RIVER ROCK PHOTOS MARCH 13-15

[Krawler00]

Doug, have'nt you figured out you have to drive off center over those rocks. You can't go straight over. {hihi}

[DOUG]

Doug, have'nt you figured out you have to drive off center over those rocks. You can't go straight over. {hihi}

LOL!  I was being spotted, and we did run the tires over that beast, and it started rolling and I couldn't get off of it.  At one time i had one up between the tie rod and the axle too.  {no}

[Krawler00]

  Reminds me of the time I came down the bus and high centered everything. GOSH, I MISS TELLICO!

[Night Wolf]

I don't mean to post the picture again.... but I just realized today something interesting about this:



That was in 2nd gear, 4lo. Today I wanted to see just how fast 2nd gear in 4 low will get me, and it topped out at 15mph.

Hard to believe the Jeep did that at, or under 15mph! It was a pretty steep incline and got up to what little speed it was going, pretty quick.

[Will]

The 4-lo gear ratio of 2.73 to 1 is good at makig low-end torque.    Think if that ratio was lower, like 4:1 in a Rubicon transfer case. Talk about torque! 

What I can't believe is that first gear ratio in your 6 speed trans,  4.46:1. I would never have guessed it to be that low. I bet that thing really crawls in first

[ranger11]

We missed you Ben and Larry.

I see how it is Mark :

[Night Wolf]

The 4-lo gear ratio of 2.73 to 1 is good at makig low-end torque.    Think if that ratio was lower, like 4:1 in a Rubicon transfer case. Talk about torque! 

What I can't believe is that first gear ratio in your 6 speed trans,  4.46:1. I would never have guessed it to be that low. I bet that thing really crawls in first

Yeah, I am just surprised it did that with such little speed.

Yup, 1st gear on the 6spd is very low.... I don't use it around town, it's just too low, I start in 2nd, and it feels just a tad higher then most cars 1st gear. I like the 6spd alot and the slightly lower geared OD will help when bigger tires go on, but 1st gear is odd... it's too low for road use, but not low enough to be a granny gear.

It crawls really well in 1st, which is why I was barely moving and then it would plop down on the belly... put it in 2nd and hit the gas (not wide open tho) and it launched it!

It's quite obvious to me that the biggest thing holding me back is that transfercase skid plate.... much more so then lockers. Going with a lift/bigger tires still dosen't get rid of the problem, so I've been looking at belly-up kits... they require some othing things too, some of them being a SYE/CV driveshaft. I am still on the fence if I want to put money into the 231, could always do a 4:1 kit in the future (lower gearing isn't really needed right now) or just hold off and leave the 231 as-is, and try to find a Rubi 4:1 case. Even in the future when I go to 33" tires, the stock 2.73:1 low range should provide ample crawl in 1st gear, right?

I want to build the Jeep as I go, and learn to wheel it the best I can with minimal mods each step of the way. That road grader is just dragging on everything, and kept getting me hung up. Between a belly-up skid plate and 1" body lift, I can gain another 3.5" of clearance at the belly, 31" tires (which is the plan to replace the GS-A's when they wear out) and a 2" BB in the future would increase that another 2.5", for a total of 6" greater belly clearance, which would be a night and day difference from me being stuck sitting on the belly, or driving over stuff.

[DOUG]

The 4-lo gear ratio of 2.73 to 1 is good at makig low-end torque.    Think if that ratio was lower, like 4:1 in a Rubicon transfer case. Talk about torque! 

What I can't believe is that first gear ratio in your 6 speed trans,  4.46:1. I would never have guessed it to be that low. I bet that thing really crawls in first

could always do a 4:1 kit in the future (lower gearing isn't really needed right now) or just hold off and leave the 231 as-is, and try to find a Rubi 4:1 case.

Love that dirt falling out of the skid while you're airborne!

Forget the 4:1 with that 1st gear.   That's a nice advantage.   You will want to regear those axles when you go to larger tires for drivability on the street and fuel mileage, otherwise kiss 6th goodbye, maybe 5th to if you go 35's.  Your crawl will improve with the gears too, and with that low of a 1st gear, you can move the 4:1 down the list IMHO.

[lt99ls1]

DO NOT regear the 231 to 4to1 those kits break way to easy and way too often. Buy a $180 sye and put in your 231 for when you lift it just to "get you by".

[DOUG]

DO NOT regear the 231 to 4to1 those kits break way to easy and way too often. Buy a $180 sye and put in your 231 for when you lift it just to "get you by".

X2 on nix the kit.  Get a Rubi case or hang with what ya got (unless you can afford an Atlas!)

[Krawler00]

Just regear. I love my 4.88s!

[Will]

AHHH, ya'll get off his back! Rick, you got a fine Jeep and no need to change anything yet. Keep pdoing your research and riding and see what you wanna do with it. I know you mentioned a new belly pan and such, but thse guys will spit out all the stuff they still wanna do to theirs if you let them  ;D