I've been into jeeps and Rock Crawln for over 12 years. If you look back, guys back then were wining rock crawling championships with 35's. Obviously everything has changed, but my experience is the higher you lift it and the bigger the tire, the more it changes your handling on the road. 37's for a jeep which is used 75% off road and 25% on road, no question, 37's or maybe 40's. If its a daily driver or you drive it a lot on road for long distances then go 35's. A locked JK on 35's handles great on road and you can cover a lot of trails!

 

I run 37s on my DD. Like I said before, if you lift it correctly it will drive just fine. You also have to get GOOD tires.

 

We have to consider wheelbase too. I agree that 35's are great on 2dr. But on the 4dr with it's long wheelbase 35's are a bit problematical. It just needs more height to achieve a decent breakover angle.

Looking at the custom built rock krawlers that hang out in Moab it seems the trend with them is to longer wheelbasess and greater width. But most of them are on 39's and up. I've actually seen a few buggies with a longer wheelbase than my Unlimited.

All in all I like the wheelbase of the Unlimited; they are climbing fools. More often than not the wheelbase is a plus.

 

 

I have the best of both worlds... Mileage and 37" tires.
I just bought a 90 Mazda 626 for $500 and it gets 36 mph on the hwy and my JK gets to run 37s.

 

i have a 2 door rubicon on 37's. its my daily driver. i have the stock gears. no problems with lack of power. when im off road im in 4 lo anyway, and the 4:1 tcase does the job. i get about 13mpg on the highway at 70. ive driven it from illinois to florida a couple of times...no problems on the highway with the lift ans 37's.

the bigger the better.....if its done right.

 

Well, damn. That just put me back to square one! I was just about decided on 37's, then I read about a locked Jk on 35's (I have a Rubi). I get my 2-dr Jk Rubi out to the trails only once/month (but what a fun weekend it is!). Still undecided if the extra stuff (sleeves and gussets, etc...) are worth it to run 37's...besides the overall extra costs involved.