Hello All. I currently don't own a JKU yet but I plan to soon and wanted to do some preliminary research. (I do however have a 1981 CJ5 that Ive taken from stock to lifted and set up over the last 7 years so I am very familiar with Jeeps and love them haha.) When I get it it will end up being my daily driver. I would like to lift it and put tires on it. I will do some trail riding and maybe some tougher stuff but plan on doing more a few years down the road.

I know that 35s are better for a lifted look and nice stance while keeping drivability pretty much the same. I'm looking to see if my build plan makes since or any better options to go about it but here it goes.

Could I get a 3 inch lift (maybe 4.5" ?) with 35's so as not to greatly affect drivability or mpg but then down the road be able to throw 37s on and re-gear and be able to go just about anywhere and do more aggressive offloading. If you have any other advice or thoughts I'm more than happy to listen and discuss. Thanks.

 

Hey T.O., welcome to the forum.

First off, check some of the stickies mods have posted here. They will answer all your questions before you even ask them! Post some pics of that CJ5! My father had an 83 CJ7 that I learned to drive a stick in. Man I love those old jeeps.

As for your question, if you want 35's and don't want to do any cutting, you need at least a 2.5" lift. I have a 3.5 on 35s and I sometimes feel there is too much space between the wheel wells and tires. I installed my lift before I had my tires and as far as drive-ability is concerned, it stiffened up my suspension just a bit too much for my liking. Once I added the tires, it was money! However, these Midwest winter roads suck nuts so its quite bumpy in any vehicle.
As for MPGs, well you should realize that going from stock tires to ~90lbs per corner is going to drop your mileage down significantly. Big tires are heavy. It also depends on what trim package you go with. For example, I have a jku sport 6speed and I went from 18-20mpg to 13mpg. I have tiny 3.21 gears that will be getting swapped for 4.88s but to be honest, I could care less if my mileage improved. That's not why we buy these lunchboxes with wheels!
With that said, you'd obviously get better mileage if you got the Sahara with tow package giving you 3.73s, but even better would be the 4.10s in a Rubicon.

All that said, you really need to think about your goals with buying any jeep. The bigger the tire, the smaller the gas tank! Have you even wheeled in a new jeep yet? They are leaps and bounds more capable than those old CJs! I could ramble on and on about this topic and so can many of the more experienced guys. I just like to read, read, read about this awesome vehicle and plan what I want to do with mine. My advice is to do the same! Take it easy, bud.

 

I appreciate the help I was just starting to hit a wall with my research and was looking for some real feedback. I will definitely take a closer look into gearing and tires sizes. I think the best thing would to keep it stock for a while to maximize mpg until I can sort the rest out.

As far as the CJ goes I'll post some pics. When I turned 15 and my dad asked what I wanted for my first car and with no hesitation it was a 76-86 CJ.
Here some pics of then and now. Its an 81 CJ5. It had 60,000 original miles. The engine burned and it was barn kept for 14 years is the story I was given. Slowly worked on engine then lift wheels and sliders then lastly for my 21st I got the paint job with the red and line-x.

 

As said above, those stickies do a great job answering about any question you could have regarding the JK. I rushed into lifting my Jeep with a 4" Rough Country kit within the first 500 miles of driving off the lot, and I wish I didn't. It will take some additional components to get the steering geometry, driveshafts, and castor squared away If you want your Jeep to drive and handle well at 3.5" of lift or more, and these components are rarely included in your average basic lift kit. If I were to do it over again I would have started with a 2.5" budget boost and slowly upgrade it into something that suites my needs. If you don't have $1500 to put down on a fairly complete kit, Teraflex, AEV, and many other companies sell these budget boost spacer lifts for under $400 and from what I have heard, you won't notice much of a difference in handling from stock. My advice to you is to do it right the first time around, because while I love working on my Jeep, it's a pain to have to buy all new parts to replace the shit that I had installed originally.

 

Man, that reminds me so much of my old man's jeep!
He had it as long as I can remember. He used to take me for a cruise when I was a baby and couldn't sleep. That rumble of the engine knocked me out instantly!
His was a project too! He pulled the steel body with holes in the floorboards, replaced it all with a fiberglass body that he rhino-lined the interior of. He had full custom exhaust that came out in front of the rear tires. That thing shot flames when it backfired lol.
Oh man I loved driving that thing. It was missing a few creature comforts but that made the ride more pure in my mind. No radio, seats didn't adjust, manual brakes, no rpm gauge so you had to listen to the motor to shift, and of course no airbags. To top it off it also didn't have a fuel gauge or a working speedo. So I learned to guess my speed and always stop for gas before going anywhere far. The top was heavier than shit and the doors were a pain to line up when putting them back on, but damn was that thing fun! Those CJs have torque for days and it climbed anything in its way! Pure American Freedom in one vehicle.

Sorry for the nostalgia bomb. Kind of got carried away.