I just bought my first Wrangler and I need advice.  Right now it's a stock 2002 Sahara, 5 speed manual, with the 4.0 in line 6.  I want to put new bumpers, fender flares, and a set of 33's.  I don't want to go real big I just want a moderate trail rig for mainly light offroading.  I still want something tough and durable but comfortable enough to drive to work.  Any of you experts have any advice you could pass on.  

Well the weak link is the axles and 33's is a sane limit for them. If you really want to go wild in tire size you need bigger axles if you want it to last and hang tuff. Otherwise, limit it to 33's and regear axles and it will save clutch and drive train down the road as stock gearing tends to be pretty tall before you even put bigger tires on it.  

I wanted to make sure my research was correct.  It says that the 02 Sahara has dana 30 front and dana 35 rear, with 3.07 gears.  I'm guessing that's not really good for a moderate trail rig.  Plus it has no lockers either.  So I need to upgrade the gears with, I have no idea, 4.11 I guess.  Get lockers, which I have no idea how they work, and put on the 1-2" spacers on the coil springs to get the 33's on.  Not to mention all the "extras" I want.  Looks like my Chevy is gonna have to wait awhile.  

Jeep kinda suffered a fate worse than death at hands of Chrysler in that they tried to turn it into a car of sorts to boost sales but as numbers increased they were hard pressed to try to squeak as much MPG on EPA test for fleet averages. In doing so they pretty much neutered the Jeeps "balls" with tall gears that have no business in a Jeep and actual hurt MPG more than help it in real world. One could maybe "argue" that a 3.07 gear would be good for a stock daily driver with stock tires and no OD but with OD is it too tall. When you consider your gearing options you must remember that when you have a OD tranny that you always gear deeper than you "think" you should because OD changes the equation. In your case I would suggest 4.56 axle gears with 33's. You have a NV3550 tranny (they switched from a AX15 to the 3550 in 01) with a .73 OD and this will yield about 2200 RPM at 65 MPH which should play well with lift. tires and your Jeeps lack of aerodynamics and give you back all 5 gears fully. Right now I am guessing that OD is kinda worthless and 4th is not a much better at times so you kinda have a 3 and 1/2 speed tranny of sorts. On lockers, 33's is kinda pushing it with lockers and stock axles if durability is important. I would suggest either a LSD or a selectable locker, not a spider gear replacement locker as these are not street friendly and can be a heart attack on slick roads and trails too.  

3.07 and 3.73 is common in the Sahara's.

for the 33's you'll need more like a 2.5" suspension lift, modified bumpstops and 4.56 gears for the 5spd.
32's fit nicely under 2" spacers and can be handled 4.10 gears if ya already have em.

I have yet to see a sahara with a d35 rear even though it was an option.
the Sahara should have a d44 rear and a d30 up front, they will handle 33's very well, even the Rubicon's only advantage up front is the d44 pumpkin/ring gear, it is surrounded by the same axles, bearings, tube and u-joints as the d30... o' yeah forgot to mention the rubi d44 locker.

a front d30 will live a very long with a selectable locker. provided it's only used as needed and run on the street locked or making unnecessary turns on the trail, If ya can get it to turn...

I have first hand experience many times over where the limits are in the d30 and d44's...

this is from this labor day weekend....


 

ouch that looks bad.  well i don't plan on getting too crazy on the trails.  just want it strong enough to get a little muddy and have some fun.  I figure the Jeep will be cheaper to fix up than my Chevy.  and i figure i'll have more fun in it too.  right now it has 31's on it, which is fine but i want a little more ground clearance.  and i have a very small budget, but i don't want to skimp on the important stuff.  i've seen a lot of people spend money on the "look" you know making it look like a trail worthy rig, but in fact that's all it is "looks" it won't go anywhere.  so if i have too i'll forget the bumpers and flares and go with the lift and gears.  

I have a 91 renegade 3in. lift and 35s. stock axels except for the posi in the rear and 4.11 gears. I too have the AX-15 5 speed and a 4.0. Let me tell you it does great for light duty wheeling, heck I even done some mud racing in it, and its done pretty well, only rebuilt the D35 twice now! Yeah get ya an 8.8 rear end out of an explorer and build it the first time.