Howling At The Moon - 4.88's in 8.25" rear axle
- Thread starter X E Ryder
- Start date
X E Ryder
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Northern California
I saw it - I was in denial.
Before installing it, I used it as a Q-tip... All three spines cleaned out the wax well but not seem to convince me it wasn't a daft idea. :doh:
You should see the pinion on a set of 5.13s for a JK 30, the bearing inner race is almost bigger then the pinion.
X E Ryder
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Northern California
The End Result - 4.56's Great!
Alright XJ Family,
Here is the result of all THAT hoopla...
Even though I did everything by the book on a drive cycle, complete cool and then drive the rest of the way home, something else was at work, not sure what. Here are the details though for reference; I live 2.5 hours from the shop, mostly uphill into the mountains. The pulled 4.88 rear gearset had the hard facing literally ground off the ring and pinion teeth - I mean 100,000 miles doesn't eat this much material! The shop is sending the set back to the mfr for eval.
Anyway we went back to 4.56 which has proven outstanding for my use here in the mountains. I actually took an ice chest and stopped several times to ice the rear diff! Drive, stop, buy bag of ice at the store and eat lunch, drive, stop, ice, repeat. New gears are dead quiet and ratio works great!
[Sidebar: As I mentioned, I went one step deeper to 4.88 than required to put me at stock gearing (for stock height tire and ratio), 4.56 puts me just a tiny shade under stock proportions. The 4.88 wound up and the AW4 did quite a bit of "hunting" for the right gear - Yes, I did see people talking about this before too. Anyway, I strongly urge others not to make this mistake, and gear back to stock ratio for any given tire/gear setup, it lets me load up the motor on hills for good clean climbs without a bunch of up/down shifts and wasted RPMs. I absolutely LOVE the 4.56's on 33" tires.]
I did have some other vibe issue which I felt was coming from the front shaft. pulled it, and yes vibe gone. This was a shaft that I paid a local shop to completely rebuild and they did a VERY poor job on the cardan portion. SO I threw in the towel and called Tom Woods (already have SYE and TW rear cardan shaft). For $315 shipped I got the new front shaft. just look at the beef and slip length difference wow!
Anyhoo, all good now and at 2000rpm at 58mph in OD with 4.56 and 33's (i have the 41 tooth speedo gear at indicated is 3- than actual according to GPS).
Finally, as for diffs if anyone wondering, I run Auburn HP limited slip and Detroit TrueTrac front - this combo works fantastic on ice, which is my primary worry in winter (lockers had me sliding off the road in ice - the slips have allowed a couple paws to hold on in the ice and I have yet to not get where I wish in these diffs, plus they are pretty pavement friendly!).
Hope someone can benefit from my expensive lesson.
Alright XJ Family,
Here is the result of all THAT hoopla...
Even though I did everything by the book on a drive cycle, complete cool and then drive the rest of the way home, something else was at work, not sure what. Here are the details though for reference; I live 2.5 hours from the shop, mostly uphill into the mountains. The pulled 4.88 rear gearset had the hard facing literally ground off the ring and pinion teeth - I mean 100,000 miles doesn't eat this much material! The shop is sending the set back to the mfr for eval.
Anyway we went back to 4.56 which has proven outstanding for my use here in the mountains. I actually took an ice chest and stopped several times to ice the rear diff! Drive, stop, buy bag of ice at the store and eat lunch, drive, stop, ice, repeat. New gears are dead quiet and ratio works great!
[Sidebar: As I mentioned, I went one step deeper to 4.88 than required to put me at stock gearing (for stock height tire and ratio), 4.56 puts me just a tiny shade under stock proportions. The 4.88 wound up and the AW4 did quite a bit of "hunting" for the right gear - Yes, I did see people talking about this before too. Anyway, I strongly urge others not to make this mistake, and gear back to stock ratio for any given tire/gear setup, it lets me load up the motor on hills for good clean climbs without a bunch of up/down shifts and wasted RPMs. I absolutely LOVE the 4.56's on 33" tires.]
I did have some other vibe issue which I felt was coming from the front shaft. pulled it, and yes vibe gone. This was a shaft that I paid a local shop to completely rebuild and they did a VERY poor job on the cardan portion. SO I threw in the towel and called Tom Woods (already have SYE and TW rear cardan shaft). For $315 shipped I got the new front shaft. just look at the beef and slip length difference wow!
Anyhoo, all good now and at 2000rpm at 58mph in OD with 4.56 and 33's (i have the 41 tooth speedo gear at indicated is 3- than actual according to GPS).
Finally, as for diffs if anyone wondering, I run Auburn HP limited slip and Detroit TrueTrac front - this combo works fantastic on ice, which is my primary worry in winter (lockers had me sliding off the road in ice - the slips have allowed a couple paws to hold on in the ice and I have yet to not get where I wish in these diffs, plus they are pretty pavement friendly!).
Hope someone can benefit from my expensive lesson.
westvirginia24976
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- west virginia
Thanks for posting back. Great info!
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