05 Flame Red TJ Build
- Thread starter JMT
- Start date
The whole thread is an interesting read. So many different factors into gears from setup to what they are in and how they are used it's hard to compare.
I'll await your long term review.
Not really applicable info. Rory is running a bbc in Trailmater, a torque monster. And he's not wheeling it. He's thrashing it dragging out all sorts of stuff. So when he says lower gears break in TM, he's being totally honest. What works in TM or any of Rory's recovery rigs doesn't necessarily translate to what works in a TJ built for wheeling vs recovery.
I didn't say in Trailmater. He said he deals with lots of rigs that go to Moab and break gears.
Funny - I saw this video about two weeks before I smoked a 5.38 pinion in my 14 bolt...
Funny - I saw this video about two weeks before I smoked a 5.38 pinion in my 14 bolt...
Well, the broken gears shown in the video are on a JK recovery rig. And I think he might have been running 37s?
Many things besides the gears themselves can cause broken gears.
Are 5.x gears marginally weaker than 4.x gears? Probably. Does that mean they aren't appropriate for a well-built wheeling TJ? Probably not.
If you watch many TM videos, you know how much janky shit is running trails around Moab. It's amazing many of those broken rigs made it out of the parking lot.
I get all that and I've literally got a set of new axles with 5.38's sitting in my garage, 5.13's in the running rig.
I pointed out that we've not seen any issues with it on this forum nor have I seen anyone break a gearset in Moab while I've been there a time or two.
But, Rory was talking in generalities and 5.89's are even more extreme.
Ill do the 5.38's at some point, either in current TJ axles or JKR axles which is a future project. Race to see which one comes first I guess.
Funny - I saw this video about two weeks before I smoked a 5.38 pinion in my 14 bolt...
There are other high powered rigs with 40s and 5.38s out there including rigs that have raced KOH without issues. Is it possible that you haven’t been setting your gears properly? Or is there something else about your rig worth considering (e.g., power-to-weight)?
@Apparition I recall Rory making damning comments about 5.38s in a re-gear video that also showed he doesn’t do proper break-ins and he didn’t properly torque his ring gears (iirc). I put as much weight on a person’s maintenance practices as I do their opinion.
Regarding Rory’s customer’s rigs, we don’t know if those failures were due to gear size, gear quality, or if the install/break-in/ or maintenance were done correctly.
As you mentioned, we haven’t seen a problematic trend from forum folks running 5.38s in Moab or other grippy trails.
The few threads I’ve seen damning 5.38s used Nashville and Rory as their examples. Do you guys keep bringing it up because you have questions that you hope to get answered…or do you firmly believe 5.38s are the problem?
So far no reason to start a new build thread. 
Plenty of action right here.
Plenty of action right here.
If I thought it was a problem I wouldn't have a 500HP engine that I plan to hook to 5.38 gears and turn 40" tires.
The comment was brought up as the reasoning in why I said I'm curious to see how the 5.89's hold up.
We all know that’s never happening.
This isn’t the first or second time you’ve brought it up.
There must be a reason for why you’ve posted it multiple times?
Does anyone else have 589’s? I kinda thought the sample size on this forum=1.
