Goranothos

Regearing is the best money I ever spent. I went from 3.21 (seriously.....wtf was Chrystler ever thinking putting that in?) to 4.88 and it feels like I gained 100hp. I don't know what gearing you have but if you are running 35's you need 4.88.

Vinson Clark

I don't have a problem with the Chrysler 3.8. I came from driving a 404hp mustang also. I daily drive a pontiac with gms version of the 3.8 and its been a great engine it has the same HP/tq numbers as my jeep does but it gets 30mpg where as the jeep gets 19mpg. As long as it last me a long time that's all that matters to me

jimdoss

How did that re-gearing effect your gas mileage?

myz28u

You think the 3.8 is bad. My yj had 35's 4.88 gears and a 2.5l talk about a slug. my camaro had 415hp with a 6speed and 4.10's it was awesome. But all in all im happy with the 3.8 hp was nice in the car but couldnt tear off a dirt road withit. And the yj sucked on the highway.

Goranothos

It lowered it perhaps 1 or 2 mpg. I still get around 21mpg highway. Most of my driving is highway, not stop-and-go.

TINMAN080

my '08 Unlimited with 3.73 LSD and auto does great in sand. 2 rules: Use 4LO and Air Down in deep, loose sand. When driven properly a Wrangler CANNOT be improved on in sand. When driven on the open road above 55mph you WILL PAY.

mac-1-0-1

I am on my 5th jeep and the 3.8 is really really bad. I test drove 5 differnt JKs over the years and was digusted with the lack of power everytime. I rented a mini van while on vacation last year and it was bad in that too. You can put it to the floor and it just makes noise. It reminds me of the 4 cyl. engine in the 1985 CJ7 I used to own. The difference is that you expect a 4 banger to be gutless. I wouldn't buy a JK for years because I couldn't see driving something that gutless AND not getting any MPG. I just bought a 2012 with the Pentastar and it's much closer to the ol' 4.0. This engine doesn't wow you, but I'm not constantly frustrated with the "gutless" feeling. It will do until they come out with a Hemi option. Good ridance 3.8! Sorry to rant, but it's been a long frustrating wait.... I feel better now....

eodguy789

I assume this would be the same for snow? I live in upstate New York and was driving in some snow on Fort Drum and nearly got stuck. I could go forward, but when I would turn it would get all hurky jerky and loose all sorts of power and stall out on me. I had a a heckuva time getting out, as I was in a rather constricted area.

Tight_wad

Some or all of that was probably from the ESP trying to keep tires from spinning. It's fine for regular daily driving, but when snow really gets to be an issue and speed is slow, mine is off.

Goranothos

Like I said earlier, most of the "gutless" feeling comes from improper gearing. For some reason, probably to improve mpg, Chrystler puts gears in our JKs that really give sluggish performance. This sluggish performance is exacerbated if you run larger than stock tires. Check out this thread and scroll down until you see the color gear chart:

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...276#post211276


The gears that came stock on mine, 3.21, are pretty much useless for anything. When I went to 4.88 the power and torque increase was VERY noticable. Mine is a 6sp. If you have an automatic, you need 5.13. It's a crying shape that these brand new vehicles come stock with such crappy gears, and that we have to spend $1500(ish) on a regearing to have decent performance. The 3.8 is no powerhouse, and you aren't going to be racing any Cameros no matter what gears you put in, but regearing can certainly make a big improvement. The only stock gearset that I might consider leaving in would be the 4.56, and only if I never planned to go larger than 33" tires.