Am going to re-gear my 92 in the coming weeks. I'm currently running 33" tires, but may go to 35's in the future. Have read many of the gear posts, and can't decide between 4:88's and 5:29's. All opinions / experience on the topic would be great.
4:88 vs. 5:29
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fjfar80
GOLD Star
You may want to do a quick search...if I recall...this was covered a few weeks ago in depth and there were a lot of good opinions in the thread...
if you want to ever run a tire smaller than a 35 inch then 5.29s are way to much gear for you. 4.88's would be great with the 33s and really good with 35s, however 5.29s are great with 35s and will be really good with 37 on up!
Skillet
Skillet
gears
If you are sticking with 33's I would stick to 4.88. However for if you intend to go with 35's I would go 5.29. They will run fine for a while until you get the bigger tires.
If you are sticking with 33's I would stick to 4.88. However for if you intend to go with 35's I would go 5.29. They will run fine for a while until you get the bigger tires.
Am going to re-gear my 92 in the coming weeks. I'm currently running 33" tires, but may go to 35's in the future. Have read many of the gear posts, and can't decide between 4:88's and 5:29's. All opinions / experience on the topic would be great.
I would think that it would depend on your driving habits and where you wheel...
I have a 3FE w/ 5.29s. The only reason NOT to go with 5.29s would be if you drove a lot of highway or just have to drive fast on the highway. Off-road, around town, back-roads.....goddang I love my 5.29s. Cruising interstate for 6+ hours to the OBX was hell...
I know this is an old thread, but hopefully I can revive a dead horse.
I have a 1997 FZJ80. Currently it is 100% stock, however it will be getting 33s for the short term while I build up locking Axles, and then it will get 35s along with a 3" lift. I plan to do a large mix of driving from backwood forest roads and off roading to multiple hour hiway trips, and everything in between. Am I better off with 4:88 or 5:29? I do plan a GM V8 swap down the road, but that will be a few years off at least.
I have a 1997 FZJ80. Currently it is 100% stock, however it will be getting 33s for the short term while I build up locking Axles, and then it will get 35s along with a 3" lift. I plan to do a large mix of driving from backwood forest roads and off roading to multiple hour hiway trips, and everything in between. Am I better off with 4:88 or 5:29? I do plan a GM V8 swap down the road, but that will be a few years off at least.
Keep in mind, the OP has a 3fe and you have a 1fz, so this is kind of a different question.
Leave the stock gears in there for now. They will be fine for the 33's. If you're serious about eventually doing a vortec swap, I would just plan on leaving the stock gears in there for good. If that is just a pipe dream, 4.88 will serve you well with 35's.
my $.02
Just to clarify,
I definitely wasn't planning to swap the gears for the 33s. The 33s are going on the stock truck pretty much because I have them laying around leftover from my FJC.
I scored a set of stock locked axles that I am going to have rebuilt and put on the truck when I add the lift. At that time I will also go to 35s.
Thanks for the response about using 4:88, I just wanted to clarify what I originally meant. It will definitely be getting a V8 in the future, but I also would like to be able to really crawl with it. I had thought about keeping the stock gears and adding a crawl box with the V8 swap,but that would probably be better discussed in a different thread.
I definitely wasn't planning to swap the gears for the 33s. The 33s are going on the stock truck pretty much because I have them laying around leftover from my FJC.
I scored a set of stock locked axles that I am going to have rebuilt and put on the truck when I add the lift. At that time I will also go to 35s.
Thanks for the response about using 4:88, I just wanted to clarify what I originally meant. It will definitely be getting a V8 in the future, but I also would like to be able to really crawl with it. I had thought about keeping the stock gears and adding a crawl box with the V8 swap,but that would probably be better discussed in a different thread.
i ran stock gears and 35's for a few years and it wasnt too bad, i also live in Colorado so we're at 5000' plus with lots and lots of hills. i would maybe wait to re-gear until the v8 swap and see how it feels! 4.88s and 35s with the 1fz-fe i have heard are ideal but with more power and torque stock gears might be fine with a v8.
