ChiXterra
Wheeling
- Location
- Northern Illinois
Is there any need to re-gear for 33's? I have stock 4.90 gears right now.
Re-gear?
- Thread starter ChiXterra
- Start date
- Location
- Rancho Cucamonga, CA
I don't think you have 4.90s
- Location
- Columbus OH
You do not need to regear for 33's, if you were going to run 35's then I would think about 5.13's. You would get a much better bang for your buck if you were to swap in a set of crawler gears in the transfer case.
- Location
- North Alabama
All of the 1st Gen's are either 4.6 or 4.9
- Location
- Dayton, OH
Is there a way to figure out which gear ratio you have? I've briefly tried looking it up, and not that it matters much. I was just curious
- Location
- Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Xe (i4) = 4.875
xe (v6) = 4.636
se (v6) = 4.90
se (v6, s/c) = 4.636
xe (v6) = 4.636
se (v6) = 4.90
se (v6, s/c) = 4.636
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- Location
- Rancho Cucamonga, CA
why did it change my caps?
- Location
- Conroe, TX
Tried fixing it and it went back to lower case. I blame honey badger.
Sent using telepathy.
ChiXterra
Wheeling
- Location
- Northern Illinois
Stock gear ratio(s) can be: 4.30, 4.60, or 4.90. My vehicle sticker indicates the 4.90 gear ratio.
ChiXterra
Wheeling
- Location
- Northern Illinois
I was told that the sticker on the door frame, found on the driver's side has it. It should be the HG[num] at bottom left hand corner.
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- Location
- Carlisle, Iowa
This is correct hg49 is 4.9 and hg46 is 4.6, You cannot go by what trim level, I have a xe that has 4.9's
ChiXterra
Wheeling
- Location
- Northern Illinois
- Location
- Morrison, CO
4.9's in mine. Oh wait, I have a 2WD. 
- Location
- Probably in class..
Is there any benefit to regearing anyway?
like "just for power"?
like "just for power"?
- Location
- Huntsville, AL
There's a small list of reasons to re-gear. In most, if not all, off road cases, its to balance out tire sizes. Generally, when talking about gearing, you can be shooting for a number of things; gas mileage and towing capability limits are just two of them. Tire/Gear Ratio charts are available online that give a rough estimate of gearing ratios combined with tires. However, there are a number of variables when looking at these charts so bear that in mind when browsing.
There are other reasons to re-gear that apply to obtaining speeds and torque, but for most cases on this board, I don't think we're looking to drag our X's.
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- Location
- Probably in class..
I am just thinking that if I come across some gears somewhere, I might look into picking them up.
- Location
- Probably in class..
but first I have to find out what gears I am currently running
- Location
- Huntsville, AL
A sticker in/on your door panel will tell you. There is also one located under the hood and on the axle itself (if not an engraving).
- Location
- S.Subs of Chicago, IL.
When it comes to "RE-GEARING", where are you re-gearing? TC, Diff(s), BOTH? and if both, are the ratios the same.
I'm trying to understand how many gears have to actually be purchased.
I'm trying to understand how many gears have to actually be purchased.
- Location
- Greenville SC
You have to do both the front and rear diffs at the same time (if you plan to use 4wd anyways). They have to be the same ratio, or very close (like 4.90's and 4.88's). The tcase gears only affect 4 low, though I imagine they have a more dramatic effect
4.90's and 33"s put you almost back to the same effective wheel ratio as if you had stock tires (1.5 gen almost 31's) and 4.63's
4.90's and 33"s put you almost back to the same effective wheel ratio as if you had stock tires (1.5 gen almost 31's) and 4.63's
- Location
- S.Subs of Chicago, IL.
Mirage, you sorta answered my question, thanks. I knew if both diffs had to be changed, they would have to be the same ratios. What I was foggy about was IF the diffs AND the TC had to be changed what would be the TC's ratio.
I guess I should have stated that up front since no one seems to be able to read my mind...lol
- Location
- Greenville SC
no the TC gears are completely independent, they don't have to be changed, it does its work before the power gets to the diffs.
- Location
- S.Subs of Chicago, IL.
Re-gearing from 4.6 to 4.9 with 32's or less really keeps the vehicle in the same EOM specs gas burning range.
SO it's not really cost effective to go to 4.9 from 4.6 w/ 32's or less.
But, for 33's and up to go from 4.6 to 4.9 IS worth the expense. Therefore spending that little extra to go to the 5.xx is worth the expence because it puts it back even closer to that same EOM specs range.
I think I got it now.
SO it's not really cost effective to go to 4.9 from 4.6 w/ 32's or less.
But, for 33's and up to go from 4.6 to 4.9 IS worth the expense. Therefore spending that little extra to go to the 5.xx is worth the expence because it puts it back even closer to that same EOM specs range.
I think I got it now.
