Talk me out of 37s

I would definitely decide what your MAX size tire will end up being before you buy axles. I made some mistakes with mine & wish that I'd gone wider than 61" WMS to at least 63.5-65" WMS for better clearance. But as you know it's a fine line of tradeoff between width for stability & clearance & then being able to fit thru the trees. I can't comment on the strengths of the new JL/JT axles but American Iron does offer deletes for them.

Agree with figuring out your max tire size first. My mistake was thinking I would stick with 35's. My front Dana 44 is TJ width. Then I went with 37's and went with JK width and bolt pattern for the rear. So now have TJ to JK adapters in the front. I want to eventually replace the front with a 60 to fix the width and ball joint issues.
 
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Agree with figuring out your max tire size first. My mistake was thinking I would stick with 35's. My front Dana 44 is TJ width. Then I went with 37's and went with JK width and bolt pattern for the rear. So now have TJ to JK adapters in the front. I want to eventually replace the front with a 60 to fix the width and ball joint issues.

I did the same thing. When I built my Jeep the first time I swore I'd NEVER go larger than 35" tires. And for that the CRD60 rear was OVERKILL but I wasn't thinking clearly. The front axle I narrowed to Waggy width for ease of getting replacement axles & for fitting thru the trees. But now I strongly wish that I'd kept it wider.
At some point I may decide to swap out both axles for wider ones. For the front axle I'd love to do a Hybrd 44/60 or 609. It's either a Dana 44 or 9" center section with Dana 60 outers. For the rear I think I'd go with a Hi9 for size & weight.

I still wouldn't go any wider than a 65" WMS no matter what axle option I decided to go with.
 
I did the same thing. When I built my Jeep the first time I swore I'd NEVER go larger than 35" tires. And for that the CRD60 rear was OVERKILL but I wasn't thinking clearly. The front axle I narrowed to Waggy width for ease of getting replacement axles & for fitting thru the trees. But now I strongly wish that I'd kept it wider.
At some point I may decide to swap out both axles for wider ones. For the front axle I'd love to do a Hybrd 44/60 or 609. It's either a Dana 44 or 9" center section with Dana 60 outers. For the rear I think I'd go with a Hi9 for size & weight.

I still wouldn't go any wider than a 65" WMS no matter what axle option I decided to go with.

Yeah, I like the JK width. Seems to be perfect for 37's. No plans to go larger because I just barely fit in my garage, can't go any higher. I'd be tempted to just get another Currie 60, but a hybrid with the 44 pumpkin would be nice for clearance.
 
Yeah, I like the JK width. Seems to be perfect for 37's. No plans to go larger because I just barely fit in my garage, can't go any higher. I'd be tempted to just get another Currie 60, but a hybrid with the 44 pumpkin would be nice for clearance.

The one thing I can say was going from 35" tires to 38" for me was about the best thing I could have done on my TJ. While many say I had too much tire for a TJ I really liked how it handled & performed on a stock WB, I'm really looking forward to running it with the 100" WB & these Baja Pro tires. I can't imagine it to not be way better than it was before.

Edit: I should add that I've toyed with the idea of going up to 40" tires but I'd need new axles before trying that. But it'd sure be fun to be part of the fourdeez crowd.
 
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I would definitely decide what your MAX size tire will end up being before you buy axles. I made some mistakes with mine & wish that I'd gone wider than 61" WMS to at least 63.5-65" WMS for better clearance. But as you know it's a fine line of tradeoff between width for stability & clearance & then being able to fit thru the trees.

That’s a good point. I know that for this build, 37s are the max I will go as this is still my daily driver, and I don’t have the means to V8 swap it at the moment lol.

How has that front Dana 44 held up for ya?
 
The one thing I can say was going from 35" tires to 38" for me was about the best thing I could have done on my TJ. While many say I had too much tire for a TJ I really liked how it handled & performed on a stock WB, I'm really looking forward to running it with the 100" WB & these Baja Pro tires. I can't imagine it to not be way better than it was before.

Come on, you guys are making it really hard to make a reasonable decision. 😂
 
That’s a good point. I know that for this build, 37s are the max I will go as this is still my daily driver, and I don’t have the means to V8 swap it at the moment lol.

V-8 swaps are fun but with 5.38 gears I think 37's would be livable. Might not be a speed demon but hey it's a Jeep.

How has that front Dana 44 held up for ya?

I only had about 2 years of wheeling on it before it had to be parked due to engine issues. But I never had any problems with the ball joints. But as I said this isn't a TJ/JK Dana 44 it's a old school HP44 out of a Ford pickup.

Here's my writeup on how to narrow the HP44 to Waggy width. As I said if I was doing it again I wouldn't have narrowed it past 63" WMS. Right now it's at 61" WMS.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...nion-dana-44-front-axle-to-waggy-width.19445/
 
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Yeah, I like the JK width. Seems to be perfect for 37's. No plans to go larger because I just barely fit in my garage, can't go any higher. I'd be tempted to just get another Currie 60, but a hybrid with the 44 pumpkin would be nice for clearance.

Concur 65WMS is a really great width for 37s, makes the build a lot easier than i imagine Tj width with 37s would be.
 
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So I’m looking at the TJ front dana 489, that ECGS offers in a 60.5, 63.5 and 65 WMS.

I wonder if I could get their 63.5 front and just slap some 1.5” wheel spacers on the rear. Any thoughts? Probably need to buy custom axle shafts were I ever to break one.

@B00mb00m @Wildman
 
You know what isn't a great width? 64" with 14" coil overs.

HAH thats a no from me dawg... but then again if they were free Currie 60s .... maybe worth the squeeze. :)
 
So I’m looking at the TJ front dana 489, that ECGS offers in a 60.5, 63.5 and 65 WMS.

I wonder if I could get their 63.5 front and just slap some 1.5” wheel spacers on the rear. Any thoughts? Probably need to buy custom axle shafts were I ever to break one.

@B00mb00m @Wildman

65WMS, do it right the first time! The artec bracket system SUCKS, do not have ECGS put that on. Better to DIY to make good steering. You may have missed where before my coilover i had the artec bracket system... which i cut off and started over with coilovers.
 
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So I’m looking at the TJ front dana 489, that ECGS offers in a 60.5, 63.5 and 65 WMS.

I wonder if I could get their 63.5 front and just slap some 1.5” wheel spacers on the rear. Any thoughts? Probably need to buy custom axle shafts were I ever to break one.

@B00mb00m @Wildman

I'd got the 65" since then you can play with different wheels with different back spacing. As has been said 65" is a good width for 37" tires.
 
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They weren't free but they were certainly cheap enough. We wound up at about 4 grand for front and rear HP 60 Rock Jocks.

Basically free considering their going rate, thats probably worth the effort!
 
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Basically free considering their going rate, thats probably worth the effort!

There were some other bit involved. If I didn't know how to build an axle they wouldn't have been doable. The rear shafts had 9/16 lug studs. I could not find a press in stud anywhere with the same knurl OD and 1/2-20 threads, so we had them drilled and tapped for 1/2-20 and used screw in studs. Only one knuckle was machined for the high steer arm that Currie uses and they only sell a set. My machinist duplicated the machining on one to the other and got us out of that bind. I found a Dana 60 E-locker for 350 NIB for the rear and moved the Detroit to the front. No brakes on either but that wasn't a problem.
 
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Just go all the way and beat the cool kids...54's!
In for a penny, in for a pound.

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