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HunterSmith2003TJ

HunterSmith2003TJ

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Joined the Facebook group yesterday and the forum today! Happy to be apart of the group and look forward to speaking with you all. I'm going to throw in a couple photos of my jeep as well from the day I brought it home to where it is now. I think it's important to remember where you come from it shows you just how far you've come today! Hope you like it ladies and gents!
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Bringing it home
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First mods: rugged ridge light bar with kc Apollo 5" lights.
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Second set of mods: 31x10.50x15 bfg all terrains, bestop super top with rear tinted windows, banks cold air intake, banks monster exhaust cat back system.
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Current day mods: rough country 4" x - series short arm lift, rough country cv driveshaft, rough country np231 sye kit, 305/70/16 toyo mt's, 16x8 vision warriors machined and black, fabtech prerunner front bumper, smittybilt src side armor, smittybilt src rear bumper w/tire carrier, bilstein 5100 shocks.

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HunterSmith2003TJ said:
Joined the Facebook group yesterday and the forum today! Happy to be apart of the group and look forward to speaking with you all. I'm going to throw in a couple photos of my jeep as well from the day I brought it home to where it is now. I think it's important to remember where you come from it shows you just how far you've come today! Hope you like it ladies and gents!
View attachment 2191
Bringing it home
View attachment 2192
First mods: rugged ridge light bar with kc Apollo 5" lights.
View attachment 2193
Second set of mods: 31x10.50x15 bfg all terrains, bestop super top with rear tinted windows, banks cold air intake, banks monster exhaust cat back system.
View attachment 2194
Current day mods: rough country 4" x - series short arm lift, rough country cv driveshaft, rough country np231 sye kit, 305/70/16 toyo mt's, 16x8 vision warriors machined and black, fabtech prerunner front bumper, smittybilt src side armor, smittybilt src rear bumper w/tire carrier, bilstein 5100 shocks.

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Nothing like a nice, clean white TJ!

What's next on the mod list? I like what you've done so far!
 
Chris said:
Nothing like a nice, clean white TJ!

What's next on the mod list? I like what you've done so far!
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I'm thinking of stepping up to 315/75/17's or 35x12.50x18's, kicking around the idea of either turbo charging or super charging, a winch to finish off the front bumper and definetly a gear swap if I go any bigger on tires. And thanks man I appreciate it! I've got two and a half years of time and money invested in it so far and have no regrets!

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I know the feeling, trust me!

Sounds like a good plan. I think it looks good on the tire size it has now, but 35" would look good as well. Of course then you'll probably need to re-gear for sure. You'll probably want to beef up the axles if you go to 35" tires as well!
 
I'm glad you like it! I'm happy with the size I have as well but I would like something wider to fill out the stance a little better. I've been looking into a set of wider fenders as well and it would look silly in my eyes if the tire isn't at least level or sticking out of the fender a little. If I do plan on going up to 35's what do you recommend as far as beefing them up?

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HunterSmith2003TJ said:
I'm glad you like it! I'm happy with the size I have as well but I would like something wider to fill out the stance a little better. I've been looking into a set of wider fenders as well and it would look silly in my eyes if the tire isn't at least level or sticking out of the fender a little. If I do plan on going up to 35's what do you recommend as far as beefing them up?

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I assume you're running the factory Dana 30 and Dana 35 axles, yes? If so, the real question is do you do any off-roading or is this strictly an on-road Jeep?

Your answers will of course determine what should be done to your axles.
 
Actually I've got a 44 in the rear and a 30 in the front. Maybe the previous owner swapped the rear I'm not sure I bought it at 73k. And it's a daily driver/weekend warrior. It hits few trails but more mud holes than trails.

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HunterSmith2003TJ said:
Actually I've got a 44 in the rear and a 30 in the front. Maybe the previous owner swapped the rear I'm not sure I bought it at 73k. And it's a daily driver/weekend warrior. It hits few trails but more mud holes than trails.

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If you have a 44 in the rear and don't do too much hardcore stuff then you'll be just fine with the current setup. The only concern I might have is the Dana 30 front running 35" tires, in which case some chromoly axle shafts would probably be all you need to beef that up a bit.
 
Chromoly shafts huh? I'll keep that in mind! It's all in the works right now I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with it next but I'll definetly do that if I decide to bump up to 35's I appreciate all your help man!

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HunterSmith2003TJ said:
Chromoly shafts huh? I'll keep that in mind! It's all in the works right now I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with it next but I'll definetly do that if I decide to bump up to 35's I appreciate all your help man!

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No problem! If you do go up to 35" tires the chromoly shafts will be a very nice strength upgrade!
 
Big Sarge said:
nice looking Jeep. and that Dana30 front axle is more than up to the task of running 35s, no worries there.
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Thanks man I appreciate it! Still a little concerned but I had a buddy with a 98 that ran 35's for a good while. He busted his Spider gears in the rear before anything. I may still consider an axle swap if I decide to take that step because it may not get welled or bogged all the time but when it does I'm pretty hard on the old girl. I've run it right at 5k rpm through quite a few situations but she never disappoints! Plus I'm ticky I want everything done right (yeah I'm one of those lol) there hasn't been a wrench put on it that I haven't turned myself excluding alignments.

