and regear.

 

[SixLug]

drop to 31s. You will be suprised at just how much you can do in a rig on 31's. From reading your post, thats all you will need anyway. You say you eventually want to run trails in Colorado. I say take small steps and stick with 31's until you absolutely know that you cant run anything else with them. Save you money and get your mileage and acceleration back. Just my 2 cents.

 

[computeruser]

I ran 31-10.50 and 3" of lift on my YJ. It worked well enough. But in hindsight I really, REALLY wish I had regeared from 3.07 to 4.11...but then I would have broken D35 stuff even more often than I did.

If you're going to keep the D35, I would go back to the 31s, raise the transfer case back up (pull the spacers that likely got installed with the lift), and do a SYE/2-piece rear shaft for belly clearance and durability reasons. Then see how things work for ya.

 

[sass3g]

I think I'll most likely step down to the 31's when I get back from vacation in 2 weeks. I'll report back with before and after pics and reviews. lol. I may order the SYE and shaft right now as I've wanted to get rid of the t-case drop since I got the jeep. Now I've got to fix the wiper switch and figure out why the fuel gauge reads full all of the time! lol. And most importantly get some better seats as mine dont feel too great. It seems like I'll be removing alot of stuff the previous owner installed as he was going for more of a toy and I'm going for more of an expedition style rig.

Dave

 

[LakeErieYJ]

Keep the 33's. Do a 1" Body and Motor Mount lift, A nice flat tcase skid and find a set of axles from a 4cyl 5spd YJ. They can be had for very cheap (AKA Junkyard) And they come factory with 4.10's. You'd be SET! I loved my 4.10s and 33's.

-Nick

 

[sass3g]

Keep the 33's. Do a 1" Body and Motor Mount lift, A nice flat tcase skid and find a set of axles from a 4cyl 5spd YJ. They can be had for very cheap (AKA Junkyard) And they come factory with 4.10's. You'd be SET! I loved my 4.10s and 33's.

-Nick

id like to avoid body lifts and motor mount lifts if at all possible. if i decide to go back to 33's later on ill just buy more suspension height. but i have tossed the idea around about finding some 4 cyl axles and upgrading them as i dont want to have to mess around with a regear.

Dave

 

[LakeErieYJ]

Why staying away from a 1"? You dont necessarily have to do pucks for the BL, and a 1" Its barely noticable. Doing a 1" and 1" MML will greatly help the ability to tuck the tummy. Youll have more clearance that way than if u went with a 4" and 33's.

 

[sass3g]

ill look into it a little more. i guess your right on not being able to notice 1". lol. everytime i hear body lift, i think of my old room mates f150 that i could almost set a pack of cigg's between the frame and body! lol.

Dave

 

[Jeffb79]

Keep an eye on craiglist, you can find good deals on sets of used rubicon wheels/tires. If you're going to pay $1300 for a new set of tires though, you're better off just saving that up for gears.

1"body lift and motor mount lifts, while not necessary, are very useful if you plan to do a tummy tuck and gas tank skid. If you're going to stay with smaller tires, you're going to want all the clearance underneath you can get. A tummy tuck on 31" tires will give you the same clearance under your jeep that 33" tires would give you with a regular t case skid.

If you stay with 31" tires you probably won't see much of a need to regear.
If you plan on going back to larger tires again.... I wouldn't worry about finding the smaller tires now, just save the money.