Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler JK shifters

2018 Jeep Sahara with 35's sluggish

skoster20

New Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2022
Messages
5
Location
Franklin, NC
Bought 2018 Jeep Sahara 2 door with 2" lift and 35's already on it with 48K miles on it. The ride is nice & smooth but just feels sluggish especially up hills. Don't know if i should regear or downsize to smaller tires. Do a fair amount of road trips over the road with some off roading to campsites.
 
Most Sahara's come with 3.21 gears. You can check your rear and look for the gear tag and see what it reads. I'd go with new gears if you like the tires you have on now.
 
Until you post pictures of said Jeep, you're dead to me...



j/k


It depends on what you want to do. If you keep the larger tires, a regear will make big difference. A Kansas flatlander may have no issues with that setup and a manual transmission, but an auto tranny in the Blue Ridge mountains would be painful with "highway friendly" gearing.

Auto or stick? Do you know what gears you have? There's a link in the resource section where you can enter your VIN & determine the build specs.

Personally, I really like 35's on a 2dr.

JD
 
It's an automatic, with the 3.73. I love the tires on it now, just weighing the option of spending the money to have gears changed or get smaller tires since I do a lot of travel with it. Considering a 31 or 33 tire but not sure of the difference in ride.

jeep forum.jpeg
 
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Picture posted, you're forgiven.

Stay with the 35's, 5 new tires will run you about the same amount.
I agree. I have 3.73's on mine. I just replaced the tires (went down to 315/70R17's, actually). Tires are expensive :). Going down to 31's is smaller than stock at 32".

How it rides would also depend on your suspension. If you're happy with how it handles and you love the tires, regear. :)

Very nice looking Jeep.
 
Yea the ride is still great with the 35s, the sluggishness on highways and up hills do suck tho, it's my primary vehicle that gets about 17-18mpg, would hate for it to drop more with gear change. Just not sure if i should go smaller tires instead, i plan on doing more cross country hiking trips with it is the only reason i say smaller.
 
I have a 2014 4-door with 35s and a 3.73 rear end. Love it on the highways- cruises at 80 @ 2200 RPM. And most of the trails on this end of NC are much flatter than where you are out west. You're also at a modest altitude, which is also a factor.
If I were you, I'd consider jumping up to a 4.10 or 4.56, depending on how much time you spend off road.
 
I`m running 35`s with 4.10 and out west it does okay still a dog but just okay. It will down shift in the hills and the pedal is being smashed 3/4. In normal driving up to about 5,000 elevation. I would go regear to 4.56 or 4.88.
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler JK shifters