I've had my TJ bone stock for about 2 years now. In that time, I have become unhealthily attached to it. It's my child. It's my daily driver (though I also have a '97 Civic so having the Jeep out of commission for a while won't kill me). Got it from a Kia dealer for more than I probably should have paid for it at 89,000 miles, with very minimal, exclusively surface frame rust (Michiganders know how rare that is, I get it Krowned yearly). It just recently crossed the 100,000 mile threshold and I decided after my latest trip to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes that I'm sick of having tire envy and I'm going to put 35s under this thing if it kills me. Of course, I'm going to do it right (as right as I can, at least). I've read a lot of threads on this forum about the process of putting 35s on a TJ, so I think I'm going into this with a decent idea of what I should do. This will likely be done in stages because I do not have the money to do everything at once but I'd still like to feel like I'm making progress.
The list of parts that will be going on, in approximate order of installation:
1.25" Body Lift and 1" Motor Mount Lift: Brand of the body lift will be whoever has the best price on metal pucks when I order it. Motor mount lift to help with driveline angles.
4" Savvy short arm suspension lift: From what I've gathered, this is essentially the be-all-end-all of TJ bolt-on lifts. The price hurts, but this is my daily driver and I plan to keep it until it rusts out from under me or gets totaled somehow (and even then I'd probably try to fix it). I figure paying for quality is warranted in that case. I don't know what, if any, difference there is between the ultimate kit and the configurable kit. I'll probably be running this with a Tcase drop rather than SYE for a little while while I do other things first. I don't offroad terribly often and what I do is on sand dunes so the belly being a little low isn't going to kill me. Besides, I'm going to look goofy as hell for a while anyway with a 5.25" total lift on the stock 28s, so I'm not exactly caring about aesthetics at this stage.
Rancho RS5000x Shocks for 3.5in Lift: I've heard good things about the ride quality of these on a TJ, so given that this will be on-road 99% of the time, I chose these.
JB Conversions Super Short SYE + Tom Woods DC Driveshaft: I'm going to go with a super short SYE for the sake of making a tummy tuck easier later on down the line. This whole step may be delayed, though, seeing as Tom Wood's site says they aren't able to make the DC shaft at the time of this post due to supply shortages.
Currie Currectlync: I need beefy steering for beefy tires and this is the way as far as I know.
Vanco Big Brakes: I plan to go for the 15" version of this because I want the most tire flotation possible for sand dunes, but someone please let me know if that is a terrible idea and I need to go for 16 or 17. I unfortunately just got my brakes done (would have done them myself but I waited too long and needed it done quick before the trip to the dunes) before I came up with this whole plan so I may test the waters with my stock brakes (almost all of my driving is low speed around town) and upgrade either when my current brakes wear out or if I get myself into a spooky situation due to weak brakes.
Dana 30 ARB Air Locker, Revolution G&A 30spl Super35 w/ ARB Air Locker, regear to 4.56, installed by a shop: The one thing that I will admit that I can't do by myself... I hate paying labor and letting other people do stuff to my vehicle but it is what it is. The largest expense of this whole operation by far. My wallet is crying, but hopefully I won't have to spend this much in one sitting on the jeep ever again, short of a possible EV swap in the far (once gas is no longer available) future. In the period of time between having this done and installing the 35s, I believe I'll have the fastest TJ in town. Truth be told, i'm only installing the lockers because the Super35 only comes with a locker and it'd feel wrong to have a locked rear but not front. Plus it saves on labor costs to do it all at once. A question about the lockers, though: Is the air pump installed by the shop along with the locker? Or is that something i would need to figure out? Also, if I had to do it myself, can it drive unlocked on the street without being hooked up to the pump? Edit: I called my local shops, they don't install pumps but they do the prep work to the differential needed to hook up the line.
Dana 30 Chromoly Shafts: I've read that the Dana 30 can handle 35s unlocked, but given that I am installing a locker, I feel like this is a necessary upgrade.
35" Tires: We've finally arrived. I'm planning on BFG KO2s, Goodyear Duratracs, or Nitto Dune Grapplers. I'm not sure which yet, but I have time to think.
