Also, I’ve had a half dozen Jeeps, at some point you have to wonder how well the ring and pinion will hold up as the area of contact between the individual teeth decreases. This would make more sense if you had them in your hands, it makes them less durable. Less “meat” between them.
examining the two gear sets in question would tell the story but i dont think i could agree with what youve said.
as the numeric ratio goes up, the pinion head diameter gets smaller. if im not mistaken they typically lower the tooth count on the pinion to maintain the same or very similar tooth profile and strength to that of a lower numeric ratio. so your losing none or very little contact patch between gear faces.
there is one thing to mention with higher numeric ratio gear sets. as the pinion tooth count goes down, you will end up with less teeth in contact with the ring teeth at any given time, versus a lower ratio higher tooth count pinion.
some people have made the argument that the lower numeric ratio, higher tooth count pinion gearset is a stronger setup. how ever , the massive size of any ratio gearset for these axles is far stronger than what we need ,unless you were doing something stupid like professionally sled pulling with a hopped up deisel putting out big torq.
as for wearing out the gears, that wont happen any time soon
