Looking at the options that are available now for gearing.
What would work better, the low diff gears, that I have
5.83, or change to the 5.13 and get the low range box
that goes between the trans and T-case from TT I think?
to get the gear ratios right for 33-35 inch tires

Does it make a difference where the reduction takes place?
Seems to me that lower diff gears would put less stress on
drive shafts than a reduction in the trans/t-case

Anyone know???

Wild

Well here is my take....


By doing any kind of gear reduction, ie Diffs/transfer, you are merely increasing your torque at that point forward. So like you say if you do it in the Tcase then your driveline will be subjected to more torque, or "stress". If you do it at the diff then your axles will be the only one taking the additional torque.

As far as which one is better? Well idk. I think I would rather have the 1.5 reduction over the .7 reduction, but that could be more scenario based. I have had little experience with driveline breakage, and dont know what kind of limit the stock setup can take. I'm assuming that if they can handle the 4:1 gear set, then 1.5 reduction box should be fine.

Here is a good article from Trail Tough:

http://www.trailtough.com/index.php?view=article&catid=36:techinfo&id=60:gears&option=com_content&Itemid=60

While doing Suzuki Samurai transfer case gears is probably the biggest bang for the buck and a quick-fix, it is definitely a lousy way to try and create a reliable, trouble-free drivetrain. So think about this for a minute...you put on larger tires, so your pinion now becomes TWICE as hard to turn putting TWICE as much stress on the u-joints, transfer case mounts and the transfer case itself, as well as the brackets on the side of the frame that holds the transfer case in place. It leads to problem chasing such as having to use unnecessary large and heavy driveshafts, having the bolts pull out of the transfer case on the long arm side, having the mounting boss break off of the transfer case or having the short arm side bracket start to tear off of the frame rail. It is because you have given your transfer case up to 3 times as much power by putting in lower gears and now the transfer case wants to do flip-flops in its mount. Many people consider only the POWER issue of this equation as opposed to considering the STRESS LOADING situation as well. You need to change the ring and pinion gears also - relative to your tire size - which will make the driveshaft easy to turn again, taking all of the strain off of these parts - just like it was made from the factory when the smaller tires were on it. It is a mistake to do all of your gear reduction at one point. Especially that far up the mechanical chain. Do yourself a favor....reduce the ratio at the ring and pinions relative to the size tire you want to run, then select the transfer case gears that will best meet your 4-wheeling needs. By going this route, you will have a well thought out and trouble-free drivetrain, working well within the parameters of strain that the parts can and will reliably handle.

I can give you a little first hand info from my build. I have a Kick with 16v, auto, kicker 2 to Toy diffs with 5.29 running on 36"tires. If I only put the Kick box in low range(1.6 to 1) on the street with the rest in high I can only do about 40mph or so before the revs get too high. You would need to run numerically lower diff gears for the reduction box to work properly for you or stay with your 5.83 gears, either way it's a trade off. I chose to make mine good offroad and live with the onroad lack of power.