I am about to buy new tires for the Jeep. I am seriously thinking about getting 315/75R16 (roughly 35x12.5).

But, before I do, I'd like to hear from people running similarly sized tires WITH a 2.5" budget boost. The good, and the ugly.

I've done a bit of searching, and lots of you say it will work fine. But then every now and then I see someone saying something to the effect of "don't run anything larger than 33s with a 2.5" bb".

A coil lift is in the wish list, but I need new tires NOW... so the larger lift will come later.

Call it me being worried, but I'm and just trying to tripple check my facts before putting a lot of hard earned money down on tires.

 

I took care of the wheels in February. I purchased 16x8 Pro-Comp steelies (they have 4.25" back spacing), so I am covered in that department.

My Jeep is a 6spd, and currently still has the factory 3.21 gears. I understand that they Jeep is going to be crap with those gears and 35s, so (as a short term solution) I have a set of 3.73 a forum member gave me. I am going to install these 3.73 when I install the 35s. I will revisit the subject later and buy 5.* gears, but the 3.73 will have to do for at least a year.

On the subject of fenders and rubbing... I guess the caveat that keeps coming up is that 35s could cause minor rubbing at full flex if running a 2.5" BB... If thats the only issue, I can live with that for now.

 

Oh, and nice rig... that is just making me want to buy these 35s TODAY, unfortunately it will be Wednesday before I can make the dive

 

I am installing 3.73s with the 35s.

I do plan on off-roading it, but it will be light stuff. Again, I am not too worried about the gears. I will ultimately revisit them, but considering that I take my Jeep off-road about 2 times a year and the other 99% of the time it's my daily driver I think I'll suffer through this one.

I think it's more of a bird in hand type of thing... my stock tires are literally falling apart, so therefore I have to replace these ASAP. I figured a free set of 3.73 (and I would do the labor) would be infinitely better than my current gears.

So, AFA the gears go, there will be nothing invested monetarily speaking , so I not worried about that department...

 

I know when I first put 35's on my X, I had 3.21's. It wasn't too bad for a daily driver. The only bad thing about it was hill climbs. Off roading was decent as long as you were on easy trails with very little rocks to climb over. Otherwise you'll be burning your clutch up a little more than you'd liike. Hope this helps a little. I don't know if 3.73's would be that much better, but it's worth a shot if you can change them out yourself...if you're going to have someone else put them in, it may not be a bad idea to just bite the bullet and pay the extra 400 bucks and buy new gears...

Good luck either way

 

Your right, for what I am doing today 33s would probably be fine... thinking about the future (I plan on trying to do a lot more wheeling), but on a budget

Don't get me wrong, I want someone to play devil's advocate and help me make sure I've thought this through... so I really do appreciate your feedback.

The current wish list for the Jeep is:

• 2.5" or 3" coil lift
• Aussie locker in the front
• 35" M/T tires
• 5.* gears

I think once I make it there I will begin working on things like the bumper, winch, etc. But that is a LONG way off.

I will be also installing the Aussie locker in the front when I do the 3.73s at the same time as the tires. Depending on how I feel about the gears I may move the gears ahead of the improved suspension, but as it sit's now the improved suspension would be the next mod.

Are you happy with the way your 35s work with your current lift? Any regrets?

 

I've been running 35's with the 3.21's for over 2 years now and its not too bad. I don't drive freeways much, but even then 5th gear has plenty of power for slight grades and if its flat or downhill you can hit 6th for quite a while. I live in the mountains and drive curvy steep roads every day and it hasn't bothered me too much. I hit the trails a couple times a week as well (since they are 100 yards from my house and it does fine off road until you are climbing REALLY steep hills, or going over REALLY tough terrain. If your on a budget (and you are paying someone to do it) I say just get the 35's and wait to install the 5.* gears because you don't want to have to pay for that twice!

Edit: Oh yeah... as for the BB... I ran that for a while but got sick of the tire rub so I got a 1" body lift. All better after that! (I have the Sahara so i didn't want to cut those nice painted flares)