Hello guys!, here is my story....

on march 2010 i decided to buy my JK, 2 doors black, the salesman showed me the different models they where carrying at the time, there was the sport, islander and rubicon models, i asked him the difference between the models, he just told me that the difference between sport and islader where just cosmetic and that it had better tires, and between rubicon and sport it was the tires that it didnt have a step bar to get in, and had an electronic sway bar link... i told him i wanted the jeep for cruising, mudding and fording he told me the islander was better cause of the tires ( sigh i was ignorant back then and misinformed ) and that i wouldnt need the rubicon because it was build for rock climbing... i didnt like the color of the seats in the islander and it was 3k more for just "cosmetic" changes, so i went with the sport model... wich i found kind of wierd that the salesperson suggested cause most of the time they just want to sell you the most expensive model they have. any who long story short... this weekend i bougth a 3.5" lift as a prelude to buying bigger tires... then i started reading on wether the 33 or 35 then i started seing stuff about gear rations and such and then i suddenly became depressed ... i bougth this jeep and was all excited about it and now... i found that i cannot do any upgrades without actually spending a ton of cash in order to regear just to be able to run 33" .... is there anything i can do ???

sorry for the long read... im just fustrated... :(

 

You'll be fine with 33. Get flashpaq and you'll have noprob

 

Yeah if you want to run 33's you'll be fine, i wouldn't recommend anything taller if you have 3.21 gears. I hear that 35's are barable if you have 3.73's, but sluggish. No worries!

 

I just put on 295/70/17s (just a tick over 33") with a 2011 JKU 3.8 with 3.73 gears and auto. Honestly cannot feel any difference in performance. Maybe I will on the trails...?

 

You shouldn't feel anything different on the trail that's what 4 low is for.

 

3.21 gears and 33's? i would not go with a wide tire than if you dont want to regear. I felt i had to regear with my 33x12r17's and i did.

 

33's will be fine without a re-gear. If it is an auto and you do feel it is more sluggish than you care for (it keeps downshifting...) push the OD button to keep it out of of OD. If it is a manual, I doubt you will notice the power loss at all. These JK's are certain not powerful from the factory, but that is not what we buy them for. I doubt you will feel the need for a re-gear though, rest easy!

 

Given the knowledge level that most salespeople have, the guy that sold you your Jeep probably wasn't even aware that there was a gear ratio difference. From what I've seen, most sales guys at dealers learn only enough about the products they sell to handle selling them to soccer moms.

 

Dealerships are mostly money sucking leaches they dont care if you get screwed. Just tell everyone you know you got screwed at that dealership. Thats what I did with my local Jeep dealer when they tried to screw me.

 

From what I read you wish you would got a Rubicon. Just use all the money you saved and make the necessary upgrades. Gears are only $1k installed. I put 35"s on my son's Sport and re-geared it to 4:88's. Added a Superchip and it runs great!