running 33's on stock 3.55's

[dellstopjeep]

when these tires run out, which are 31's i want to go bigger, i will do a little cutting but they will fit fine
I know this isnt good for your engine, but has anyone done this for a expanded time...im talkin years around. I dont have the money for different gears and labor. )unless someone is seelling them real cheap and someone knows how to do it in this area and will real cheap)
just seeing if this is just a risk, kinda like rolling ur jeep wheeling is a risk, but not necessarly going to be a problem
thanks for the input
eric

 

[kirby]

This subject has been tossed around quite a bit. I would say the majority says not to do it for a long time. Here is one link for a discussion on it but there are more if you do a search. anyone running 31s with 3.55 gears?

 

[Big Red]

when these tires run out, which are 31's i want to go bigger, i will do a little cutting but they will fit fine
I know this isnt good for your engine, but has anyone done this for a expanded time...im talkin years around. I dont have the money for different gears and labor. )unless someone is seelling them real cheap and someone knows how to do it in this area and will real cheap)
just seeing if this is just a risk, kinda like rolling ur jeep wheeling is a risk, but not necessarly going to be a problem
thanks for the input
eric

I just bought some axles with a locker & gears already set up in them. It is alot easier for me to just swap my axle out for 1 that already has all the goodies in it. You could get 4.10 gears from a 4 banger stick which should work good with the 33's. A toyota 8" 2 wheel drive has the same bolt pattern as a jeep 5 on 4-1/2 and many times they have really low gears like 4.56, 4.88, etc. so you might only then have to regear the front dana 30 which will go down to a 4.88 Bottom line is it is expensive to set up gears and lockers and it does take a good amt of know how, but if you can buy someone else's project than you will be better off most times than having it done yourself. Check in your area, I know you are not to far from Portland and Seattle, right on the border, so you should come across quite a few people with modified axles to sell. I know SmallPeterson in Seattle area has quite a bit of stuff he was selling at some point and I've seen others within the past few weeks in Oregon with modified axles to sell. Just check here, ebay, rubicon express classifieds, local newspapers, etc and be ready with cash to make people offers and you should be able to land some good axles and save yourself alot of $ rather than having them done professionaly.

 

[basalt51]

ran 33s and 3.55s for a little over a year. No problems but it sucked. Don't use over drive and be sure you have a transmission cooler if you have an auto.

 

[Roxtar]

I'm running 32s with 3.55s. I have no problems at all. Just don't use OD on the highway. You can run 65mph in 3rd gear at about 2500 RPM all day which is fine.
On the trail I've never had a problem with power. 1st gear in 4lo has all the torque I need. When I need more power I push down slightly on the right foot.

 

[shimmy]

just wait and do it all at the same time... or get the gear, then the tires. how many miles are on your rig? if its an older one, i would be a little hesitant to run big meats on an old trans and stock gearing.

brandon

 

[Starboard M]

I've been running 32's on 3.55 for almost a year. It seems to work fine for me. The only time that I really have trouble is passing on the freeway.

 

[Kejtar]

I'm not going to say that 33's with 3.55's are necessarily bad... but when I had ran 33's for a short while on 4.11's I was missing what it felt like with 31's on 4.11's. Anyways, on the trail the crawl wasn't as much of a crawl and so on..... so now I'm going to 4.88's which might be a bit overdoing it, but.... the XJ just beace a trail only rig since I got the honda gokart. In any case if I wasn't goign to retire it only to trail runs I was strongly considering putting 4.56's at the very least....
So it's hard for me to imagine running trails with 33's and 3.55's even with an auto. Btw, something that you can try is look and see if there is anyone in your area that will let you try their 33's for a day or so. This will give you a definate answer as to how things would change.

 

[dellstopjeep]

i thnk i got the answer i was lookin for, bad idea,
altho 32's could be a alternative
where would i go to get gears done for cheap labor, i have seen gears for sale in here and other places for cheap. so i could possibly do that.

 

[Kejtar]

i thnk i got the answer i was lookin for, bad idea,
altho 32's could be a alternative
where would i go to get gears done for cheap labor, i have seen gears for sale in here and other places for cheap. so i could possibly do that.

Look for whole axles for sale. 4.11's with 32's would not be terrible although you'd probably like 4.56's way better. This means that if you find the right 4 banger XJ at the boneyard, your cost is the axles and the time/effort to swap. Also look for hte whole setups: I just saw front and rear axle 4.56 being offerend not to long ago in teh for sale section.

 

[XJeeper05]

I run 33s with 3:07s and its not all that bad. I can stand it. I've run this setup for 1 year.

 

[Kejtar]

I run 33s with 3:07s and its not all that bad. I can stand it. I've run this setup for 1 year.

