You will mostly notice it when your off-road in 4-low

i have a stick with 5.13 and 37's and it's great off-road, climbing hills and going over obstacles is a whole new world...I had starts with 3.21's

i describe it as riding around in a go cart or maybe a dune buggy

i have a sport and my on my short list is getting either a rubicon or Atlas II transfer case

matthew

 

Yes, I realize that the transmission will down shift. I just never noticed it with the 3.21s. Is it normal to feel it at higher (numerically, ie 4.88) gear ratios?

 

I went from 3.21 to 4.88 on a 2008 X with manual trans. It seems to me the engine is reving higher to maintain the same road speed with the new gear ratio. You will feel the engine working harder at the same speeds with 4.88 relative to 3.21 gearsets. Just my 2 cents based on my experience.

 

The engine isn't working harder, it's running more efficient and in its power band. Yes, the RPMs are higher but that's where the motor wants to be.

 

The difference you feel is the same as when you let off the gas in first gear, and when you let off the gas in third gear.
It is more harsh in the lower gear.
Now your automatic's downshifts are more harsh, or more noticeable.

 

That's what I thought. Just needed some other opinions to verify I wasn't nuts.

Well, I might still be nuts, just not about this.

 

From someone that made the 3.21 to 4.88, I agree. Daily driving is much better whether it be city or highway. There are times still on my trips that I prefer to kick it into the on the fly shift on hills. This is only on a couple hills that aren't long ,but the Jeep loves to downshift (due to the grade) to give it more power, so I keep it from happening as it always does it at the peak of the hill where its about to end.

Off road is where the money is really at. I love crawling in this thing in 4lo. The dunes are awesome in 4hi, but I do the on the fly shift so I can control it from shifting to early and losing momentum causing me to get stuck going up hill and possibly causing way bigger problems. An LS3 would help solve that, but don't have the money just yet.

Swapped my gears out at 3k and never looked back, so glad I did it.

 

For the type of wheeling I do, first gear is more than low enough. I suppose I would just go up a gear with a rubi t case (ie: instead of 2nd use 3rd) so it wouldn't be a big deal.