Topic: Feasibility of a t-case ratio higher than 2.28?

[trainwreck]

First off let me admit i have never torn into a transfer case internals, and this topic may have come up before.

Now according to this thread here, http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=56520.0
this guy was told by BigMike that it'd be cake to do a gear somewhere between the 2.28 and the 4.7 ratios.

Why not a "low range" gear which is only a little lower than the 1:1, maybe 1.3 or 1.5:1 to compensate for tire size, instead of re-gearing the diffs?

With twin sticks, you could leave your front case in 2 "low" all the time, and have 2.28's or even 4.7's in your rear case for actual trails.

Is this even possible? I promise I'm not stoned 

[H8PVMNT]

I guess it would work but I'm not sure the bearings that the low range gear ride on are adequate for extended high speed service.  One of them on the adapter side is a kind of cheesy skinny roller bearing and it seems small to me.  Pending that working or replcing it with something better with a bigger bore for a more substantial bearing in the adapter side I guess.  Not sure it would be any cheaper than just regearing you axles though which is probably why no one has done it.

[trainwreck [OP]]

hmm thanks for your input, t-cases are dirt cheap, and i have a genius machinist, but don't want to spend more time and money than i would on just re-gearing.
On the other hand, if something could be figured out AND still be within reach of the average guy, it could really end up saving a lot of money and opening up a lot more options for folks.
On the OTHER other hand (i dont really have 3 hands) I can't be the first person to think of this, there are probably reasons, like the ones you thought of, that would have to be overcome if this were to make sense.

Anybody else got thoughts?