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- Location
- Columbus OH
I personally would not put the time into swaping from a 4.6 to a 4.9 there is just not enough of a gain for me to justify the effort. 5.13 would be enough for me to do it to run 35's, numarically it is slightly steeper of a set than stock would be with stock tires, but the additional tire weight and rolling resistance would be a pretty good compramise.
- Location
- Huntsville, AL
Its not just time, but cost also. As previously mentioned, the cost of gears for our axles are around $500 per axle through Nismo or RuggedRocks. If you made a jump to 35"s, however, I'd consider them.
- Location
- S.Subs of Chicago, IL.
OK...so it seems running 33's wouldn't even justify the cost/time of re-gearing the diffs. Only 35's and up.... Thanks.
Re-gearing the TC is a seperate issue and can be done regaurdless of tire sizes.
Re-gearing the TC is a seperate issue and can be done regaurdless of tire sizes.
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- Location
- Greenville SC
I think if your mechanically inclined and got a set of 4.90s (entire front diff and rear 3rd, not just the gears themselves) out of a junkyard for cheap (my local pull a parts are stupid cheap, if they ever get something in with them) it would be worth it to me, not really that hard to swap the front pumpkin or the rear 3rd member out, and then your not having to check/set backlash and all that.
- Location
- machesney park IL
Just have to ask yourself how your current gears work for you. I run the 4.6's with 32's at 75mph on the freeway I find the revs to fall right at peak torque and power which nets the best fuel mileage on long distance travel. However around town or offroad lower (numerically higher) gears would make for more sprightly power and economy.
- Location
- New Mexico
If you are looking to restore the final drive ratio using Nissan specs, this formula is helpful for calculating a new ratio based on new tire size:
new tire diameter * old diff ratio / old tire diameter = New diff ratio
Using this formula with the Nissan specs from the door jamb sticker on my 2000 X suggests that a 33" tire will need a 5.16 gear set to restore the factory final drive ratio:
33" * 4.63 / 29.6" = 5.16
5.142 is the lowest gearing that will fit in our stock diffs and technically speaking, it is a tiny bit less that what is needed to restore the "stock" drive ratio. 35" tires requires a much lower ratio:
35" * 4.63 / 29.6 = 5.47
Most feel that the stock gearing works fine with 33's but considering the additional weight that comes with the larger tires, it seems that re-gearing to 5.142 is pretty sound choice. If you're running 33's, the 5.142 gear sets will also correct the ~7-8 mph speedometer inaccuracy(at highway speeds) caused by changing tire size. For 35" tires, 5.142 seems to be the only choice.
-Rok
new tire diameter * old diff ratio / old tire diameter = New diff ratio
Using this formula with the Nissan specs from the door jamb sticker on my 2000 X suggests that a 33" tire will need a 5.16 gear set to restore the factory final drive ratio:
33" * 4.63 / 29.6" = 5.16
5.142 is the lowest gearing that will fit in our stock diffs and technically speaking, it is a tiny bit less that what is needed to restore the "stock" drive ratio. 35" tires requires a much lower ratio:
35" * 4.63 / 29.6 = 5.47
Most feel that the stock gearing works fine with 33's but considering the additional weight that comes with the larger tires, it seems that re-gearing to 5.142 is pretty sound choice. If you're running 33's, the 5.142 gear sets will also correct the ~7-8 mph speedometer inaccuracy(at highway speeds) caused by changing tire size. For 35" tires, 5.142 seems to be the only choice.
-Rok
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- Location
- Smyrna, TN
Lucky is having a 5spd with 4.9s. Yeah, that's me. Hot damn!
NMTerras
Suspension Lift
- Location
- New Mexico
I have an XE 5speed manual with 4.9. If you have a 2000 or 2001 xe with the limited slip its a 4.9 (what was then the offroad package. I push 33.4s (295s) and found it slightly underpowered on the freeway in fifth gear. Better now with the headers and CAI. But, ideally I would have 5.13s. For wheeling, it's fine. Going to be better when I install new TC with crawler gears for Moab
- Location
- Huntsville, AL
Err... I have a LSD and 4.6 gears as given by the door panels and history of my vehicle.
NMTerras
Suspension Lift
- Location
- New Mexico
2wd tho right? Should have clarified...4x4 with what was then the offroad package
- Location
- Huntsville, AL
- Location
- New Mexico
Mine's a 2000 XE 4x4, auto tranny w/ LSD and it has 4.6 gears.
A ring and pinion swap from 4.6 to 5.14 will provide about an 11% increase in torque while the 4.9 to 5.14 yields a ~5% increase in torque. Not a huge increase in either case but enough to offset about 50-95% of the power loss from running 33" tires.
The replacement gear sets for our diffs are kinda stupid expensive (about twice the price of ring and pinion sets for Jeeps) but from a performance standpoint, they seem to be worth the time and effort. The speedo/odo correction is just icing on the cake. I would do the swap even if I had 4.9's.
-Rok
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outlaw_xterra
Bought an X
- Location
- Jacksonville Florida
So are there 5.xx gears for the stock diffs?
- Location
- machesney park IL