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
Thanks for any advise!
Dave