"Its not all that bad".... I hated 3.07's when I went up to 235's so define what the "not all that bad" is? For me it was bad on both streets and trails. Anyways try dirving someone's rig that has deeper gears and then we'll talk

 

[hackedxj]

I'll be doing just that Friday,going from 31" to 33" with 3.55 gears and a 4.0,not scared but little concerned,give you a fresh opinion after there on ,

 

[XJeeper05]

"Its not all that bad".... I hated 3.07's when I went up to 235's so define what the "not all that bad" is? For me it was bad on both streets and trails. Anyways try dirving someone's rig that has deeper gears and then we'll talk

Hey ass, maybe you could lend me the cash to get gears and "we'll talk". I like the clearence becuase I rarely get high centered anymore. My crawl ratio is not so good, but I can sacrifice. My funds are extremely limited so I can deal. This is an O-P-I-N-I-O-N thread. I have stated my opinion.

 

[Fozzy]

I've run the stock gears, I think they're 3.55's, for the last two years. I've run 31's, 33's, 36's, back to 33's, and and finally running 34's right now. Only with the 36's did I notice a big loss in power. However, with the 33's and 34's, I only use 5th gear wehn I am on the freeway, downhill. As long as you don't have the 2.8 you should be fine till you can get gears.

 

[sidriptide]

Hey ass, maybe you could lend me the cash to get gears and "we'll talk". I like the clearence becuase I rarely get high centered anymore. My crawl ratio is not so good, but I can sacrifice. My funds are extremely limited so I can deal. This is an O-P-I-N-I-O-N thread. I have stated my opinion.

whats with the name-calling????? Remi gave his O-P-I-N-I-O-N too!!! i will echo what he said as well... but i think the only reason you can live with those 3.07s is cause you have the 5 spd (most likely) my rig is also a work-in-progress but i actually regeared BEFORE i had the $$$$ for the tires.... IMHO its all a package that needs to work together for "best" performance.... big tires with shallow gears doesnt make for an overall good performer.... no stone throwing.. just OPINIONS here....

mike

 

[RichP]

I'm running LT 235/74R15 BFG/ATKO's on my 98XJ, the gears are the 3:07's and I'm not real happy with them off road. They are OK but it stalls alot more than it did with the 225's on there. I just had an auburn put in the back and while traction is much better it stalls even more cause now there is no 'headroom' of one tire breaking free. The 4:10's are going in as soon as the 8.25's gears get here and I can make an appointment. Can't wait... Oh, it's also a 5 speed.

 

[Kejtar]

Hey ass, maybe you could lend me the cash to get gears and "we'll talk". I like the clearence becuase I rarely get high centered anymore. My crawl ratio is not so good, but I can sacrifice. My funds are extremely limited so I can deal. This is an O-P-I-N-I-O-N thread. I have stated my opinion.

Hey dude chill out! I asked for you to define the "not that bad" because based on your opinion someone else might choose to do something or not to do. "Not that bad" to me indicates that it is bad, and the only thing that remains is just how bad is bad...... And if it is bad, why recomend it?

I know all about the $$ issue as after I did the gears originally I had to wait almost a year to get enough $$ to go up in tire size as I was constantly broke: original plan was tires and gears at the same time which kind of didn't work out.

In reagards to what I said about you driving someone elses rig is so that you could get an idea and be able to make a proper comparison!

 

[Kejtar]

whats with the name-calling????? Remi gave his O-P-I-N-I-O-N too!!! i will echo what he said as well... but i think the only reason you can live with those 3.07s is cause you have the 5 spd (most likely) my rig is also a work-in-progress but i actually regeared BEFORE i had the $$$$ for the tires.... IMHO its all a package that needs to work together for "best" performance.... big tires with shallow gears doesnt make for an overall good performer.... no stone throwing.. just OPINIONS here....

mike

Thanks Mike
Actually I don't think that the 5spd really helps much with the 3.07's: kind of both street and trail suffered with the 235's. IMHO the stickshift is undergeared straight out from the factory. Anyways... I guess it's a learning curve issue. I originally was set on regearing to 3.73's only.... thankfully I had someone convince me to go 4.11's and now I wish that I had gone to 4.56's

 

[XJeeper05]

Ok I was a bit harsh but I really get tired of people criticizing me when I post about having stock gearing with 33s. I got the tires and wheels I have now for 200 bucks. They were worth about 800. So I went ahead and jumped for it. I plan to regear but I cant fork 1200 over to get them done. I'd rather get two 4 banger axles to tie me over for a while. BUt also I just got a slammin deal on an RE hack and tap. I'm just trying to go along with what deals I get. Sorry for the hostility but no one drives my Jeep but me, and for now I'm happy with it. When I get reageared I'll probably say "damn I wish I had done that a lot sooner..." but unless I start trying illegal ways of getting money, Im going to stick with what I have.