My first TJ had 33's with 3.07 axle ratio. Hated it big time. It was a slug. Couldn't use 5th gear. You could probably get by with 31's but with 33's you would want 4.56 ratio with the 5 speed.
Yep, same with me when I first put 33's on with 3.07's several years ago. You couldn't use 5th gear until about 65 mph, and when you did get to 5th, there was virtually no power.
Drove it like that for a couple of weeks, then made a regear priority #1. I agree completely ... 4.0L 5 speed, and 33's, you should regear to 4.56
I am currently running 3.07 with "33's" on an 02 with a 4.0 and 5 speed manual. Since I don't have a lot of experience with Jeeps,(I bought this in November) all I can say is that here in Texas, on mostly flat roads, it does "ok". It's certainly no power house but I can use my fifth gear about like Water Dog mentioned as long as there is no strong head winds or overpasses. After extensive research, taking my personal needs and goals into account, I have decided to install 4.10 gears in mine this weekend. My guess is that there is going to be a noticeable difference in the power band of the Jeep. I considered the 4.56 change, but it really didn't seem like it would suit my needs as well as the 4.10 and I don't plan any increase in size of tires during my ownership. I also found that my BFG "33" tires are not actually 33 inches tall. That said, I use my Jeep along the beach and on the highway, I am not a mudder or a rock crawler. The intended use of the vehicle and the future modifications should be considered in the gearing decision. I would be happy to come back next week and post the results of the gear swap and give you my opinion of it if you would like.
2004 4.0 5sp - D30/35 3.07 on KM2 33's. Starting in 1st you can feel some drag. Rarely get out of 3rd in town. 5th is only useful on flat or downhill highway. Any hill and you have to downshift. Off road a lot of time spent in 4lo. I have a set of locked chromo D30/35 4.88 axles to put in it. Most will say they are too short, but this is a weekend trail rig so I dont have any issue being limited to 65 on the highway.
got my 02 4.0 5sp manual with 33's and 3.07 and it was prty much a 3 speed around town - used 4th on the hwy - seemed rough on the clutch to get rollin in 1st especially if on an incline - 4 months later after doin LOTS of research and readin on here i put 4.88 and truetracs in frt and rr - i'm really happy with the 4.88's, cruise in 5th gear 65mph and still be under 3k rpm AND pull a single axle trailer with 2 big 4 wheelers on it no prob -heck, i could cruise at 75 no prob just a hair over 3k rpm but... i didnt buy a jeep to go fast
I have 33"s on 3.07s and 5th gear is useless. I can get up to full speed in 4th no problem though, but on big hills I'm in 3rd and in the slow lane... I'm not going down to 31"s, I'm sticking it out until I can better gearing but that will be a bit. Thankfully I don't have to drive at high speed or on hills much so the wait is OK.
I too have 33 inch tires & stock 3.07 gears and would agree with what everyone above has said regarding the reduced power & 5th gear. It’s funny how perception is always reality, in my case (first Jeep) I didn’t even realize I had a problem until I joined here & read that I did, then I noticed… :rant:
I’ve considered re-gearing to correct this but in my situation it would be more frivolous than necessary for a few reasons. My TJ isn’t a daily driver, I don’t wheel, I rarely get out on the highway & probably most importantly no matter what vehicle I’m driving I’m that asshole on the road that always crawls up to the speed limit & stays there because I’m never in a hurry, just never that impressed with where I’m going I suppose :nonono:. So basically my TJ’s lack of umph isn’t really much of an issue to me, but everyone’s uses vary...
I do feel it when I hit a hill & have to downshift but I haven’t yet come to the conclusion that eliminating these downshifts is worth spending the kind of money necessary to re-gear particularly since one of my must-haves when I bought it was a manual transmission because I like shifting (up and down…). I may eventually swap the gears out one day anyway if I get bored
A little update. This morning I was doing 65 on the way into work and I decided to glance at the tach. It was at 2200 rpm.....but I was in 4th. These 3.07s and 33s suck
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