I'd appreciate anyone who looks over the list and lets me know if I'm overspending on anything or if there's anything I'm missing. Or even just tell me that i'm a ding-dong for going to 35s on a vehicle that is overwhelmingly street driven.
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I will be editing this thread with pictures of my progress and a log of how everything is going. It'll probably be a few days at least before I get started on the body and motor lift. Gotta give them time to be delivered at least.
The list of parts that will be going on, in approximate order of installation:
1.25" Body Lift and 1" Motor Mount Lift: Brand of the body lift will be whoever has the best price on metal pucks when I order it. Motor mount lift to help with driveline angles.
4" Savvy short arm suspension lift: From what I've gathered, this is essentially the be-all-end-all of TJ bolt-on lifts. The price hurts, but this is my daily driver and I plan to keep it until it rusts out from under me or gets totaled somehow (and even then I'd probably try to fix it). I figure paying for quality is warranted in that case. I don't know what, if any, difference there is between the ultimate kit and the configurable kit. I'll probably be running this with a Tcase drop rather than SYE for a little while while I do other things first. I don't offroad terribly often and what I do is on sand dunes so the belly being a little low isn't going to kill me. Besides, I'm going to look goofy as hell for a while anyway with a 5.25" total lift on the stock 28s, so I'm not exactly caring about aesthetics at this stage.
Rancho RS5000x Shocks for 3.5in Lift: I've heard good things about the ride quality of these on a TJ, so given that this will be on-road 99% of the time, I chose these.
JB Conversions Super Short SYE + Tom Woods DC Driveshaft: I'm going to go with a super short SYE for the sake of making a tummy tuck easier later on down the line. This whole step may be delayed, though, seeing as Tom Wood's site says they aren't able to make the DC shaft at the time of this post due to supply shortages.
Currie Currectlync: I need beefy steering for beefy tires and this is the way as far as I know.
Vanco Big Brakes: I plan to go for the 15" version of this because I want the most tire flotation possible for sand dunes, but someone please let me know if that is a terrible idea and I need to go for 16 or 17. I unfortunately just got my brakes done (would have done them myself but I waited too long and needed it done quick before the trip to the dunes) before I came up with this whole plan so I may test the waters with my stock brakes (almost all of my driving is low speed around town) and upgrade either when my current brakes wear out or if I get myself into a spooky situation due to weak brakes.
Dana 30 ARB Air Locker, Revolution G&A 30spl Super35 w/ ARB Air Locker, regear to 4.56, installed by a shop: The one thing that I will admit that I can't do by myself... I hate paying labor and letting other people do stuff to my vehicle but it is what it is. The largest expense of this whole operation by far. My wallet is crying, but hopefully I won't have to spend this much in one sitting on the jeep ever again, short of a possible EV swap in the far (once gas is no longer available) future. In the period of time between having this done and installing the 35s, I believe I'll have the fastest TJ in town. Truth be told, i'm only installing the lockers because the Super35 only comes with a locker and it'd feel wrong to have a locked rear but not front. Plus it saves on labor costs to do it all at once. A question about the lockers, though: Is the air pump installed by the shop along with the locker? Or is that something i would need to figure out? Also, if I had to do it myself, can it drive unlocked on the street without being hooked up to the pump? Edit: I called my local shops, they don't install pumps but they do the prep work to the differential needed to hook up the line.
Dana 30 Chromoly Shafts: I've read that the Dana 30 can handle 35s unlocked, but given that I am installing a locker, I feel like this is a necessary upgrade.
35" Tires: We've finally arrived. I'm planning on BFG KO2s, Goodyear Duratracs, or Nitto Dune Grapplers. I'm not sure which yet, but I have time to think.
I'd appreciate anyone who looks over the list and lets me know if I'm overspending on anything or if there's anything I'm missing. Or even just tell me that i'm a ding-dong for going to 35s on a vehicle that is overwhelmingly street driven.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I will be editing this thread with pictures of my progress and a log of how everything is going. It'll probably be a few days at least before I get started on the body and motor lift. Gotta give them time to be delivered at least.
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