Teralow and 3.54 gears?

[CABBOTT]

Been thinking about changing gear ratios to more economical fuel efficient ratio. My idea is going to 3.54's with front and rear lockers and doing a teralow Transfer Case upgrade to keep my off road ability. I would like y'all's input on the idea. And has anyone done this and how did it work out for you? I'm sitting on 35's at the moment. Thanks guys

 

[IOPort51]

what ratio do you have now?? Looking for better fuel efficiency may be disappointing no matter what you do.

 

[CABBOTT]

3.73's if I remember correctly, will have the wheels off tomorrow and will double check though

 

[Petescj]

Been thinking about changing gear ratios to more economical fuel efficient ratio. My idea is going to 3.54's with front and rear lockers and doing a teralow Transfer Case upgrade to keep my off road ability. I would like y'all's input on the idea. And has anyone done this and how did it work out for you? I'm sitting on 35's at the moment. Thanks guys

I have something pretty similar. Vickis Cj has 35s and 3.73s. It gets around 16 / 17 mpg with the automatic. Im going the sme way so I can keep that fuel mileage but still have a bit more grunt off road. At some point I know I'll go with lower gears in the axles , but for now the Lomax 4 to 1 will work

 

[mtnwhlr]

I think going to 3.54 from 3.73 with 35" tires my hurt your gas mileage because your motor is going to work harder to push those 35s down the road.

 

[CABBOTT]

I agree with you partially mtnwhlr, it will cause a little bit more fuel getting up to speeds but after getting it going my engine rpms should be lower, saving fuel and more comfortable driving.....ish haha

 

[CABBOTT]

So Pete, do you think the lomax is a better product than the teralow? Just curious to which one I should get

 

[Saddle Tramp]

I’ve been tossing this idea out there for a little while so it’s great to see a discussion. To me it’s not all about fuel economy (which we know will most likely never be “good” in a CJ) but more about drivability. With 4.56 gears in the differentials and a 1:1 Transmission , about the time I hit 45 mph I’m looking for another gear to move up to but of course it’s not there. Been thinking about 3.73.

 

[Mick]

I always used the tire size vs. gear ratio charts...

 

[IOPort51]

I would not do major axle overhaul to change from 3.73 to 3.54.

Have you tried 33 " tires? It takes a lot of horse power just to push the tires, most of us use, down the road. I personally run 31s on the street and change to 33s for off road adventure. I have the pavement gears (3.54:1) that will give me 70 MPH at 2500 rpm. This is pretty close to peak HP and torque on my AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l . I think I am going to change out the tranny from t AMC 150 to wide ratio T-18 and the Tera low Dana 20 .

Just an interesting bit of news. Herm the over drive guy sells a D- 20 TC with complete rebuild and the Tera low gear set installed for almost what the parts would cost. His labor is actually quite reasonable.

I have pretty much decided to buy a Novak T-18 with the adapter installed and this TC rather than doing the Heavy messy stuff myself.

Does this make me a bad person??

Will be able to comfortably run 70 mph and have a 70 something crawl ratio.

As to the original question, I think the Tera low is a great idea.

 

[Old Dog]

I would not do major axle overhaul to change from 3.73 to 3.54.

As to the original question, I think the Tera low is a great idea.

..

 

[harleydragon]

I agree too..lot of expense for little change..3.54 is awful tall gears for 35's

 

[Petescj]

So Pete, do you think the lomax is a better product than the teralow? Just curious to which one I should get

I dont think swapping gears from 3.73 to 3.54 will net you much more than a lighter wallet. I thought you had the 3.54s already. Gas mileage and the 360 never really worked for me. The best I got was 13 /14 mpg. That Cj started out on 33s with a AMC 304 and ended with the 360 with 4.10s and 35s. 3.54 is pretty high for a 35 in tire.

Even though the Lomax isnt going to save you any gas mileage I still recomend it. Heres a link Old Dog gave me awhile back:

JB Conversions, Inc.

 

[BusaDave9]

My idea is going to 3.54's with front and rear lockers and doing a teralow Transfer Case upgrade to keep my off road ability.

Is that a typo? 4.54 (or 4.56) would be very appropriate. I have 4.88 and 36 inch tires. They work out great. I don't have high RPM on the highway. If i am right about the typo then I agree with your philosophy: gear the axles for highway use and lower 4WD low for off road use.

You can see from the graph above 3.54 would be off the charts tall gearing.
4.56 or 4.88 would bring your gearing back to factory after taking into account the 35 inch tires.

 

[NorthwestCJer]

Gear Ratio Calculator


Some calculations for you.

 

[CABBOTT]

Well Pete your memory is better than mine I do have 3.54's already in. So on the plus side I don't have to re gear haha.

No it was a typo busa, unfortunately right now I believe this gear ratio will serve me better due to our current living location.....flat land Oklahoma so the jeep will only see pavement for the most part and long trips at that. And going by the ratio charts and calculators I don't really want to be pushing near 3,000 rpm's down the highway when the nearest major town is 45 min away, 2,400 sounds a lot friendlier to me with my current sit.

Thanks NorthWest that was the same website I was using.

 

[CABBOTT]

Well since we now have an established gear ratio what's everyone's opinion on teralow vs lowmax

Anyone installed either of those yet? Customer service, product, ease of installation, cost, durability?

Thanks again everyone, all of y'all's experience and opinions are greatly appreciated

 

[Old Dog]

All my info is from web-wheel'n
It's said that the lowmax is stronger.
It also appears to be a little cheaper when I checked awhile back.
From what I hear customer service is good either place.

 

[Torxhead]

I have the Tera-Low since that was the only option when I got it many moons ago. It still works other than the always hard to get in gear Dana 300 . It handles the torque put out by my AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l with a 103 to 1 low gear ratio.

 

[Petescj]

I vaguely remember hole posting he got the lo max set. If he doesnt chime in send him a Pm