I have 285/75/17 Toyo MTs with a 3" Teraflex lift....next to my buddies with 37s, gotta say mine look like skateboard wheels. Seems 37s are the way to go.

 

how are the 4:88 with the 37's?

 

I have 37s with 4.88s with a six speed and love it! I had 35s with the 4.88s and almost sold the jeep I hated it so much.

 

dont forget the dirt and rocks stuck in the tread.

 

Air does not add weight as you would normally think of it. What it does add is mass, and since that mass is trapped inside the tire, it counts toward the unsprung weight.

On the other hand, when you sit down and do the math, it's not really all that much extra mass. In the case of a 37" tire (depending on all sorts of factors including PSI at a specific temperature and exactly which tire and rim you've got), the compressed air trapped inside would mass just under 1 pound.

When your tire already weighs in at 80~90 pounds, that extra pound is hardly worth mentioning.... but the geek in me just couldn't let it pass!

 

This.

Seriously though, unless I did not like the gearing/performance hit and did not want to regear, don't know that I could downsize if I already ran 37's and a 4" lift.

More for looks though unless you are rock crawling.

 

It's better than my TJ on 33's with 3.73's, but makes me miss the Audi I sold a few months ago... I guess I got a bit performance spoiled. With the 4:1 transfer case it makes for a good crawler and still runs freeway speeds in a comfortable zone. Overall I think the 4.88's are a pretty good compromise, although if I were doing it from scratch I'd consider 5.13's with the 37's.

The PO wheeled it a lot in Moab since it's only a few hours drive from us, and was really happy with it. I usually don't have time to get down there more than once a year so not a ton of crawling in my plans. I do plan to spend a lot of time on rugged mountain trails nearby though and playing in the snow is one of my favorite wheeling activities so plenty of that too & lots of backcountry camping.

I think I'll take a ride this weekend and check out local tire shops to see if anyone has the Toyo's/Nitto's/KM2's in stock. Probably not many with 37's in stock but maybe seeing them up close will help me decide.

 

[QUOTE=Krynn;2695704]Air does not add weight as you would normally think of it. What it does add is mass, and since that mass is trapped inside the tire, it counts toward the unsprung weight.

On the other hand, when you sit down and do the math, it's not really all that much extra mass. In the case of a 37" tire (depending on all sorts of factors including PSI at a specific temperature and exactly which tire and rim you've got), the compressed air trapped inside would mass just under 1 pound.

When your tire already weighs in at 80~90 pounds, that extra pound is hardly worth mentioning.... but the geek in me just couldn't let it pass!