REBEL OFFROAD
Official Vendor
Why should I have the gears in my differential changed?
Lets face it. When it comes to our Jeeps and Trucks, bigger tires are a must have. Whether it’s crawling over bigger rocks, getting through deeper mud pits, running over curbs in the drive-thru’s or just because it gives us that more aggressive look – bigger tires do it all. Larger tires affect your vehicles final drive ratio and if you have not changed your differential gears to match the changes in your tire size then your vehicle is not performing efficiently. Your vehicle will feel sluggish and slow to get going. Your motor will lug and your transmission will be shifting around and working much harder than it should. This causes shorter transmission and engine life and puts greater stress on your drive train components.
Adding taller tires or higher-ratio gears reduces engine rpm at all road speeds and gives the truck less mechanical advantage to help it crawl over an obstacle or get moving from a stop. Lower gears increase engine rpm and acceleration/ crawling capabilities. Remember that low gears are higher numerically (4.10 is lower than 3.50).
Now that you have the basics it’s easy to see why adding taller tires can cause the engine to lug below its power band and cause poor performance. To fix the problem, you need to swap to lower-ratio axle gears. But many ‘wheelers want gears that make the overall combination even lower than stock to improve off-road performance or increase a vehicles towing abilities.
5 Reasons To Change Your Gear Ratio.
The benefits of gearing CANNOT BE MATCHED BY ANY OTHER MODIFICATION TO THE VEHICLE!
1. OFFROAD PERFORMANCE WILL BE GREATLY IMPROVED
Even a simple change from a 31″ diameter tire to a 33″ diameter tire will affect the amount of available torque by 10%. Lower gearing will enable you to have far greater control when crawl over rocks and other obstacles with greater control and put less strain on your vehicles other components. This will greatly reduce the risk of breakage to hubs, axles, drivelines and suspension components.
2. STRESS TO THE DRIVELINE WILL BE GREATLY REDUCED
Modern day transmissions cost $600 or more to perform a basic overhaul. Driving with even a 10% larger tire will result in the transmission being under the same load as always being driven on an incline. The transmission may not suddenly fail, but the life will definitely be reduced by thousands of miles.
3. MPG and ENGINE EFFICIENCY WILL BE REGAINED
RPM alone does not affect fuel mileage. An undergeared vehicle (as the result of oversized tires) will result in a substantial loss of fuel mileage. Also, just as with the transmission, your engine life will greatly be reduced. Changing your axle gear ratio will stop the motor from having to work so hard and increase your fuel efficiency.
4. SPEEDOMETER/ODOMETER ACCURACY WILL BE REGAINED
With kits in the $100+ range to calibrate speedometers after tire swaps, it seems pretty important to have an accurate speedometer, which can also be fixed with a simple gear change.
5. TOWING ABILITY WILL BE INCREASED
Changing your vehicles axle ration to a lower gear will increase your vehicles ability to tow efficiently. The engine, transmission and the rest of the drive train components will not have to work nearly as hard when you are towing.
This is where we must now talk about the gear ratio chart for the Jeep JK.
Please contact us to discuss your vehicles axle ratio needs.
Cheers,
Bond
866-900-8841
