Overlander axles, re-gear and lockers costs?

Is 4.56 the right call like the charts say for 35" tires or go with 4.88 like the mechanic says?

  • 4.56

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5.13

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    1

TheRonster

New Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2020
Messages
2
Location
Los Angeles
Hi guys,

I have a few questions about axles, and I hope someone can help me out or clarify a few things for me.

I have a JKU 14' Sahara with 3" Teraflex lift and a front runner roof rack(RTT coming soon) and 35" KO2 tires and factory gears. So sluggish af with all the drag haha not to forget the bad gas mileage.
I don't like rock crawling unless necessary to get to my campsite and many times I'm roadtripping to the trails and campsites.. I like overlanding and exploring if you will. As you may already know the Sahara has Rear Dana 44 and Front Dana 30 axles.

I want to do something about it. So here are the questions:

1. For the specific use of my Jeep should I replace the front axle with a dana 44 then re-gear and stuff? or Truss Gusset and sleeve and it'll be fine? Is there a cost difference?

2. How much should re-gearing from 3.21 - 3.73 to 4.56 or 4.88 cost?

3. How much should adding front and rear lockers with air compressor cost?

Thank you fellow Jeepers for the help.
Ron
 
1. There's no need to do any of that whatsoever period. Your Dana 30 is more than fine with 35s as long as you upgrade the axle shafts. Nothing else is needed. The front axle doesn't see nearly as much abuse as the rear axle, so it's not a big deal.

2. Re-gearing usually runs around $600 or so for parts and anywhere between $300 to $600 per axle for labor, so expect labor to be around $600 to $1200.

3. Lockers should be added at the time of the re-gear, as it won't end up costing much extra for labor. You'll probably end up spending around $2000 or so in parts and additional labor.

As for the gear ratio, you didn't tell us if you have an auto or a manual, which is absolutely crucial information in determining which gear ratio you should be running,
 
Thank you so much for your insight. My jeep is an Automatic JKU 14'

1. So you don't think additional weight with roof rack and fridge and RTT would affect the Dana 30...I just keep getting told that "you don't want it to break when you're on the trails"

2-3. Thanks for creating a baseline price for me.