Spitballing axle gears and locker set up for my next step looking for input

just curious when looking at the gear ratio chart should i be looking for printed sidewall height or at actual measured height like you do when you re program for gears?
because if i go with measured height im one block past the off road performance off the chart for 4.88s and my measured tire size, which doesnt sound like fun for trying to drive my jeep on the highway haha

desertrunner said:

just curious when looking at the gear ratio chart should i be looking for printed sidewall height or at actual measured height like you do when you re program for gears?
because if i go with measured height im one block past the off road performance off the chart for 4.88s and my measured tire size, which doesnt sound like fun for trying to drive my jeep on the highway haha

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What tire size are you running per the sidewall? Not actual measurement.

EDIT: Just checked your profile. 295s would be considered 33s on the gear chart.

WJCO said:

What tire size are you running per the sidewall? Not actual measurement.

EDIT: Just checked your profile. 295s would be considered 33s on the gear chart.

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yeah running 295/70/17

Ok yeah i wasnt sure about reading the gear chart for tire size, on the True tire size thread they measured out to 32 1/8" so i was looking at the 32 vs 36 blocks since the 37s will be somewhere in that range. Ill bump it up to look at 33 vs 37.

i just thought it would be more accurate to look at measured size since thats what you use when re programming after a re gear :crazyeyes:

desertrunner said:

yeah running 295/70/17

Ok yeah i wasnt sure about reading the gear chart for tire size, on the True tire size thread they measured out to 32 1/8" so i was looking at the 32 vs 36 blocks since the 37s will be somewhere in that range. Ill bump it up to look at 33 vs 37.

i just thought it would be more accurate to look at measured size since thats what you use when re programming after a re gear :crazyeyes:

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Typically those gear charts are for the tires you buy, so if manufacturer calls it a 33, that's what the chart goes by. A 285 and a 295 would fall right about 33. If you measure your spare with no vehicle weight, you'll find that tire to be right at 33.25 or so which is what is listed per Cooper. I have the same exact tires and mine measure 32 on the ground at 30psi and just over 33 on my spare. But for re-programming, yes you measure your ground height which is actually from the center of the hub to the ground x 2.

I have a 2014 automatic. With 4.88 gears, 315/70r17 tires, and everything calibrated with an AEV Procal, my 70 mph revs are right at 2900.


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notnalc68 said:

I have a 2014 automatic. With 4.88 gears, 315/70r17 tires, and everything calibrated with an AEV Procal, my 70 mph revs are right at 2900.


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So your looking at roughly 34.4" and looking at the auto trans chart with the your gears you are just off the chart on the high end of off road performance and your running about 150 RPM higher than the chart says you should be at. do you ever feel like its screaming at you cruising on the highway? i know the auto vs manual is gonna feel a little different too though.

looking at the manual chart with 33s and 4.88s im looking at 2800, so if i also run a little high im gonna be pushing into the 3k or higher trying to cruse at 75 on the freeway. Not sure i really want to go that high but i guess it wouldnt be as bad as i thought it might be.

Im looking pretty spot on with my 33s and 3.21s at 70 being about 1800 i might be just slightly lower than what the chart says but maybe 50ish rpm

desertrunner said:

So your looking at roughly 34.4" and looking at the auto trans chart with the your gears you are just off the chart on the high end of off road performance and your running about 150 RPM higher than the chart says you should be at. do you ever feel like its screaming at you cruising on the highway? i know the auto vs manual is gonna feel a little different too though.

looking at the manual chart with 33s and 4.88s im looking at 2800, so if i also run a little high im gonna be pushing into the 3k or higher trying to cruse at 75 on the freeway. Not sure i really want to go that high but i guess it wouldnt be as bad as i thought it might be.

Im looking pretty spot on with my 33s and 3.21s at 70 being about 1800 i might be just slightly lower than what the chart says but maybe 50ish rpm

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My tires measured just over 33.5, when I used the Procal to calibrate for them. Speedo is dead on.

The engine has a 6500 rpm redline, so 2900 rpm isn't killing it. I was running about 2650 with stock tires and 4.10 gears, and 2450 with the current tires, before the new gears. I'm essentially running the rpm at 70 mph, that I used to run st 80 mph with aftermarket tires. I almost went with 4.56, because mine is a daily driver, but I'm glad I didn't.

