Will 33s fit with no lift?

I never said that. I said I was an asshole and they were assholes. That makes everyone equal value. I could never deprecate a human lower than myself.

It's great you are sharing your opinion. I never claimed anyone's experience wasn't true or their subjective evaluation of what was true. But numbers are numbers, math is math, physics is physics, and nobody's opinion matters in such things. Jeep suspension was engineered by engineers. It had nothing to do with their opinion. It had to do with knowledge.

There's no difference in clearance between flat flares and stock flares. That's fact, not opinion.

For the record, anyone can build their rig how they want, I have no problem with that. What I have a problem with is people not cycling their suspension and then saying things like, "I'm running 2" of lift with 33's and getting no rub." Sorry, but that's just not true on anyone's TJ. It is not mathematically possible. And yes, we all know 33's run 32.7" or so when they come from the factory, then get smaller every time we drive them.
Agreed on the flat flares and what I implied as well. Calling yourself a deprecating name doesn't give the clearance to then call others by the same moniker. Opinions are the engine behind design. Without an idea, opinion etc. a design is never hit upon. Jeep engineers chose their uptravel and downtravel based on their opinion of how their vehicle would be used to find the best compromise between ride, handling, capability and clearance. That opinion is not an absolute law for everyone to follow. My jeeps work and drive wonderfully even though on occasion I may not match the numbers, percentages, shock position or angle that the original engineers 20 years ago used on a stock Jeep. And yes maybe the tire touches here and there on occasion but thats ok if the tire or your jeep is not damaged at all. Thanks and I agree anyone can do what they want :) its fun to see all the variation and ingenuity or lack therof :P to get our vehicles to go where we want them to whether we make 30K a year or 300K a year.
 
Agreed on the flat flares and what I implied as well. Calling yourself a deprecating name doesn't give the clearance to then call others by the same moniker. Opinions are the engine behind design. Without an idea, opinion etc. a design is never hit upon. Jeep engineers chose their uptravel and downtravel based on their opinion of how their vehicle would be used to find the best compromise between ride, handling, capability and clearance. That opinion is not an absolute law for everyone to follow. My jeeps work and drive wonderfully even though on occasion I may not match the numbers, percentages, shock position or angle that the original engineers 20 years ago used on a stock Jeep. And yes maybe the tire touches here and there on occasion but thats ok if the tire or your jeep is not damaged at all. Thanks and I agree anyone can do what they want :) its fun to see all the variation and ingenuity or lack therof :p to get our vehicles to go where we want them to whether we make 30K a year or 300K a year.
I disagree that engineers choose based on opinion, as opinion is defined in the dictionary. After 9,000+ posts and 3+years on this forum, there has been an influx of newbies that think they know what is going on and yet have never cycled a suspension to actually see for themselves, but I digress, as this has turned ridiculous.

On another note, thanks for your service. I appreciate those who serve in our armed forces and have presided over the burials of several men who gave their lives for our great country.
 
One of the reasons I have settled on maintaining the factory 4" of up travel as a minimum is because it will be very difficult to anyone to argue that less is somehow an improvement. And if one works to maintain that 4" as a minimum, the rest of the build will more easily fall into place.
 
I wish the thread would have gone in a philosophical direction where we could discuss required parameters (i.e. objective criterion. E.g. you can't run 33's on a -2" lift), and then move to the sacrifices one must or might have to make within those parameters if he follows a certain build. That way a reader could decide what sacrifices he/she was willing to make. Of course, everyone would have to agree to get under their rig, remove tires, remove shocks, cycle suspensions, look at trackbars, CA's, everything to get a true working knowledge.
 
I wish the thread would have gone in a philosophical direction where we could discuss required parameters (i.e. objective criterion. E.g. you can't run 33's on a -2" lift), and then move to the sacrifices one must or might have to make within those parameters if he follows a certain build. That way a reader could decide what sacrifices he/she was willing to make. Of course, everyone would have to agree to get under their rig, remove tires, remove shocks, cycle suspensions, look at trackbars, CA's, everything to get a true working knowledge.
These days it seems like only a few are willing to do that - and that’s why misinformation is spread.
 
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two cases in point ^^.

People the world over are happy all the time doing things wrong, or not the way you'd do it.

My entire profession is based upon giving professional advice. Often in matters far more important than whether or not you'll be satisfied with your Chinese winch, or whether you have enough splines on your axle shaft. I give the advice. It's on the recipient to take it, or not. There may have been a point in time I got upset when it was not. That was a long time ago.
As always, ignorance is bliss.
 
Well, since I failed to communicate, I guess I’ll try again. I didn’t think this thread was about happiness. If it was I would agree with you.

I don’t see what’s so hard about understanding that if my stock tires were 29” and I want to go to 33”, that logically I need to make up the difference in height with all that entails. But I know, I’m getting too serious talking about facts.
The only problem I see with this calculation is the Jeep TJ came with tires ranging in sizes from 205x75x15-245x75x16 (27.1’s-30.5’s) and don’t believe the springs got any taller.
 
Imagine building a home with this mindset.
Hahah most do. Thats why remodeling is a multi-million $ market because optimal seems to be different to every generation. They are not building them wrong just a lot of different ways you "can" build them lol amazing whats behind those walls sometimes 😝
 
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The only problem I see with this calculation is the Jeep TJ came with tires ranging in sizes from 205x75x15-245x75x16 (27.1’s-30.5’s) and don’t believe the springs got any taller.

That is why Jeep stopped with ~31" on the Rubicon. Believe it or not, that tire barely fits the stock platform.

