So you want to run 35" tires on your TJ?

Stack said:
Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and still somewhat new to TJ ownership. I have a 2002 TJ Sport, 4.0L, Dana 30/Dana 44, 15in rims on 31's, all stock except for LED Headlights. My goal is to be able to run 35's. I've read through this thread and a few others and im looking to start purchasing parts and starting upgrades. My Jeep is my daily driver but I also like to take it offroading and camping and all of that. I don't do any super crazy rock crawling or insanely hard trails, but I have done Diablo's Drop off out here in SoCal once. I have about 10K saved up for upgrades. I'll be moving to Virginia at the end of the year so my terrain will shift a bit but i imagine that won't affect the upgrades too much.

All of this being said, I have a question:

1) What should be the order of things to upgrade? I want to avoid breaking things and also minimize cost (i.e. figuring out stuff i can do at the same time, rather than doing stuff like opening my diffs multiple times and having to buy seals and fluid all of that over and over.)

I've seen people somewhat answer this question but when I look into buying parts for an upgrade I keep running into situations where I can't do an upgrade without doing another upgrade 1st and then that upgrade requires another upgrade and then all of the parts are sold by different vendors and some of them aren't compatible, etc., etc., etc.

I figure the short answer is to just figure it out/ welcome to owning and upgrading a 20 year old vehicle, but I just thought I'd ask.

Thank you all for all of the time and effort y'all have put into this thread already! I look forward to anyone's input.

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Welcome to the TJ club. Nice clean-looking Jeep. Wish you all the best with your upgrades. Just go for it. Everything will be fine. I was in a similar situation as you are now, didn't know where to start but I started with the easy stuff asI was a bit nervous at the beginning. Watching those youtube DIY videos and utilizing this forum as a platform to gather information, I was able to do a lot of mods on my own.
 
Stack said:
Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and still somewhat new to TJ ownership. I have a 2002 TJ Sport, 4.0L, Dana 30/Dana 44, 15in rims on 31's, all stock except for LED Headlights. My goal is to be able to run 35's. I've read through this thread and a few others and im looking to start purchasing parts and starting upgrades. My Jeep is my daily driver but I also like to take it offroading and camping and all of that. I don't do any super crazy rock crawling or insanely hard trails, but I have done Diablo's Drop off out here in SoCal once. I have about 10K saved up for upgrades. I'll be moving to Virginia at the end of the year so my terrain will shift a bit but i imagine that won't affect the upgrades too much.

All of this being said, I have a question:

1) What should be the order of things to upgrade? I want to avoid breaking things and also minimize cost (i.e. figuring out stuff i can do at the same time, rather than doing stuff like opening my diffs multiple times and having to buy seals and fluid all of that over and over.)

I've seen people somewhat answer this question but when I look into buying parts for an upgrade I keep running into situations where I can't do an upgrade without doing another upgrade 1st and then that upgrade requires another upgrade and then all of the parts are sold by different vendors and some of them aren't compatible, etc., etc., etc.

I figure the short answer is to just figure it out/ welcome to owning and upgrading a 20 year old vehicle, but I just thought I'd ask.

Thank you all for all of the time and effort y'all have put into this thread already! I look forward to anyone's input.
Click to expand...

Same kinda thing here except I don’t have a number one priority to throw 10k at it all at once. I am slowly working towards 35’s but the tires and wheels will be the very last thing I do. I am wanting to enjoy it in stages because I know once I get to 35’s the money pit wont be full.

I started with all maintenance stuff rear main, valve gasket, fluids, belts, pulleys and other stuff that needed done with age. I then moved to a DPG lift, arms springs body lift motor lift track bars and such. Currently have enjoyed it for about 8 months at this stage and it’s been a blast. Non 35 related stuff; bumper, winch, radio mount, seat covers and a tailgate dome light trigger(favorite mod so far!).
Coming soon will be currie steering and then on board air in preparation for the regear lockers and shafts. Once I get to rebuilding the axles I plan to take a time out as the gears lockers and all will be about 5 grand, I am planning to force myself to enjoy it here before moving on to the next upgrade.

Another reason to slow the jump to 35’s is I am unsure if I want to run a 4 inch spring or keep the current old man emu 2.5” spring and install the nemesis high lines that I already have sitting on standby.

I am hoping that seeing more built Jeeps on the trails this summer will help guide me where I’m going regarding the 2.5 and high lines or 4 inch springs.
 
LJtheunicorn said:
Same kinda thing here except I don’t have a number one priority to throw 10k at it all at once. I am slowly working towards 35’s but the tires and wheels will be the very last thing I do. I am wanting to enjoy it in stages because I know once I get to 35’s the money pit wont be full.

I started with all maintenance stuff rear main, valve gasket, fluids, belts, pulleys and other stuff that needed done with age. I then moved to a DPG lift, arms springs body lift motor lift track bars and such. Currently have enjoyed it for about 8 months at this stage and it’s been a blast. Non 35 related stuff; bumper, winch, radio mount, seat covers and a tailgate dome light trigger(favorite mod so far!).
Coming soon will be currie steering and then on board air in preparation for the regear lockers and shafts. Once I get to rebuilding the axles I plan to take a time out as the gears lockers and all will be about 5 grand, I am planning to force myself to enjoy it here before moving on to the next upgrade.