You mentioned 37's, so I can almost guarantee, you'll at least have the same size tires as me one day. You should gear towards that. If you are going to stick with the tires you have now, gear for them.

Have you looked at this thread?

http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?11069-Do-Yourself-a-Favor-Regear-Your-2012-Up-JK!!





Edit: I just checked for you. At 75 mph, the rpm were 3100. Engine isn't screaming.

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I just read through this whole thread and thought I might help share a little bit of my personal experience. just to help ease this decision for you. :idontknow:

So I'm running factory rubicon D44s, factory lockers, regeared to 5.13s and 37s.

I wheel the jeep what I would call "CHALLENGING" but I keep the speeds down, hense not "hard wheeling", but I like a challenge, and usually take the harder lines up almost every obstacle around here...

Aside from bending a factory rear 44 axle flange, and twisting the splines on the other factory rear 44 shaft, I have had no issues with the axles. I believe both "failures" occurred while bumping obstacles, but its hard to say for sure. Though it is important to me anyways to not that neither of which stopped me in my tracks or needed immediate attention. Since then I have replaced the rear axle shafts with Revolution shafts,(lifetime warranty) I have yet to have another issue from the rear.

The rubi axles have their downfalls, but honestly; If you keep your speed down on the trail, you will be surprised how much of a beating they will take. Sure I WANT ProRocks, but only so I can travel a little faster on the trail and not worry so much about it...

anyway, hope my rambling here helps put your mind at ease with your decision. :idontknow:

In response to the last 2 replies

to notnalc yes i will be putting this thing on 37s eventually and i know the 4.88s will be great for them with the manual and the 3.6, my fear was with the 33s and running over 3k RPM on the highway which it sounds like it may not be as much of an issue as i thought it was going to be. :thumb: my thought was if i go with 4.56 it would be good for 33s and 37s, sure maybe a little low for 37s but kind of a middle ground but of course the lowest i can go with the dynatrac sets are 4.88s

to Dwiggles i too would like to challenge myself and i often in my last JKUR on 37s would try the harder lines when ever i could and i would like to do the same with this one, with that said the only issues i had on my last Rubi axles was a front axle seal leak (which i never confirmed whether or not it was a bent front housing before i ended up selling it), and Ball Joints were shot. So either i was not playing hard enough to bend a flange or strip a shaft or i just got lucky, not to say i would be as lucky the second time around, but like you mentioned there are upgrade options to address those issues if i break stuff on 37s

As far as price point goes and winning the battle with my wife to me it seems easier to convince her to let me drop 3500 for a set of rubi axles then later 4k to get suspension and 37s then later 6500 on something like the trail leader package rather than trying to drop 10G in one shot (being that the 4.88s might not be as bad as i thought on the 33s that kinda changes the $ talk though) I do still have a reservation to air lockers but thats just my personal preference so in order to get E lockers i would have to go with a custom order PR44 and set my rear to match which so far is looking like an 8Gish set up, which would take me some time to save up for then im still sitting on 33s, if i get Rubi axles they are plenty with 4.10 for 33s and ill get E lockers plus i wouldnt have a problem putting them on 37s and run it that way until i break stuff and then upgrade little bit more of stepping stones for building, not saying its the most cost effective route in the long run for a final set up but might be an easier way to step into 37s spending smaller chunks of $ 3 times instead of 2 larger steps.

IDK either way im still undecided and im not opposed to either option, IF dynatrac offered the trail leader package with E lockers this wouldnt even be a conversation any more thats the route i would go but considering the trail leader is roughly 1500 cheaper then getting a PR44 and set my rear with E lockers is making me lean to rubi axles.

At 80 mph with 4.88.




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FWIW, I was thinking exactly like you and had a quote from Dynatrac for the PR44/60 setup with elockers and RCV fronts - $11.5k out the door. I have the money, but I talked myself out of it.

I ended up sleeping and gusseting the D30, adding Teraflex ball joints, leaving the carrier open on the front and adding an elocker to the D44 rear. Stock axle shafts all around. My driveshafts are Tom Woods 1310 series, 4.88 gears, running 35s.

I really struggled with the decision to put any money into the D30, but in the end I decided - and this is my point - not to fix stuff that wasn't broken yet. I am aware of all of the inherent weaknesses of the D30 and stock D44 axles, but I decided to find out where the limits are before I dump money into driveline beef. Plus, my wheeling experience is limited to a half dozen trips in difficult terrain at this point and I would rather make mistakes on the stock axles, before I upgrade.

