Which transfer case is best?

[steffen707]

I was watching one of the evo JT videos and he said for overlanding, the Rubicon Tcase is too high, and he prefers the sahara tcase.

What's the benefit to Sahara, vs Rubicon T-case?

I think with a higher crawl ratio, you have a lower wheel rpm, for engine RPM, and multiplies more torque to each wheel, correct?

So is the only benefit of lowering the T-Case ratio a rubicon to sahara, is that you don't have such high rpms in 4lo, so you can enjoy 4lo more in sand or other trail riding?

Couldn't you just leave it in 4hi for those conditions?

Wish i could find the video, i'll keep looking.

This was a good reference. http://4x4abc.com/4WD101/crawl.html

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[BosRacing]

I was watching one of the evo JT videos and he said for overlanding, the Rubicon Tcase is too high, and he prefers the sahara tcase.

What's the benefit to Sahara, vs Rubicon T-case?

I think with a higher crawl ratio, you have a lower wheel rpm, for engine RPM, and multiplies more torque to each wheel, correct?

So is the only benefit of lowering the T-Case ratio a rubicon to sahara, is that you don't have such high rpms in 4lo, so you can enjoy 4lo more in sand or other trail riding?

Couldn't you just leave it in 4hi for those conditions?

Wish i could find the video, i'll keep looking.

This was a good reference. http://4x4abc.com/4WD101/crawl.html

Higher numerically = lower ratio. Mel was saying in his opinion, the Rubicon t-case is too low for his tastes. It all depends on what kind of wheeling you do. It also depends on how you gear your axles and what size tires you are going to run.

As for benefit to Sahara (or Sport) vs Rubicon t-case, more wheel speed in 4low for the situations that require skinny pedal action.... lol. Benefit to Rubicon vs Sahara/Sport t-case, better crawl ratio in 4low.

 

[whatevah]

I had the standard 2.72:1 ratio in my old XJ (6 years) and have the 4:1 ratio in my JK Rubi (7 years). I've never wished I had the XJ gearing over the Rubi gearing. But, my wheeling is either in offroad parks which have a maximum speed limit of 20mph on the access roads or Colorado mountains or Moab-area trails. Mountains you're generally not getting up to any real speed, so the 4:1 is perfect. In the desert you normally either need 1:1 for covering ground (often 2wd) or shift down into low gear for spots requiring more finesse. Elsewhere on the east coast, it's simple 4-high trails or the beach. I like 4-low on the beach to help avoid digging a hole and getting stuck.

For the average wheeler, the standard Sport/Sahara/Overland gearing is fine. The Rubicon gearing lets you have more finesse and engine compression braking for the harder trails. Same as the lockers, most trails don't need it... using them is cheating. And, I like cheating.

 

[WXman]

The only time I'd even consider the Rock-Trac t-case from the Rubicon is if I was doing a lot of mountain rock crawling out in the Rockies. Here in the eastern U.S. with forests, mud, hills, snow, water crossings, etc. you are better with the 2.72 ratio of the Selec-Trac or Command-Trac cases.

 

[steffen707]

The only time I'd even consider the Rock-Trac t-case from the Rubicon is if I was doing a lot of mountain rock crawling out in the Rockies. Here in the eastern U.S. with forests, mud, hills, snow, water crossings, etc. you are better with the 2.72 ratio of the Selec-Trac or Command-Trac cases.

wouldn't you just go through most of that with 4hi, unless you get stuck in the mud, then change it to 4lo?

 

[WXman]

wouldn't you just go through most of that with 4hi, unless you get stuck in the mud, then change it to 4lo?

Not really, 4 High does put a lot of strain on the driveline and requires a lot of engine power. If you're at moderate speeds on the trail 4 High is still geared too high but the 4 Low in the Rock Trac is too low. I find that the 4 Low in the Sport hits the sweet spot just right.

