DRT BG’s 1997 Jeep Wrangler SE

DRT BG

New Member
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
14
Location
Indian River, FL, USA
Started pretty close to stock when purchased in April of 2018. It had 31s on it with 1.5” spacers and that was about it.

And then the mods began.....

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Nice jeep! I also have a 2.5L SE.
How does yours run?
Is it manual or auto
What happened to the flag decal, or was that added, nice touch
Manual. Runs pretty good. The flag decal is actually a magnet covering what appears to be an old cb antennae mount hole. I plan on just mounting a new whip there. I did however get a few new emblems to put on the TJ. I won’t spoil the surprise just yet though.
 
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Sweet Jeep man! How’s the larger tires do on your SE? I’ve been torn on getting 33s with my 2.4l
Yours looks pretty tough.
Don, I too was really torn on bigger tires, read a lot of different opinions on here. I threw caution into the wind and bought 35s. Patagonia MTs. According to the manufacturers specs the 35s were actually lighter. Not sure how that works but thats what they said. And that is what made my mind up. The negative effects of the 35s are minimal in my book. The speedo is exactly 10 mph off (can be adjusted). The top speed now with no regearing is about 65, which is fine with me because I do mostly in town driving and off road. Not a lot of highway time. Getting to camp takes a little longer on the back roads but I prefer it and to be honest I didnt get much better speed than that with the 31s. Performance off road has been good. We have mostly thick black mud and sugar sand down here so not a lot of rocks and such to worry about. I was concerned about snapping the stock axles with the bigger tires but that has not happened yet because I don’t think it has enough torque to (knock on wood). When I do though, I am replacing with chromoly and going to regear. I have yet to get stuck in any gear but do notice in bigger boggs it takes more rpms to push those bigger tires. But the engines lightweight is really unbeatable in my situation.
 
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Added 4 inch Zone nitro lift and Patagonia 35 MTs. Cold air intake and 4.0 throttle body with Ford Fox injectors. Defintely feels more peppy off the line. Also added a Thrush turbo muffler. A friend of mine from SE Ga describes the sound as a pissed off bumble bee in a 50 gallon drum...lol. It aint that whiney honestly, but after 6 months with it on I think its too loud, especially for hunting season. Like that pop and rumble when down shifting though I aint gonna lie :)
 
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Oh man, that goodness you put the bigger tires on it. Before scrolling down, all I saw was the lift and tiny tires and I was like, "oh no!".

It looks great now, very clean! Looks like you live in the perfect place to enjoy it too.
 
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Don, I too was really torn on bigger tires, read a lot of different opinions on here. I threw caution into the wind and bought 35s. Patagonia MTs. According to the manufacturers specs the 35s were actually lighter. Not sure how that works but thats what they said. And that is what made my mind up. The negative effects of the 35s are minimal in my book. The speedo is exactly 10 mph off (can be adjusted). The top speed now with no regearing is about 65, which is fine with me because I do mostly in town driving and off road. Not a lot of highway time. Getting to camp takes a little longer on the back roads but I prefer it and to be honest I didnt get much better speed than that with the 31s. Performance off road has been good. We have mostly thick black mud and sugar sand down here so not a lot of rocks and such to worry about. I was concerned about snapping the stock axles with the bigger tires but that has not happened yet because I don’t think it has enough torque to (knock on wood). When I do though, I am replacing with chromoly and going to regear. I have yet to get stuck in any gear but do notice in bigger boggs it takes more rpms to push those bigger tires. But the engines lightweight is really unbeatable in my situation.
My concern with getting larger diameter tires with my 4 banger is that it will make the engine feel totally gutless. I have a 5 speed tranny. What differences, if any, did you notice when starting in first gear and going up mountain passes?
 
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I have a 5 speed as well. I honestly don’t notice much difference in the lower gears than when I had 31s. I don’t have any mountain passes in Florida but would imagine it would suck. Skip big tires in a 4 banger if you are in a mountainous area and traveling highways. I wouldn’t hesitate to use it for off road hill climbs though. We have some phosphorus pits here and it climbs fine in 4 low with the big tires. If I had different gears it would be perfect.
 
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Hey DRT BG, i'm in a similar situation looking to regear my 2.4L and hoping to step up to 35" tires from 33's. If you were going to regear, what gear ratio would you go with?
 
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npb2.4,
If, when, I regear I will go with 5.13s from Revolution. They run around 475 bucks. If I snap an axle, I am just going to go with chromoloys and they make them in Dana 30/35s.
 
Some new mods going on. Added new VDP sound bar with a Clarion 400w marine amp. It actually fits behind the stereo console so no problems with water when I run through the local bogg. Also, took off those 6 inch flares. They really were a PITA to work around in cranking on the engine. I plan on fabricating some 1.25” black tubing in its place. Potentially welding some black diamond plate to it for backing.

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Also, added some RGB rock lights. The product came with no instructions but it was pretty much straightforward. Much to my dismay however, only three out of the six worked. So I checked all the connections again and then re-connected to the battery. Three minutes later, one of the lights that wasn’t even working started smoking and melted the sheathing on the wire 🤦🏻‍♂️. I think all of the lights pretty much are made by the same company out of China. Not sure a different brand would’ve made a difference. But for the record these were sun pies sold by eurolite. They have a three-year warranty. I have yet to hear back from them. I think I’m pretty much hosed on this one.