Im sure that I will eventually spring for the Dynatrac setup once I've had my share of the limitations of my current setup, but it will be interesting to see how far I can get with minimal investment and a welder.

notnalc68 said:

At 80 mph with 4.88.

View attachment 250941


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So i just started my drive from NM to MT and i was paying particular attention to my rpm on the drive of course when it was flat or downhill and i could actually use my 6th gear it was awesome at 75mph and only 2k rpm, but i hardly was able to use 6th most the time i was in 5th at the 2600 range and like 20% of the time having to use 4th sitting at 3200 all at 75 mph. So i guess it really wouldnt be that bad to sit at 3k with the 4.88s and 33s, i dont really feel then need to go any faster than 75 anyway i just figured sitting over 3k on the highway constantly on long drives would be too much but im kinda second guessing that now. since the plan is to get this thing on 37s and its not my DD i think i can handle the occasional long drive at higher RPM

DAMN i really wish dynatrac offered the trail leader pack with E lockers i would be all over it, but the fact that i would save $1500 by going with that package with air lockers its hard to justify trying to set my self up with E lockers if i go with anything other than rubi axles

So i did some more digging and made a few phone calls to dynatrac. Turns out all their axle packages with the PR44 is the unlimited housing with the extra caster. This poses a little bit of a problem for me being on only 1.5-2" of lift. Talking to dynatrac for a while we came to the conclusion that yes it should still work but i am going to need all 4 front adjustable control arms to set it up right and i still may have some bow to the front coils. Steve said that its more of an aesthetic issue rather than a function issue and that it will still perform fine but may end up with a quicker failure of my front drive shaft. so if i consider the Trail leader package with me setting up the rear gears myself plus front control arms plus a 1350 DS im looking at roughly $8200 (or $8k ish with a 1310 DS)

In my extensive excel sheet i have now made i also considered just ordering a custom PR44 without the extra caster and IF i can get ahold of a rubicon rear axle for 1500 by the time i set the gears in the rear im looking at roughly $7500 and thats with stock arms and stock drive shafts still, now obviously a rubicon rear, stock driveshafts, stock arms, its not as strong of a set up and i could easily make it more expensive than the trail leader if i buy new arms and a DS so really the only thing im gaining is my personal preference of electronic lockers.

another scenario i came up with is IF i can find a set of rubicon axles for $3500 and by the time i get a programmer and wiring for the lockers roughly $3800 i can run it all stock the way i have it with the arms and DS for now, then if i order a custom PR44 later and sell the rubi front axle for $2000 i reach pretty much the exact same number at $7500 as the one right above it then obviously the same added costs of arms and DS will push it up just over the price of the trail leader package. and that is all contingent on finding buying and selling the rubi axles for that price which may or may not happen.

being that my long term goal is 3" of lift and 37s its still looking like the trail leader package is going to give me my strongest set up for the best money, BUT the fact that my current gears and no lockers is what is really on my short term list a set of rubi axles will cover that for way less money and work in the short term and let me save up for some other things im wanting to get on the jeep like a rear bumper and tire carrier.

the 44/60 combo is going to push me over the 12G mark to get that set up right and i really dont think i will need that much axle for quite some time so at this point its out of the question and doing some reading on a stock rear 44 with an arb and 35 spline set up isnt all that far off in strength from the semi float high pinion 60 i dont think it would be worth it for me unless the time comes for me to drop the cash on the FF 60/60 combo.

so for now im just going to continue to stash money away and if i can come up with 8G in a reasonable amount to time ill go trail leader if not im going to keep my eye out for so rubi axles and rock that until i break something. :thumb:

and my wife wonders why i cant sleep at night haha :daydream:

I didn't read this whole thread, but caught up a bit. I would just wheel what you've got for while or find a set of Rubi take offs. They will be out there soon, a ton of dynatrac 60/60 packages are being delivered (myself included) Your talking of spending a ton of money and still being on a 44 front axle. I've been running my Rubi 4.10's on 35's for a long time and actually liked it. 37's is where multiple things get annoying.