There are some guys with the Rock-Trac case that just use 4 Low and then select a higher gear if they've got a manual transmission. That works OK in limited areas. I'm just a big fan of the 2.72 low range in the Command-Trac case.

 

[RedTRex]

wouldn't you just go through most of that with 4hi, unless you get stuck in the mud, then change it to 4lo?

That is what I would think also.

 

[steffen707]

can any of you smart veteran 4x4 dudes chime in? @JTRUBI , @homerun

 

[JTRUBI]

I had a JKU Rubicon with a manual trans. I honestly did majority of the wheeling of the east stuff in 4hi and only used 4lo on the slow technical stuff. It worked great for me. The only issue I had was steep grassy hills I’d stall out if I didn’t rev the shit out of it. But I was also running stock gears.

 

[steffen707]

I had a JKU Rubicon with a manual trans. I honestly did majority of the wheeling of the east stuff in 4hi and only used 4lo on the slow technical stuff. It worked great for me. The only issue I had was steep grassy hills I’d stall out if I didn’t rev the shit out of it. But I was also running stock gears.

And that was the same 4.10 gear that the JT Rubi has?

 

[homerun]

can any of you smart veteran 4x4 dudes chime in? @JTRUBI , @homerun

Not sure I am an expert, however my thought is if its to slow in 4Low then just shift to 2nd or 3rd gear, in fact no rules says you can’t use 4th, however if you are moving that fast, I would think 4 high would be ok for your terrain. I like the 4:1 over the 2.72.

It hasn’t come up in the tread yet, but I think the RockTrac is a bit beefier tcase in terms of the strength of the actual case and gears. I don’t have a source on this and I could be wrong, but I think it can take more abuse then that CommandTrac or the new fake SelecTrac. I say fake because the MP3022 is not true 4x4 high like the NP242. The SelecTrac uses sensors and only sends power to the front when needed. I really liked the original which split the power front to back, I think its like 52/48 split and ran that way full time.

To sum it up, for off roading I would take the RockTrac all day long, and have no problem with the 4:1 ratio. However if everyday use I find the SelecTrac (even the new version) more practical. Where I live I often find myself in patches of ice and dry spots making the choice between 2high and 4high more difficult.

Although its never been offered, there is technically no reason they couldn’t build a SelecTrac with a 4:1 ratio. That would be my first choice.

 

[Moriarty]

OK, I'll try to answer the question.

Mel (Offroad Evolution) talked about transfer cases and briefly the 8 spd auto.
He was talking about the 8 spd auto has a 4.7 to 1 first gear ratio, now compared to JK with the 5 spd auto with a 3.6 to 1 first gear ratio the need for the 4 to 1 (rubicon) transfer case would be to low for the majority of owners. Even the manual trans received a low first gear, JK 4.46 to 1 compared to JL/JT 5.13 to 1.

With that lower first in the auto it kind of makes the 2.72 transfer case a 3.8 to 1. (now you technical guys/gals relax, I said kind of)
Example: a month ago I was in the high dessert with muddy trails, I was in 4lo 2nd gear JKUR 5 spd auto and a friend of mine has a JLUR 8 spd auto he was in 4lo as well but had to be in 4th gear for the same hill.

I own a 2015 JKUR 5 spd auto, love it! If things work out in a year, I will purchase a JT Sport with Max Tow, hard top. With "Max Tow" you get the 1.5" wider HD 44 axles with 4.10 gears that are in the Rubicon and the big brakes that are in the Overland & Rubicons models.

I hope this sheds a different light/angle to the answer you looking for.

 

[steffen707]

OK, I'll try to answer the question.

Mel (Offroad Evolution) talked about transfer cases and briefly the 8 spd auto.
He was talking about the 8 spd auto has a 4.7 to 1 first gear ratio, now compared to JK with the 5 spd auto with a 3.6 to 1 first gear ratio the need for the 4 to 1 (rubicon) transfer case would be to low for the majority of owners. Even the manual trans received a low first gear, JK 4.46 to 1 compared to JL/JT 5.13 to 1.

