Are 35's worth it?

lovemachine

lovemachine

TJ Enthusiast
Original poster
Supporting Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2017
Messages
985
Location
Indiana
I've been pretty satisfied with my current setup. 4" Savvy/Currie suspension. Currie currectlync steering, you can see the whole list in my profile.

I am geared to 5.13, and running 33's.

And yet I keep looking at TJ's with 35" tires. I love the look of them. And I get large tire envy. It stinks.

So I keep wondering if I should go that route, but would it be worth it?

I have a Dana 44, and I know my Dana 30 can handle 35's. I'll never abuse it anyway, and no plans for lockers.

I'm already geared properly, but I LOVE the power and peppiness my jeep has now. I'm worried I'd lose that if I ran the larger tires.

I have read I would need a 1" BL. But why? We're only talking an inch, can't I just readjust my bump stops? I have no plans for a TT.

Brakes. Yeah I'm still running stock brakes. I know nothing about brakes, and have always paid my brother to work on them for me. So I know I'd have to upgrade.

It "seems" like so much work. Is it worth it?

Someone set me straight!
 
Start with the gearing. You will lose some pep for sure, and you won't like it as much. It'll be "okay" for 35's, but it obviously won't get any better than 5.13 as long as you have the Dana 30. 5.38 would be better if it were possible and 5.89 would actually be pretty awesome based on my rpm calculators but you can't do that with the Dana 30, so that goes out the window. Take your current highway rpm and subtract about 175-200 or so and that would get you pretty close to where you would be with the 35's.

I would go for the 1" body lift, combined with your suspension setup will make for perfection as far as suspension height goes. They don't cost very much anyways, so it should be too big a deal to add one. You could always run without and then one add one later if you really didn't want to buy one up front, but I would just buy one. I would go with the Performance Accessories 1" lift which comes with everything you need and works great for what it is.

Brakes. You should definitely look into the Vanco Big Brake kit, it's about the only way for acceptable brakes with 35's on the stock TJ front axles. It'll run you about $1150 if I remember right by the time shipping happens, unless it's cheaper to ship to Indiana than Texas which I doubt.

You're really almost there, the only things to buy would be the 1" BL, the brakes, and the tires themselves.

You can only be the one to decide if the tires are "worth it" based on the gear ratio situation and the things you'd need to buy. It depends on how bad you want the tires and how badly you need them. I love being properly geared, so it would be a really tough call for me personally.
 
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To me, tire size is about what you plan on doing. Do you wheel it? Do you need more clearance?

If so, then save your pennies and go for it. If not, then don't

Of course, there is always the "it looks cool, and I want it," school of thought. That one is totally up to you. You probably won't need the BL at that point, but I would at least upgrade the brakes. Your gearing is going to be stuck at 5.13 unless you change axles up front too. I'd imagine that Indiana wheeling is a lot like Michigan. 33's are all you "need" in Mi. I also know a BUNCH of people on bigger tires.
 
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I wouldn't but hey, I am on 31's and fine with that. If you are just going for looks and not actual off road use, you would be fine without the body lift. Hit up @mrblaine for some brake advice. But yes, an upgrade would be very helpful.
 
lovemachine said:
I've been pretty satisfied with my current setup. 4" Savvy/Currie suspension. Currie currectlync steering, you can see the whole list in my profile.

I am geared to 5.13, and running 33's.

And yet I keep looking at TJ's with 35" tires. I love the look of them. And I get large tire envy. It stinks.

So I keep wondering if I should go that route, but would it be worth it?

I have a Dana 44, and I know my Dana 30 can handle 35's. I'll never abuse it anyway, and no plans for lockers.

I'm already geared properly, but I LOVE the power and peppiness my jeep has now. I'm worried I'd lose that if I ran the larger tires.

I have read I would need a 1" BL. But why? We're only talking an inch, can't I just readjust my bump stops? I have no plans for a TT.

Brakes. Yeah I'm still running stock brakes. I know nothing about brakes, and have always paid my brother to work on them for me. So I know I'd have to upgrade.

It "seems" like so much work. Is it worth it?

Someone set me straight!
Click to expand...
You said your current setup is pretty good right now. I'd imagine in Indiana that 33's would tackle just about anything out there. To jump to 35's and do it right would be a huge expense. Suspension clearance, steering box upgrade, bigger brakes, deeper gearing (which your Dana 30 is maxed out already). That is a lot of money to spend just for jumping a tire size, and it seems you want to do it just for the looks of 35's. If your jeep drives and accelerates just fine with 33's, I'd say stick with 33's and enjoy a properly setup rig and save your money, or invest in some lockers to maximize it's potential.
 
