35's and Old Man Emu Ultimate TJ Kit
- Thread starter justinhustle
- Start date
OP
Yea, I'm hip to those sites, I was just a tad confused on wheel/tire combos since my background is sports cars not jeeps, but I got the hang of it now. Gonna basically beef it out to how it should've been stock from Jeep.
OP
Yeah, a 15x8 or 17x8 wide rim is best for our TJ’s. I think a 15x8 is best for any tire up to 33’s and a 17x8 is best if you go 35’s or beyond. This opinion is based on cost, tire selection and need for bigger brakes once reaching 35’s. Looking forward to seeing what you do with your rig!
Starrs
TJ Guru
I don’t know. AEV designed these 16x8 rims for the TJ that I have and they are hubcentric. Same load rating as the 17. They are very hard to find tho.
16's aren't bad. I don't mean that at all. I just mean that as far as cost, 15" tires are a considerable savings and have a wide variety of options. 17's are more costly, but the bigger brake systems are designed for the 17" wheel and there are again, a wide variety of tire options. As far as the 16's, nothing wrong with them functionally and nothing inferior about them at all. The biggest setback is tire options. But if you find a tire in a 16" that works well for you, then by all means go for it. Certainly the AEV Pintlers are cool and work well for our TJ's. Lastly, I don't think hub centric vs lug centric makes a difference at all. The safe configuration of the wheel is not dependent on either, but by friction produced by proper lug torque.
OP
I may go with 15's to start, so I can get the lift installed, etc and then finish some other stuff before a re gear and then move up 17's since ideally I would swap out the rear drum for disc eventually too.
And consider that I was taken to school in the last couple of weeks on disc brakes vs drums. FWIW, I was told that the only improvement of a disc over drums is easier maintenance, and that when it comes to stopping power, you have less surface area of pad to rotor in a disc than you do in a drum, so stopping ability may be better with a drum.
To me, the best upgrade you can give your brakes is the Black Magic Brake Pads. I'll be doing that upgrade when I wear my current pads down. That goes for 15's or 17's, though most would advise the entire Vanco Big Brake system if you go to 17's. It's spendy, about $1K.
OP
Here is my LJ with the stock 16" Moabs on Black Bear Pass in Colorado, like Chris I prefer the 33" due to having more room for them to articulate, the 35" look great but they will rub if you do any descent trails......I have a very heavy rear bumper (fabricated by me and a Warn 8000 lb. winch up front, I do not have any "spacers"......... my DPG kit is 13 years old, I have swapped out the shocks (they blew 2 years after installation) with Bilsteins 5100, and the front JKS johnny joint froze so I replaced it with a Metalcloak.
Where did you get "schooled" on the brake lesson? It is my understanding that although you are correct on surface contact between braking material and rotor/drum the force generated by a caliper (disc set up) vs a wheel cylinder (drum set up) is far superior. A wheel cylinder piston is typically somewhere around an inch to an 1 1/4 in diameter where as the piston (in a stock TJ caliper) is around 2" or so...... Curious what mrblaine has to say on this (the originator of Black Magic brakes). I have his brakes on the front of my LJ and it stops at least 50% better than it did with the typical auto parts store "premium" pads........
JMT is 100% correct on the variety of tires available for 15" and 17" but I only run one set of tires and BF Goodrich has what I like so.......
It kills me that the larger the rim the more expensive the tire, especially since there is less rubber!!!!!
It kills me that the larger the rim the more expensive the tire, especially since there is less rubber!!!!!
In short...You can run 35's with that lift. Its not ideal for wheeling, but you can do it. You will have to sacrifice some uptravel, which will cut your articulation down. If you are just looking to build for the "look" than it should be fine.
I will say that your gearing will probably become an issue though. There isn't anything ideal about 4.11 or lower gears and 35's. If you are just driving around town, than yes, you can probably live with it. If you are in the mountains, or hilly areas and you drive more that a couple miles a day....then you're going to spend a lot of time shifting, or working the slushbox HARD.
I will say that your gearing will probably become an issue though. There isn't anything ideal about 4.11 or lower gears and 35's. If you are just driving around town, than yes, you can probably live with it. If you are in the mountains, or hilly areas and you drive more that a couple miles a day....then you're going to spend a lot of time shifting, or working the slushbox HARD.
It was in @JMT 's build thread. You're correct, you can generate more absolute force with discs than drums. That is why they are up front on EVERYTHING. However, that force is not always useable...if you lock up a tire, there is a drastic reduction the traction available to stop the vehicle. A properly set up drum should lock up the rear tires on a TJ (well, stock'ish sizes, anyway) so going to discs isn't going to dramatically increase braking ability over a drum. Weight transfer is the real culprit there...when you brake, the weight transfers forward. The front brakes account for 70-80% of all braking ability, because all the weight is on the front axle. Lower the vehicle, control the weight transfer better, and rear brakes can become more useful. That is counter to the mods most of us running Jeeps make!
When you add huge tires, all bets are off. JMT may actually get some increased performance, but it will be minimal, and only due to the fact that the extra rotating mass of his 33's will make the tires harder to lock up.
Man you're good. Great explanation! But I drive in reverse everywhere I go...
OP
OP
Clint Rivera
Member
Most semi trucks and almost every trailer has drum brakes exclusively. Drum brakes dissipate heat better with air flow, problem is passenger cars don't have enough room to have a big enough drum on the front and drum brakes have massive rotational force penalties.
Way to bring this thread back from the dead and add information that doesn't apply to the thread. GREAT FIRST POST!