With that lower first in the auto it kind of makes the 2.72 transfer case a 3.8 to 1. (now you technical guys/gals relax, I said kind of)
Example: a month ago I was in the high dessert with muddy trails, I was in 4lo 2nd gear JKUR 5 spd auto and a friend of mine has a JLUR 8 spd auto he was in 4lo as well but had to be in 4th gear for the same hill.

I own a 2015 JKUR 5 spd auto, love it! If things work out in a year, I will purchase a JT Sport with Max Tow, hard top. With "Max Tow" you get the 1.5" wider HD 44 axles with 4.10 gears that are in the Rubicon and the big brakes that are in the Overland & Rubicons models.

I hope this sheds a different light/angle to the answer you looking for.

Shed's light YES, answers question, kinda. CREATES MORE QUESTIONS/CONFUSION, yes. (not your fault)

Looks like i need to bone up on my primary gear, transfer case, final gear stuff.....ugh.

So can you help me with this, take the manual out of my decision process because i just don't want a manual, does running in 4HI put more strain on everything like was stated earlier? If you're doing medium/nothing crazy off road trail driving, do you even need to go into 4LO? Lets say you do have to use 4LO, and since the 4.10 gears (like you were saying in your example above) would put you into a higher gear (4th), does that really hurt anything?

I can only see where you would be better off is if you absolutely needed 4LO, but ran out of gears. Like if 7th gear still wasn't fast enough with your 4.10. But if you're in this situation then wouldn't you probably just be in 4HI?

Last thing I should add is I've heard that overdrive gears and towing are really bad, so overdrive gears and sand running, or heavy stress would also be bad, right?

Please help this gear NEWB @Moriarty .

 

[steffen707]

OK, I'll try to answer the question.

Mel (Offroad Evolution) in the "Beast Mode" video @ 9:10 into the video talked about transfer cases and briefly the 8 spd auto.
He was talking about the 8 spd auto has a 4.7 to 1 first gear ratio, now compared to JK with the 5 spd auto with a 3.6 to 1 first gear ratio the need for the 4 to 1 (rubicon) transfer case would be to low for the majority of owners. Even the manual trans received a low first gear, JK 4.46 to 1 compared to JL/JT 5.13 to 1.

With that lower first in the auto it kind of makes the 2.72 transfer case a 3.8 to 1. (now you technical guys/gals relax, I said kind of)
Example: a month ago I was in the high dessert with muddy trails, I was in 4lo 2nd gear JKUR 5 spd auto and a friend of mine has a JLUR 8 spd auto he was in 4lo as well but had to be in 4th gear for the same hill.

I own a 2015 JKUR 5 spd auto, love it! If things work out in a year, I will purchase a JT Sport with Max Tow, hard top. With "Max Tow" you get the 1.5" wider HD 44 axles with 4.10 gears that are in the Rubicon and the big brakes that are in the Overland & Rubicons models.

I hope this sheds a different light/angle to the answer you looking for.

Excellent first post by the way! Much thanks!

 

[Malarkey21]

I would run trails in 4 low and just run in 4th on my sport JK when we were on the 2 track and slow down to 1st or second when there was some technical stuff or hills and I didnt have any problems. I am going with a rubicon for my JT because a lot that I would want to change is already done. I'm still building my off-roading skills (track days and drifting dont translate well when going over logs and rocks) and slow and steady works great for me. Bring on that 4 to 1, I have no problem using the "select speed" button or bumping it up a few gears to drive down the trails.

I with @homerun I also recall reading that the RockTrac is beefed up compared to the command track, though I dont remember what exactly the changes are.

At the end of the day, it depends on what kind of off-roading you want to do and how good you are at it. Mel is a pretty good driver from what ive watched him do in videos and KOH, carrying more speed is probably just fine for him. I think there is no problem with using the 4.1 to do the same stuff.

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