cheers for getting back in a jeep. my old one was a 4.0 and now im stuck with the crappy 2.5. however i do have 4.88 gears on 33s and yes it pulls alot better but i would recommend for your needs to not go any higher than 4.56 because with 4.88s your rpms are alot higher on the highway and burn through the gas which is why im going to move up to 35s. that is what i would recommend. but your gas mileage is going to suffer on the interstate if you do decide to go to lower gears(numericaly higher). if you do more city roads than highway then yeah go to 4.56 unless you plan to go to 35 in tires which might cause big problems with the dana 35 rear axle.

big note do alot of reading and searching on other jeep forums. like stated above jeep forum is good for beginners and pirate4x4 has tons of great info too but is for more advanced wheelers.