4.88 on the Dana 30 is going to have very little tooth engagement. It compromises strength quite a bit and I would be concerned about carnage. I'd recommend staying with 4.56.

Are you planning on getting lockers?

 

With a V8 you should have 3.73's and at 33's should not be a problem. I'm at 8k for elevation running 32's on my 4.7HO and have never felt the need for deeper gears. I've done a few performance mods but still not once do I feel I need more gearing. With 4.88's your cruising RMP is going to be about 1k higher and about 500 higher for 4.56. Unless you are building a full on crawler I wouldn't regear let alone put any money into stock axles. By the time you build them way better off trying to find a D44/9 combo or go tons.

Use this to look at numbers
http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html

 

+100 on this. I have a set of axles from a late 70's Ford P/U my friend in AZ scored for me, a high pinion 44 and a 9" rear. I am not going to go nuts but I would like to run 33's without worry of the 30 in front going south and the limited availability of parts for the stock 44A isn't appealing either. And for me the fact the front has manual locking hubs is a huge plus.

 

At one point or another I do plan on being lockers. But the only reason I'm thinking of regearing is the plan on running 35s and I'm thinking the rear end might be about to go out. I just was figuring since I might be getting a new rear end I might as well put in something I would be doing later on anyways. I also planned on putting trusses on the axles but got done thing at a time.

 

Just know lockers are limited for the 44a. Either lunchbox or ARB are your only options. I have a lunchbox and personally not a fan for anything on street, offroad it's great but would rather have a trutrac or something similar. I had a lunchbox in my XJ and was fine but in the WJ it just kind of sucks. While a 44 should be able to hold up to 35's still have the aluminum center section. You'll also want to swap out the CV axles up front in D30 if you are planning on running 35's to wheel. Again more money going to axles that are just meh.

 

I just did 4.56 in mine after a year of riding around on 34s with 3.73. Go with the 56 it’s perfect for DD. I was told told 4.88 and higher are really for trail Riggs that get towed.

 

I am running 32x10.50 tires on a 4.75" IRO long arm lift with an ARB air locker in the D44 and a modified VL in the D30 with the V-8 and stock 3.73 gears. So far I have not had any problems getting anywhere I wanted to go. Mathematically if I wanted the stock crawl ratio again with the 32's I would change to 4.10's. If you are going to do some serious rock crawling I wouldn't go any more than 4.56's.

 

I have the select trac transfer case and have about 210k on the dash. I also have the trac lok in the dana 44.

 

I'm happy to assist with gears whenever you'd like to get that underway. We can use the JK ring and pinion in the D44A for added strength. That increases the ring gear size from 8.5" to 8.8"

You can PM me here on the forum or email me at kolak@aol.com if you'd like to chat.