Cruise RPM and Transmission Selection

[Biggrnjeep97]

My conundrum:
As an avid offroading enthusiast im fighting the constant battle of crawl ratio and highway cruise RPM. My current setup is a 4.7, ax15, atlas 4.3, 5.38 gears and tires that measure 38" at street pressure. It is a large beast but my goal is to drive it, beat it, and return with no trailer. Currently my crawl ratio is an acceptable 90:1ish but 1st isn't where I want it. My cruise RPM @ 65 is 2300 in OD. I have a built to the hilt 727 sitting under my work bench. Having a converter would effectively add 50% to my crawl but make my cruise RPM 3000ish. Also, once the converter is at "stall" speed (highway rpm) its pretty close to 1:1. I feel like this should be ok considering fuel economy isn't a concern, but does anyone have experience with a stroker at these RPMs for extended periods of time, say 3+hrs? I don't have cooling issues. This also puts my engine at the top of its torque curve. Is this acceptable? Who has a stroker and stock 3 speed? Discuss....

[SilverXJ]

Mine sits around 3000rpm at 80mph. No problems. Its not like it is under a heavy load while simple cruising.

[Biggrnjeep97]

I agree that it should be fine. My main concern is, yours is fine at 3k but im rolling nearly 650lb of tire and weigh 5200lb. At what point does ok become not ok and cause detrimental wear/heat?

[SilverXJ]

Once rolling there won't be that much load on the engine. Sure you have 650 lbs of tire but its already rolling and the engine doesn't work that hard to keep it moving. At that speed most of the resistance comes from the air against the Jeep. If you are concerned watch your transmission fluid temp and oil temp. If you were constantly putting the engine under a heavy load that could be bad. What you do have to watch out for is lugging the engine. For example, if you are pulling the hill, have your foot in the throttle but the transmission isn't down shifting its time to drop it down manually and let the engine rev.

[Biggrnjeep97]

My thoughts exactly. I really wanted to hear someone else say that!