Another reason to slow the jump to 35’s is I am unsure if I want to run a 4 inch spring or keep the current old man emu 2.5” spring and install the nemesis high lines that I already have sitting on standby.

I am hoping that seeing more built Jeeps on the trails this summer will help guide me where I’m going regarding the 2.5 and high lines or 4 inch springs.
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I really like how 4in and Highlines look and perform IMO.

0A2E62E5-AC11-45D2-AFDE-B298EDA7BC8B.jpeg


2C4E4C6F-4FA3-4B8E-961C-F8CF6B1E3D5F.jpeg
 
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Blake Stamper said:
I really like how 4in and Highlines look and perform IMO.

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I will probably end up there long term as I too love the look. I am already pushing height limits in my garage with the hardtop on the ceiling. If I want 35’s and a 4 inch lift I’ll have to wait until I move to a new house. My 2.5 springs, body lift and future 35’s may not even fit.

I ordered the HD Old man emu springs when I got my lift thinking I would have a huge rear bumper/tire carrier but ended up with a small dirtworx one, I’ll be ordering new springs soon which should remove the almost 2 inch rake I have and then give me space to run 35’s under this hardtop.

13395CA3-8DED-4671-ADC4-35A4188A1D68.jpeg
 
LJtheunicorn said:
Same kinda thing here except I don’t have a number one priority to throw 10k at it all at once. I am slowly working towards 35’s but the tires and wheels will be the very last thing I do. I am wanting to enjoy it in stages because I know once I get to 35’s the money pit wont be full.

I started with all maintenance stuff rear main, valve gasket, fluids, belts, pulleys and other stuff that needed done with age. I then moved to a DPG lift, arms springs body lift motor lift track bars and such. Currently have enjoyed it for about 8 months at this stage and it’s been a blast. Non 35 related stuff; bumper, winch, radio mount, seat covers and a tailgate dome light trigger(favorite mod so far!).
Coming soon will be currie steering and then on board air in preparation for the regear lockers and shafts. Once I get to rebuilding the axles I plan to take a time out as the gears lockers and all will be about 5 grand, I am planning to force myself to enjoy it here before moving on to the next upgrade.

Another reason to slow the jump to 35’s is I am unsure if I want to run a 4 inch spring or keep the current old man emu 2.5” spring and install the nemesis high lines that I already have sitting on standby.

I am hoping that seeing more built Jeeps on the trails this summer will help guide me where I’m going regarding the 2.5 and high lines or 4 inch springs.
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Where can I find your tailgate dome light trigger mod?
 
JMT said:
Where can I find your tailgate dome light trigger mod?
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Buy all the parts from amazon and get after it, super helpful addition, while I was doing this I did the glove box light mod where it automatically comes on when opening. Very helpful. Something I plan to do in the future is a center console light of similar design.
 
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I just pulled the trigger and bought a Yukon 4340 Chromoly axle shaft for the front Dana 30. I had to pause though, because the regular 4340 Chromoly shaft was <$500 and the same with a "super joint" was more than 2X the price (also from Yukon). I went ahead with it because I figured the upgrade to chromoly for ~$500 seemed worth it for the tame level of offroad driving I do. I also figure I can take the stock shaft I'm replacing with me if i ever break the new Yukon one and swap it in the field.

But I'm curious to know if anyone knows the difference between the Yukon chromoly upgrade to the Dana 30 axle and the same with the "super joint" and if the latter is worth paying twice as much. Thanks in advance.
 
Chili Pepper Thomas said:
I just pulled the trigger and bought a Yukon 4340 Chromoly axle shaft for the front Dana 30. I had to pause though, because the regular 4340 Chromoly shaft was <$500 and the same with a "super joint" was more than 2X the price (also from Yukon). I went ahead with it because I figured the upgrade to chromoly for ~$500 seemed worth it for the tame level of offroad driving I do. I also figure I can take the stock shaft I'm replacing with me if i ever break the new Yukon one and swap it in the field.

But I'm curious to know if anyone knows the difference between the Yukon chromoly upgrade to the Dana 30 axle and the same with the "super joint" and if the latter is worth paying twice as much. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Which side did you get - driver or passenger?

🙂

Just kidding. Welcome to the forum.
 
Chili Pepper Thomas said:
I just pulled the trigger and bought a Yukon 4340 Chromoly axle shaft for the front Dana 30. I had to pause though, because the regular 4340 Chromoly shaft was <$500 and the same with a "super joint" was more than 2X the price (also from Yukon). I went ahead with it because I figured the upgrade to chromoly for ~$500 seemed worth it for the tame level of offroad driving I do. I also figure I can take the stock shaft I'm replacing with me if i ever break the new Yukon one and swap it in the field.

But I'm curious to know if anyone knows the difference between the Yukon chromoly upgrade to the Dana 30 axle and the same with the "super joint" and if the latter is worth paying twice as much. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Perhaps the ujoint a are 1310 on the $500 version and 1350 on the $1000 version.
 
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