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Journeyman said:

I didn't read this whole thread, but caught up a bit. I would just wheel what you've got for while or find a set of Rubi take offs. They will be out there soon, a ton of dynatrac 60/60 packages are being delivered (myself included) Your talking of spending a ton of money and still being on a 44 front axle. I've been running my Rubi 4.10's on 35's for a long time and actually liked it. 37's is where multiple things get annoying.


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The biggest thing pushing me to want to buy something sooner rather than later is my gearing I hate the 3.21s and I don't even want to wheel with what I have. If I was cool with my set up now I wouldn't even fret I would just sock money away for some big boy axles but I REALLY want new gears in this thing. And once you add up the cost of even just a re gear I might as well go ahead and do lockers too, so trying not to waste money on a D30 and trying not to spend money twice it's hard for me to find a logical stopping point under 8G (minus a stock set of rubi axles which is looking like the route I may go)

And your right with all the new dyna sets being delivered I'm hoping rubi take offs start popping up more. But I guess time will tell. I'd have no problem running a set of Rubicon axles under this thing on 33s all the way to 37s until something breaks, I ran stock rubi axles on my 08 4dr on 37s and 4.10s and I don't have too many complaints other than I may have bent the front housing by year 3 of beating on it so that should work well for me for the time being.

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Seems to me it might be best, based on what you want, to keep saving and grab some rubi axles, sure them up and then run it. Probably the least expensive option- Then you can keep saving for other mods. This way you'll have elockers, hopefully 4.10s, and a 44 (pumpkin at least) up front. That'll get you pretty set up, plus with the rubi tcase you'll be pretty low for crawling.


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benatc1 said:

Seems to me it might be best, based on what you want, to keep saving and grab some rubi axles, sure them up and then run it. Probably the least expensive option- Then you can keep saving for other mods. This way you'll have elockers, hopefully 4.10s, and a 44 (pumpkin at least) up front. That'll get you pretty set up, plus with the rubi tcase you'll be pretty low for crawling.


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If I was comfortable just running what I had while I save up money for a better set up I would shoot for the moon and see how much I can sock away maybe even end up with FF 60/60 set up. Now that summer is here in Montana I'm going to get the jeep out to wheel and see how I really feel, but if I come across a set of rubi axles in the next month or 2 I'm going to jump on them they should serve me well with 33s for plenty of time.

Seriously second guessing my decision not to buy a Rubicon now haha hell I already have the sway bar and transfer case. I guess the build is all part of the fun haha.

Side note Ben you already sold your rubi take offs right?

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desertrunner said:

If I was comfortable just running what I had while I save up money for a better set up I would shoot for the moon and see how much I can sock away maybe even end up with FF 60/60 set up. Now that summer is here in Montana I'm going to get the jeep out to wheel and see how I really feel, but if I come across a set of rubi axles in the next month or 2 I'm going to jump on them they should serve me well with 33s for plenty of time.

Seriously second guessing my decision not to buy a Rubicon now haha hell I already have the sway bar and transfer case. I guess the build is all part of the fun haha.

Side note Ben you already sold your rubi take offs right?

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The build is for sure the fun part! If you see a set grab em up, I bet they will go fast if priced fair. Yea I did sell them, they actually sold the day they went up on Craigslist so keep yours eyes peeled for a set.


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desertrunner said:

If I was comfortable just running what I had while I save up money for a better set up I would shoot for the moon and see how much I can sock away maybe even end up with FF 60/60 set up. Now that summer is here in Montana I'm going to get the jeep out to wheel and see how I really feel, but if I come across a set of rubi axles in the next month or 2 I'm going to jump on them they should serve me well with 33s for plenty of time.

Seriously second guessing my decision not to buy a Rubicon now haha hell I already have the sway bar and transfer case. I guess the build is all part of the fun haha.

Side note Ben you already sold your rubi take offs right?

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Click to expand...

Op did you get my pm?


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So just had another thought that I priced out. If I go with the dynatrac rear locker and 35 spline shaft kit and buy just matching front d30 and rear d44 gears, parts alone will set me back around 2500-2800 which would be cheaper than most sets of Rubicon axles. That would set my rear up stronger than a rubi rear get me the gears that I so desperately want right now, leave the D30 open for less chance of breaking. Overall yeah spending a few hundred on the D30 just to be replaced down the road but I think even with 37s I'd replace the rubi front down the road as well so either way double spending on the front axle. And then save up for a PR44 front later? Idk just another option I came up with

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