Giovanni Marrero

Hi. I'm new to this community so let me know if I am breaking any rules here.

I have a 1996 xj that I bought two years ago for $800, and have done a lot of fixing to it (brakes, cooling, rust patching, pumps, sensors, etc..). About seven months ago, I put on a 4.5 inch rough country lift with 33s. It has been running great, besides the atrocious fuel mileage (about 12 miles per gallon). I am wondering if any of you have suggestions on what type of modifications I should do to the axles, like gear ratio, and locking diffs. If you have any products you can refer that would be great too. I hope one of you can help me with this. I have a lot of plans with exterior roll cages, upgraded brakes and other accesories, but I do not have knowledge on this specific subject. Thank you in advance.

00t444e

4.56 gears would be good with 33s, lockers would depend on how you use your jeep.

Giovanni Marrero

do you know where I would get the gears from? Also my Jeep is not my daily driver strictly for off-road use or snowy days..

Scott91370

If you're asking where to get the gears from I would not attempt to do the swap. Not trying to sounds harsh or rude but not getting them set up correctly will end up as a waste of at least $1000 and all the time you put in the upgrade.
Find a good shop in your area and work with them to see what they would charge to do the job and figure around $1000 an axle for parts and labor.
If you are mechanically inclined visit Yukon Gear and check out what they have and watch as many videos as you can on how to ad/remove shims to get the wear pattern set up right.

4.3L XJ

I agree

Rogue4x4

Wow, you guys are dicks, lol

Maybe he's not from the USA, maybe he doesn't know what's involved, but that's a pretty quick shutdown.

OP, I'll ask you this, what's the intended use of your jeep, and do you plan to go higher on lift, and/or bigger tires? I'm just guessing here, but from what I've read so far, you want a pretty serious machine, but to nail it, we need more information

Steve5280

Scott91370

Hmm. Not sure where this came from. Could be directed at me and if so that's ok. I'm just trying to make sure he doesn't go buy the gears and bolt them in thinking that's all there is to it. Granted he might get lucky and the gears mesh properly but I'd bet that won't happen - it's never that easy with gears. That's why I suggested a shop and/or watching videos (because he may not know what's involved). We're all here to learn but learning how to do gears properly can be expensive!
If this wasn't directed toward me, OK.

If you're looking at a complete off road rig I would look at locking front and rear diffs as well. Independent so you can choose if one or both are locked.