This exactly.

I have an XJ all done up at about 5000 pounds! with 4.56 and 33s and it screamed a little on the highway but was great off road. It was still a dog on the street.
I changed to 35s and it is much better on the street and highway, still good off road, and still a 'slow dog'. It needs a supercharger kit soon.

Click here to see various Cherokee weights. You'll be surprised.

 

I like boosted engines, but I am thinking huffing an XJ will result in broken parts somewhere, at some point. LOL My foot is nowhere near as heavy as it was when I was younger, but I can still see me getting snagged in some rocks and goosing it a little to bounce out and snapping a shaft...or more likely a ujoint.


Cheers!

Offio

 

I've been running 33s and 4.56 for a couple years now...and initially it was awesome. But now that I moved and have to cruise on the highway for hours to get to any good wheeling, I really don't like 4.56's. I wish I would've went 4.10s instead. Also, 4-lo is just ridiculous with 4.56s. One slight tap of the gas launches the rig. I personally don't care for that too much.

 

Appreciate the info. Still not sure what I want to do. I'm leaning towards 4.56's and 33's for the time being, because I'm contemplating going to 35's at some point. Have some other things that need sorting out beforehand.

 

I had 4.56s with 33s and loved it!

Was good on the highway however, only lacked in the 40-50mph range.
To low for 3rd gear and to high for OD when going through mountains.
Everywhere else though it was great.

Now I'm on 4.56s and 35s and I miss the get up an go.
I'm lacking in the 55mph - 65 mph range when going through mountains for the same reason I stated before.

I wouldn't mind being on 35s and 5.13s... Top speed would be about 75mph

 

I have 4.88 with the aw4 and love it!!!!

 

Late post! Boo!

 

I have had 33" tires on my XJ with 4.56 gears. I live in CO, so I drive at high altitude where the engine makes less power. On the easy grades of I25 the automatic tended to hunt gears a little bit. So sometimes I wonder if 4.88's would have been better, or engine mods for more power. Otherwise the 4.56's work great.

Kevin

 

I'm on 35's and 4.88's, and top speed is around 70-75 right now, LOL...Max speed on the highways here in some areas is 70. I usually cruise 65, in the slow lane. Seems most comfortable there. Leaves me a little room for passing semis and slower moving traffic. Trucks with trailers and semi max speed limit here is 55, so it's nice to be able to speed up a little to get around them when needed.

Plus, I don't mind going a bit slower, life is about the journey, not the destination...okay, zen moment over, haha

 

 

Just curious, does anybody have experience with 32" tires and 4.56 gears?

 

I have, Im now at 33..32 and 456 wasn't bad at all. I live in a small town and we really dont get above 60 in this town. So I have no clue about keeping it at 70 or 80 on large HWYs for long periods. But Im sure it would do fine/ok if you had to get to those speeds. As for gas mileage it wasnt bad, I dont have numbers but It wasnt to bad for me.


But I did this vid... AW4, 4.56 on 32" tires.

In this vid I kept the jeep in O Drive.. I also installed the correct speed gear for the tire size


Hope it helps.. Plus Welcome to CF

 

Thanks for your input! I plan on going up to 33s in the future but not sure if i'm quite ready yet so I want to go with 32s for now and am regearing to 4.56.

 

Cool,, Fun times

Question, you have the AW4 AUTO transmission right?

 

Yes auto. Sorry, forgot to mention that.