Be forewarned this may be a stupid question...

I have almost convinced my wife that a JK is necessary and not just a dream. I hope to do this before I move up to Enthusiast status

I have been building my Jeep on-line and it looks like the Rubi is out do to $$. My wife is awesome, but she will only go so far.

My question is if I get the LSD can I put lockers on down the road? or is it one or the other?

Secondly, has anyone put 33's on the stock 17s that come on the X with the S package? My plan is to lift it 2.5" or so but wheels, tires, and the lift empties my piggy bank and my kid's college fund, so if I can use the stock wheels it would save me a lot and I could get new wheels down the road.

Any help or suggestions would be great.

 

Many people on here are using the stock wheels for larger tires. The problem, however is the backspacing. You'll need to buy wheel spacers (about $200 for 4) if you want to go with a tire that's wider than 255 (Actually... don't quote me on that width, I think you might be able to run slightly wider than that without issue).


That being said, you can buy Steel wheels for just a little more than the spacers, giving you better backspacing.


Now stop building and go out and buy it!

 

I'm not 100% positive because I've never added lockers, but I believe you can add a rear locker (you'd lose your LSD in the process, though).

Others on this site HAVE put 33" tires on the stock 17" wheels - you'll just find that your selection is slightly less robust than you'd find if you had 16" wheels.

 

First, keep yer shit hooks off the kids college fund
The Rubi comes with 17 in wheels, fyi, so the answer is yes, a 17in wheel will work with 33's that fit a 17in wheel. You might even pick up a set of slightly used Rubi tires here in the for sale section and save a couple $. 32's ain't so bad.

 

Do they look super small with a 2.5" BB?

 

I'm with you, but the wife is still in the need of some conveying.

Soon though, I suspect. I have made some impressive and surprising strides in the last few days.

 

Most "33's" aren't really 33's at all. They're probably just a little more than 32".


So, depending on what size your "33" turns out to be, it'll probably only be anywhere from 1/2-1" taller than the Rubicon wheels.... which will really only be about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch in extra radius.




That being said, here's a writeup with a bunch of rubi tires with a TF BB:

http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-write-...ation-write-up

 

To hell with the kids college fund. Let um fend for themselves and get the ruby. Let um flip burgers.

 

Let 'em join the AF like I did!

Seriously, the answer to one of your questions is that you can add a locker later, but if you're going to go from an LSD to a locker, then you'd be stuck buying a full carrier replacement locker (i.e. Detroit, ARB, OX) whereas if you had an open diff you could just buy a lunchbox (i.e. Aussie) to go in instead of your spider gears. The full carrier replacements are inherently stronger AFAIK, but the Aussie is supposed to be a good locker, too.

I'm in the same boat as you, sully. I've been convincing the wife for some time now. Finally got here and the 3 kids out in my Ranger a couple weeks ago. She had a blast and is now fairly close to letting me pull the trigger on an '08 JK Unlimited. I just gotta sell the Ranger. Needless to say it is on the for sale lot now!

 

Just do what I did. I told my wife I wanted one, she said no, so I went and test drove one and brought it home for the weekend. All I can say now is Sold to the highest bidder, and thats me.... Also, going offroad with my kids allows my wife some girl time on the weekend... You see its all in how you present it. happy test driving...