Advice on some lower gears!!!!!!!!!

I need some advice on lower gear ratio's. I've got the 3.54's which I like for the hiway but when I'm in the bush,mud and skag, I find I'm ridin the clutch way more than my liking. I heard of an upgrade to the T-Case. I've got the Dana 20 in my CJ5.

Does anybody have any ideas?? I don't want to spend a whole lot right now.

 

If you have access to lots of used parts, you can do the ol' Bronco gear conversion, which reduces your low to roughly 2.5 instead of 2. You'll need a Ford Bronco Model 20 gear and Jeep Model 18 parts. It has been so long since I have done one, but I know you only need one gear from the Bronco 20. The rest is from the 18 I think. I'm sure someone else here has done one more reently and can tell you the specifics, or you can probably do a search for the procedure and parts requirements. It is much cheaper than the marketed Model 20 reduction gear kits. Also, you could search for a Model 300 out of a late Scout II that has the 18/20 bolt up. They are rare, but are still out there. That is a great way to go. Good luck.! CJ

 

well, either way you go its not going to be cheap. Axle Gears are gonna be about $250 each end installed unless you can do the work yourself.

The Tera-low t-case gears are going to be $800~$900 installed unless you can do the work yourself. But, if you have a t-14 tranny this kit will not work for you.

The cheap way above is a nice compromise if you can find all the parts.

 

I'm guessing this is a '76-79 CJ-5 with a T-150. With 3.54s and a D20, that's what it should be. I'd bite the bullet and install a Ford T-18. The Ford transmission will match yout existing bellhousing, though you'll need to adapdt it to the Dana 20. You can keep your 3.54 highway gears and have the low granny gear for crawling.

 

MMMM T-18=Good

 

The T-18 may be the way to go. I regeared my CJ-5 from 3.54's to 4.10's a couple years back and now with gas prices the way they are, I wish I still had the 3.54's. I think I went from 15-16 MPG to less than 12 MPG. 87 octane just went up to 3.38/gallon today..ouch!

 

Ouch. A war AND high gas prices. So much for the either/or. Anyway, I was wondering if the switch to 4.10 made any real difference in off road crawlability, or if the change was so negligible not to be worth it.

 

The T-18 and Teralow gears are looking better all the time.

 

I think I could do the T-18 swap for less than changing the axle gearing or the Tera-Low gears (maybe not a lot less, but less). There are a couple of different ways to put together junkyard parts and get a 4WD T-18 that matches the rest of your drivetrain. The Bronco transfer case gear, needed to build a 2.42 ratio Dana 20, is available new for about $100 last I looked. If you did both of those, your crawl ratio would go from 22 to 54 - very respectable.

 

My rig is an 80 CJ-5 with 258, 32x11.50 BFG MT's, T-176 with D300 and 4.10's with Auburn in the rear (wish it was a locker).
Switching to 4.10's made a big difference in offroad performance. The first thing I noticed was that I could start off in high range on hills that previously required low range. We don't have any rock crawling to speak of so off road performance is very satifactory all though my T-176 will eventually get swapped out for a T-177 which I have ready to install. Also, getting to my favorite four wheeling area involves driving up a winding mountain road which ascends from sea level to 3500 feet elevation in 12 miles or so. The 4.10's are really nice going up and down this stretch of road--good hill climbing ability going up and good compression braking when decending. Also, running on the beach is much improved. I can get into 3rd gear in high range if the sand is right.