How many here know that the Rubicon was supposed to come with factory 33s? The 2003 speedometer is even calibrated for that size tire, not the 245/75r16 it acually shipped with.
 
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That is why Jeep stopped with ~31" on the Rubicon. Believe it or not, that tire barely fits the stock platform.

How many here know that the Rubicon was supposed to come with factory 33s? The 2003 speedometer is even calibrated for that size tire, not the 245/75r16 it acually shipped with.
Barely meaning it does fit? So by that math 2” lift for 33’s is right?

Yes I have heard rumors that the Speedo is calibrated for 33’s but haven’t really looked into it
 
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Barely meaning it does fit? So by that math 2” lift for 33’s is right?

Full flex, full lock starts to rub the front fender lip above the tire. Simply adding 2" isn't quite that simple. The tire typically gets wider. The wheels decrease in backspacing. And the shock travel hopefully increases. Meaning the larger tire actually rises up higher during articulation as the axle pivots around the spring and bump stop. Go further and switch to something like Currie bump stops and the situation gets worse (better?).

Years ago in an earlier iteration, mine was put together with 33s and about 3.25" of total lift in a way that almost allowed for factory up travel. But it wasn't any kind of a kit. Stuff needs to be carefully selected and fitted.

Yes I have heard rumors that the Speedo is calibrated for 33’s but haven’t really looked into it

Mine is an example. When I moved to 33s the speedo was far closer to GPS speed than it had ever been. After adding a speedo healer, very little adjustment was needed to make it nearly perfect.
 
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Imagine building a home with this mindset.

I own one of those homes and it sucks. As a first time home buyer ten years ago I had no clue what I was getting into. The home inspector had good reviews but he missed a lot, like my patio sliding doors were installed backwards. My septic guy missed that the previous owners did not properly retire the old gallies, they covered them with plywood instead of filling them in. 300 SF sinkhole in my yard.

Building a home with that mindset is nowhere near the same scale as putting on 33" tires on TJ or not upgrading your head unit to power those new Polk speakers because some people don't like the colors of the new head unit.
 
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I own one of those homes and it sucks. As a first time home buyer ten years ago I had no clue what I was getting into. The home inspector had good reviews but he missed a lot, like my patio sliding doors were installed backwards. My septic guy missed that the previous owners did not properly retire the old gallies, they covered them with plywood instead of filling them in. 300 SF sinkhole in my yard.

Building a home with that mindset is nowhere near the same scale as putting on 33" tires on TJ or not upgrading your head unit to power those new Polk speakers because some people don't like the colors of the new head unit.
EXACTLY THE REPLY I WAS EXPECTING!

Now imagine if before purchasing that home that you were MISINFORMED ON, you sought help from folks who knew the market, knew the ins and outs of home buying...they would give you advice, some opinion, and cut through the crap with you on what you SHOULD do and what you COULD do when taking the dive.

We do the same thing here for Jeep buyers and Jeep modifiers. So it kind of is like that.

Thats exactly what happened here. You cant see the forrest through the trees based of your reply.
 
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EXACTLY THE REPLY I WAS EXPECTING!

Now imagine if before purchasing that home that you were MISINFORMED ON, you sought help from folks who knew the market, knew the ins and outs of home buying...they would give you advice, some opinion, and cut through the crap with you on what you SHOULD do and what you COULD do when taking the dive.

We do the same thing here for Jeep buyers and Jeep modifiers. So it kind of is like that.

Thats exactly what happened here. You cant see the forrest through the trees based of your reply.

Retiring an old septic system by covering it with plywood instead of filling it with dirt is wrong and will cause a sinkhole and lots of money to fix, like a couple thousand bucks for dirt.

Daily driving a TJ on stock 33"s is not going to cause an issue in a daily driving situation. Flexing it will cause an issue, rockcrawling will.

The subject thread title is will 33"s fit a stock Jeep. The short answer is yes, and the long answer should go into details of it will fit, BUT, you can't do this or that, but if you add a spacer you can accomplish this. If you add an X% SL it will do this for you. Add a BL and wow, you can now do that. That would educate the OP enough for him to make the best decision based on his, or her, budget.
 
Full flex, full lock starts to rub the front fender lip above the tire. Simply adding 2" isn't quite that simple. The tire typically gets wider. The wheels decrease in backspacing. And the shock travel hopefully increases. Meaning the larger tire actually rises up higher during articulation as the axle pivots around the spring and bump stop. Go further and switch to something like Currie bump stops and the situation gets worse (better?).

Years ago in an earlier iteration, mine was put together with 33s and about 3.25" of total lift in a way that almost allowed for factory up travel. But it wasn't any kind of a kit. Stuff needs to be carefully selected and fitted.



Mine is an example. When I moved to 33s the speedo was far closer to GPS speed than it had ever been. After adding a speedo healer, very little adjustment was needed to make it nearly perfect.

I’ve been reading page after page of this thread and I am confused. Let me cut to chase and just ask if what I am thinking about doing makes sense. I have a 2 inch OME lift with 265/75-16 tires on Moabs. Control arms are Currie and shocks are OME. There are 1.75 inch bump stop spacers on the rear and none on the front (as per OME instructions). I have not noticed any rubbing in some modest offroading (no rock crawling) but I have not cycled the suspension. I intend to do a 1.25 inch BL and 1 inch MML and go to 285/75-16 tires which are 32.8 inches. I will cycle the suspension but obviously not until I have spent the money on the tires so there will be no going back. Do you think there will be problems, or at least none that can’t be solved by going to larger bump stop spacers? I am anticipating that I may have to go to wheels with reduced back stop spacing.