Brantley said:
Start with the gearing. You will lose some pep for sure, and you won't like it as much. It'll be "okay" for 35's, but it obviously won't get any better than 5.13 as long as you have the Dana 30. 5.38 would be better if it were possible and 5.89 would actually be pretty awesome based on my rpm calculators but you can't do that with the Dana 30, so that goes out the window. Take your current highway rpm and subtract about 175-200 or so and that would get you pretty close to where you would be with the 35's.

I would go for the 1" body lift, combined with your suspension setup will make for perfection as far as suspension height goes. They don't cost very much anyways, so it should be too big a deal to add one. You could always run without and then one add one later if you really didn't want to buy one up front, but I would just buy one. I would go with the Performance Accessories 1" lift which comes with everything you need and works great for what it is.

Brakes. You should definitely look into the Vanco Big Brake kit, it's about the only way for acceptable brakes with 35's on the stock TJ front axles. It'll run you about $1150 if I remember right by the time shipping happens, unless it's cheaper to ship to Indiana than Texas which I doubt.

You're really almost there, the only things to buy would be the 1" BL, the brakes, and the tires themselves.

You can only be the one to decide if the tires are "worth it" based on the gear ratio situation and the things you'd need to buy. It depends on how bad you want the tires and how badly you need them. I love being properly geared, so it would be a really tough call for me personally.
Click to expand...

Yea, what's getting me is the gearing. My current setup has spoiled me pretty bad :)
 
Ranger_b0b said:
To me, tire size is about what you plan on doing. Do you wheel it? Do you need more clearance?

If so, then save your pennies and go for it. If not, then don't

Of course, there is always the "it looks cool, and I want it," school of thought. That one is totally up to you. You probably won't need the BL at that point, but I would at least upgrade the brakes. Your gearing is going to be stuck at 5.13 unless you change axles up front too. I'd imagine that Indiana wheeling is a lot like Michigan. 33's are all you "need" in Mi. I also know a BUNCH of people on bigger tires.
Click to expand...

I don't wheel it as much as I used to. A baby changed all that. Right now, it's the "cool look".
And I only wheel at the Badlands Offroad Park in Attica, IN. And my 33's have gotten me everywhere I want to go.


GASnBRASS said:
You said your current setup is pretty good right now. I'd imagine in Indiana that 33's would tackle just about anything out there. To jump to 35's and do it right would be a huge expense. Suspension clearance, steering box upgrade, bigger brakes, deeper gearing (which your Dana 30 is maxed out already). That is a lot of money to spend just for jumping a tire size, and it seems you want to do it just for the looks of 35's. If your jeep drives and accelerates just fine with 33's, I'd say stick with 33's and enjoy a properly setup rig and save your money, or invest in some lockers to maximize it's potential.
Click to expand...

Good Point.




Thanks guys. I didn't think it would be totally worth it. I'd probably be smarter in talking to MrBlaine about getting better brakes.
 
You'll be amazed what better brakes will do. 33's is stretching your stock brakes potential to stop safely, so take the $$$ you wanted to spend on balloon tires and get the BBK from Blaine.
 
So I'm bumping this back up. Today my wife drove my TJ into town, and happened to park next to another TJ, with 35's.

When she got home, she informed me that my jeep NEEDS 35's.

I don't know what costs me more money, my wife or my jeep!

Anyway, I had a few more questions:

1. Why exactly do I need a 1" body lift to run 35's. Is the extra 1 inch THAT important?
Why can't I just re-adjust my bump stops?

2. If I install a 1" body lift, does my pinion angle change?

3. I'm not sure why a motor mount is recommended with a body lift?
 
You may want to review the information in this post: So you want to run 35s.

@Chris is it possible to move that thread to the FAQ? I had to do a Google search (first hit :)) to find it, and it's buried in the TJ General Discussion Forum.
 
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Serbonze said:
You may want to review the information in this post: So you want to run 35s.

@Chris is it possible to move that thread to the FAQ? I had to do a Google search (first hit :)) to find it, and it's buried in the TJ General Discussion Forum.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up. I thought this was already in the FAQ section, which is where it should have been. I guess I posted it in the wrong place to begin with.

I went ahead and moved it to the FAQ section.
 
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lovemachine said:
1. Why exactly do I need a 1" body lift to run 35's. Is the extra 1 inch THAT important?
Why can't I just re-adjust my bump stops?

2. If I install a 1" body lift, does my pinion angle change?

3. I'm not sure why a motor mount is recommended with a body lift?
Click to expand...

1. You don't have to do the body lift, but it's recommended to for the extra clearance. They're cheap kits, personally I'd go for it.

2. No.

3. It's not. You will need to lower the fan shroud but that's it. You don't need to lift the drivetrain at all.
 
Keep the 33,s. You great gearing for power, and also for transmission life. If you went to 35,s you'd hurt both, unless besides other costs, you swap in a front Dana 44 , anf then another 1200-1500 to re gear to 5.89
 
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