If wheeling is the priority, 5.29's are the way to go. How low can you go is always the question. I have 5.29's and I appreciate them even on I70 w/ my 35's here in colorado. I would hate it if I wanted to push 85 mph across west Texas. But, only you can answer the question of what will fit best for your needs.
I'm also about to dig into a vortec swap, but w/ 4l80e which has a less advantageous O/D than the 4l60e (0.70). But, the 4l80e has the same O/D as the A343F (0.75). Perhaps I'll gear down one of these days if I end up doing more highway driving. Perhaps holding 75 mph on the vortec will be a lot quieter and easier to pull hills?
I'm also about to dig into a vortec swap, but w/ 4l80e which has a less advantageous O/D than the 4l60e (0.70). But, the 4l80e has the same O/D as the A343F (0.75). Perhaps I'll gear down one of these days if I end up doing more highway driving. Perhaps holding 75 mph on the vortec will be a lot quieter and easier to pull hills?
4:88 should suite you just fine BUT it's all about expectations and how, what, and where you wheel. What is sufficient and acceptable for me might be underpowered for others. My 95, when normally weighted with gear for 4, can handle the climbs into and over the Rockies no problem. I'm on 33's but re-geared last year to 4:88 in anticipation of 35's.
Thanks everyone.... Im thinking 4:88 will probably be the way to go then. Especially since I want to be able to drive at hiway speeds with a small trailer. If I start to feel the 4:88s aren't enough while wheeling, I'll add a crawl box when I go with the V8.
alia176
SILVER Star
Am going to re-gear my 92 in the coming weeks. I'm currently running 33" tires, but may go to 35's in the future. Have read many of the gear posts, and can't decide between 4:88's and 5:29's. All opinions / experience on the topic would be great.
You live in ABQ, as do I. I'm in the minority with 4.56s and 315s from the days when I lived near sea level. However, other folks here are running 4.88s and 315s with fully armored. Since you have the mighty 3FE, I'd go with 5.29s. You'll rev way higher on the hwy but who cares. If you end up towing a camper or something, the 5.29s will really help out.
Also, poke over to the High Desert Cruiser section of the Clubhouse and introduce yourself there, if you haven't done so already.
Road Apple
SILVER Star
Another consideration is strength. The 4.88 pinion gear has one more tooth. According my local gear shop, the 4.88's are somewhat stronger as a result.
remember also- you can have the best of both worlds if you do 4.88s in the axle........and do the 25% added reduction in the case with gears there.
the beauty of this is that you can maintain some highway driveability and then somewhere down the road if you feel the need for deeper gearing....opt in for the tcase gears.
imho- this keeps your rig really well balanced. and 4.88s are too high for 33s imho. you simply wont like that combo on the hwy for anything more than an hour.
the beauty of this is that you can maintain some highway driveability and then somewhere down the road if you feel the need for deeper gearing....opt in for the tcase gears.
imho- this keeps your rig really well balanced. and 4.88s are too high for 33s imho. you simply wont like that combo on the hwy for anything more than an hour.
Thanks for all the advise guys. I decided to dig more into this and did a lot of research of final drive ratios. I made a really nice chart with it all layed out, but I can't figure out how to attach it here on Mud. God, I wish this forum worked well on Tapatalk. Anyway, the reason I went so far into it is because I plan to upgrade to a GM drive train in the future, and I didn't want to re-gear now only to want lower stock gearing when I swap in the V8. After some calculations, I found that the stock gearing is where I'll be happiest in the future, so It's where ill stay for now. With the 33s it should be okay, with the 35s it'll be tolerable, but after the V8 swap it'll be awesome. The plans for the GM swap will use a 4L65E, Black Box, and a re-geared split case transfer case. using the stock 4:11s, I should wind up with a final overdrive of 3.11:1 (Stock is 3.08:1), and a crawl ratio of 104.34:1 using the Black Box. Yea, I know, that is insanely low, but with out the Black Box it'll be 38.36:1 (Stock is 28.59:1). On the hi-way this translates to about 2088 RPM @ 70 MPH with 35" tires. This should keep the GM motor happy at cruising speeds, and me with a big smile on my face.