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Your Dana 30 will handle 35" tires, but only to a point. If you beat the piss out of it or candy control your throttle then you'll undoubtedly break things (most likely axle shafts). If you aren't to rough on it, it should handle those 35" tires just fine.

If you build that Dana 30 up with some chromo axle shafts (or even RCVs) as well as some other things, you'll definitely be a lot better off.

As for the rear, the rear Dana 44 should be up to the task, again, assuming you don't beat the bejesus out of it.

I think a large factor that plays into this sort of thing is driver skill. Even the strongest axles can be broken by idiotic drivers.
 
Chris said:
Your Dana 30 will handle 35" tires, but only to a point. If you beat the piss out of it or candy control your throttle then you'll undoubtedly break things (most likely axle shafts). If you aren't to rough on it, it should handle those 35" tires just fine.

If you build that Dana 30 up with some chromo axle shafts (or even RCVs) as well as some other things, you'll definitely be a lot better off.

As for the rear, the rear Dana 44 should be up to the task, again, assuming you don't beat the bejesus out of it.

I think a large factor that plays into this sort of thing is driver skill. Even the strongest axles can be broken by idiotic drivers.
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Agreed! I may be rough on it but I know when enoughs enough and I keep an eye on everything underneath for about a week or so after I've had my fun. Like I told Chris I'm not quite sure what I want to do as far as tire size but I definetly keep my eyes and ears open to anyone that knows more about it than I do! The worst lessons are always learned the hard way!

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35"s look cool, no doubt. However, I will say that from most of my research I've done, the general consensus seems to be that there really aren't many things that a 35" tire can do that a 33" tire can't do.

That being said, it's ultimately up to you, but I heavily contemplated 35" tires until I realized I could do everything I wanted to do and more on 33" tires. Not to mention I save a little fuel and manage to have a cheaper per tire cost than I would with 35" tires.
 
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Chris said:
35"s look cool, no doubt. However, I will say that from most of my research I've done, the general consensus seems to be that there really aren't many things that a 35" tire can do that a 33" tire can't do.

That being said, it's ultimately up to you, but I heavily contemplated 35" tires until I realized I could do everything I wanted to do and more on 33" tires. Not to mention I save a little fuel and manage to have a cheaper per tire cost than I would with 35" tires.
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I agree with you as well Chris the 305's definetly allow more wheel travel and better milage compared to 35's. 35's would definetly pick it up a little higher but on trails and hitting mud holes a little fast with a 4 inch kit I may have some scrubbing on the jounce of my suspension, and noone likes looking at a tire with the tread lugs torn off. Lol. I guess I'll have to find a happy medium between what I want and what I NEED.

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Yep, I agree! 35" tires were so tempting, but then I actually thought about it for a while and my 33" tires get me everywhere I need to go, they have ZERO rubbing issues, and they're obviously cheaper on the pocket and a bit better on mpg.

Ultimately I feel like a lot of guys just end up with 35" tires because they like the look (which I don't blame them for at all, since it does look good), but I'm pretty sure they could get by with 33" tires just fine.

Oh well, it's a Jeep, and you know how these things are... You can never stop throwing money at them!
 
Chris said:
Yep, I agree! 35" tires were so tempting, but then I actually thought about it for a while and my 33" tires get me everywhere I need to go, they have ZERO rubbing issues, and they're obviously cheaper on the pocket and a bit better on mpg.

Ultimately I feel like a lot of guys just end up with 35" tires because they like the look (which I don't blame them for at all, since it does look good), but I'm pretty sure they could get by with 33" tires just fine.

Oh well, it's a Jeep, and you know how these things are... You can never stop throwing money at them!
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J.E.E.P (Just Empty Every Pocket!) Well said but there isn't much else I'd rather throw money at! My 305's give me very little rub on my lower control arms only enough to rub some paint off at full steering rotation and that's because those vision wheels have almost no back spacing at all. Other than that they clear very well. But standing back at a distance they do look slightly too small and a little skinny. Which is why I was thinking of bumping up sizes. Wider is definetly something I want.

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HunterSmith2003TJ said:
J.E.E.P (Just Empty Every Pocket!) Well said but there isn't much else I'd rather throw money at! My 305's give me very little rub on my lower control arms only enough to rub some paint off at full steering rotation and that's because those vision wheels have almost no back spacing at all. Other than that they clear very well. But standing back at a distance they do look slightly too small and a little skinny. Which is why I was thinking of bumping up sizes. Wider is definetly something I want.

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I hear ya! I am happy with my 33" tires but I find myself wanting something wider since mine are only 11.5" wide. I think next time I need tires I'll go with something that is 12.5" wide just for the look.
 
Yeah a 12.50 would do pretty good that would definetly give a wider look. I want about the same thing but that's hard to accomplish with metric tire sizes. 325's and up start getting mighty expensive haha.

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