Deciding on gearing and locker

[greenfire]

Need a little help figuring out what I need here.

I have an 87 Grand Wag with 33" tires, Dana 44s. No plans of going any bigger in tire size. This is primarily an off road rig and it is trailered to the location. However I will occasionaly (once a month) drive it on road. Local roads only, no highway, below 45mph.

My plan is to re-gear, and put a locker up front. The rear is welded.

First question is, what gears should I get 4.89 or 5.38?

For the rear I need a new carrier? But for the front, since Im getting a locker, I don't?

I am considering the lock-right locker to keep costs down. I like the welded rear. Will this locker work well given my plan?

Anything else I am over looking?

[chief1ton]

As far as the gear ratio, its all about what you want to do with it. 4.88s are more than enough. with the 5.38s you would be very limited on street driving. pro 50mph tops. you will have to change both carriers. once you pass the 4.09 barrier. the carrier has to be changed. i know there are some gear kits that will go past it. but there limited. the powertrax will work fine. just dont expect to get the same performance as a detroit. or even your lincoln locker. it will ratchet to turn, and it will lock up. just dont expect it to always do what you want when you want.

http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html

http://4lo.com/calc/geartable.htm

[jeeping1974]

With 33"s tires, you can probably even just go with 4.56. It all depends on the type of wheeling that you do. Class VI roads? Rocks? Mud? Sand? Also the pinion head on a set of 5.38 gears is starting to get small and has a better chance of breaking/stripping out. I wouldn't go any lower than 4.88 and would probably lean more towards 4.56.

As for lockers, it all depends if you want to have a full locker (I.E. - Detroit) or a lunchbox (I.E. - LocRite). Getting a lunchbox and carrier would be much cheaper but Detroit locker will hold up much better.

[Ryan]

yep, somewhere north of 4.56 but south of the 5's would probably be best.

[greenfire]

Thanks for the replies! Ok, I think Im sold on 4.88 gears.

So I will need -carriers for front AND rear,
- gear sets for front and rear
-a locker of my choice for up front
-re-weld rear dif when done.

I have it correct??

[jeeping1974]

Install kits for each axle as well.

[Stuka]

I am not sure I understand why you want such low gears. You will have some very high drive line speeds due to the small tires, you may have cooling issues on the road since you will be running very high RPM to maintain any sort of speed.

If you want 33's, I say go 4.56's at the very lowest. I have 4.56's with 34's and HWY trips are not fun. 4.88's would in my opinion make it on the verge of being undrivable unless I had an over drive transmission with like a 0.7:1 OD ratio.