4.56 is the lowest gear I would put in a D30

 

I agree. 4.88's pinion is really small for d30. People run risk of breaking the pinion on 4.88 gear set than the 4.56 set

 

X3. That is why I went 4.56. It does great on 35's.

 

I will be living in the flat DE and am hoping that 4.56 and 35s will be amazing down there. Only big places to go wheeling would be Rausch.

 

It should. Sure, it would be nice to have steeper gears when crawling. But at what cost. 4.56 does perfectly fine with 35's for anything.

 

What rpms does your jeep read at 65-70mph?

 

The AW4 ratio is .75:1 in overdrive 4th, so RPM in O.D. will be as follows;

4.11:1 with 33's @60mph = 2040rpm

4.56:1 with 33's @60mph = 2260rpm

So in theory 4.11 gears & 33's are close to stock 3.54:1 gears with stock 29" tires..... this is OK if you are using as a daily driver and hardly ever wheel it but if you are serious about wheeling 4.56:1 gears are the best option and help heaps if you use it for towing a trailer etc.

Good luck with the truck

 

I totally agree, 4.88's pinion is tiny in my D30 and 4.56 is the best for 33's or even 35's but in saying that, I was given two new sets of 4.88 D44 gears and one new set for D30. I'm using them in my CJ6 using XJ running gear, ZJ 4.0L stroker NP231 doubler/NP242 on 35's until I can score a D44 for the front.

I know how little throttle is needed when wheeling 6lb in the 35's with low range + doubler & 4.88's in a 30....very egg under my foot but it sure climbs anything just off idle crawling at 11metres per min @1000rpm.......

 

I love my waggy Dana 44 front with 4.88's. U should go for it.