TJ SE, mistake or bonus

Thanks UpperMI,
More or less what's the cost of a regear?

That I can't tell you with any certainty. It depends on your location and which gears you choose, etc. If I had to guestimate, I would say in the $1,500 - $1,800 range.
 
Thanks, I kinda figured it'd be well over 1k
It's been ten years since I last regeared my Jeep and with a special "friend" discount it was just under $1100. My first regearing job like 15 years ago was $1300... so with pricing having gone up since then, I'd figure on no less than $1300-1400.
 
Alrighty then. The wife and I headed out Saturday on our annual anniversary vacation. We ran the SE across the truck scale on our way out of town, and she came in at 4,050#. Headed down interstate 5 in the right lane at 65 - 70 mph. It's pretty flat, and there were no issues. Jumped off at Eugene, and headed over the Coast Range to the coast. Again, no issues. Got into 3rd a couple of time going up the steeper grades, but we weren't holding up traffic, for sure. Even passed a few slowpokes. Headed down 101 on the coast to the California border, and again no issues.

My take on 31" tires on a stock SE? The combination is good to go, generally, until you get offroad in pretty technical stuff. Even then, grab low range and go for it.
 
My 05 is the SE 6 spd. Stock with 31's it does fine even semi loaded down this weekend in the mountains. For wheeling, the little 2.4 works very well chugging along fire trails.

With 3.73's there is no way I would go a larger tire. I think 4.10 and 31 would be about right, 4.56 if you really wanted some extra gearing.
 
I've had my 2001 SE about 4 weeks now. I re-shod the Grizzly mags with the factory recommended size of 225/75R15's in an All-Terrain tire that measure 29.25" tall. I still had to re-gear the speedo drive to a #40 to get it almost bang on.

I don't get the obsession with larger rubber. Image? Ego? We got thousands of miles of bush roads in all directions and the SE has plenty of ground clearance the way it left the factory. To each his own I suppose but the 4 cyl is quite happy with this tire size. Keeping the unsprung weight to a minimum keeps suspension wear and tear down and greatly improves the handling and responsiveness.

If I had my heart on bigger everything, I would have shopped for a Rubicon or one of the other models that had a bigger drivetrain optioned out.
 
I've had my 2001 SE about 4 weeks now. I re-shod the Grizzly mags with the factory recommended size of 225/75R15's in an All-Terrain tire that measure 29.25" tall. I still had to re-gear the speedo drive to a #40 to get it almost bang on.

I don't get the obsession with larger rubber. Image? Ego? We got thousands of miles of bush roads in all directions and the SE has plenty of ground clearance the way it left the factory. To each his own I suppose but the 4 cyl is quite happy with this tire size. Keeping the unsprung weight to a minimum keeps suspension wear and tear down and greatly improves the handling and responsiveness.

If I had my heart on bigger everything, I would have shopped for a Rubicon or one of the other models that had a bigger drivetrain optioned out.


For a lot of us larger rubber is not a matter of ego. Its a matter of clearance.

Although I love running on forest service roads that lead back to where you started (or no where near where you started!), or logging spurs that dead end, or charging up the sand dunes on the coast--my passion is going to Moab or any other place---except Hammers or God Forbid, Johnson Valley:p-— and running 99 % of the offerings. 6inch long arm and 315s work for me until I go to 37s. For just a tad more clearance on the ledges.

But like I have said many times-—-build your rig for what you want to do with it, not what everybody else is doing to satisfy their type of wheeling:D
 
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I don't get the obsession with larger rubber. Image? Ego? We got thousands of miles of bush roads in all directions and the SE has plenty of ground clearance the way it left the factory.
A stock TJ has plenty of clearance for bush roads. It's when you start wheeling on tougher trails when stock tire size and suspension lift height no longer provide enough ground clearance.

It's all about what kind of offroad trails you want to run that determines how much clearance is needed.

Both of these are/were mine, the red one was stolen six years ago.

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Have to whole heartadly agree with Jerry and Frank. As we discussed in another thread, build your Jeep for the kind of wheeling you really do, not for what you read online or see in the magazines. If you want a show-wheeler you will spend a ton of money and probably not be very satisfied with the results. Right now, I'm sitting in camp looking at an SE fuzzy with bugs and covered inside and out with dirt and dust. Happy as a clam. @AOR is going to hook me up with some Bilstein 5100's when I get back and the H&R springs are probably at the oldest daughter's house right now. Good stuff.
 
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I agree with these guys. Build the Jeep for the kind of wheeling you do. Don't think you need 35" tires and 5" of lift unless you plan on doing some serious crawling. If you're just looking to do forrest service roads and stuff like that, a nice 3" lift and some 33" tires is more than enough (heck, even 33" tires would be unnecessary at that point)!
 
I was kind of commenting on the SE, not Jeeps in general. My SE is enough of a project just bringing everything up to like new standards.

And I do have first hand experience in not enough clearance so I appreciate what you're all saying. Some time ago, I was checking my dad's zero on his 30-06 up in the bush. I wanted to move my 88 Toyota (stock everything) to a different spot and I did it kind of quickly. Wouldn't you know it, Toyotas have this (bleeping) X-member that ties in the front IFS. Caught a stump about 7" off the ground which made my Toyota go from 12mph to 0 in about an 1/8 of an inch (I thought I had plenty of clearance). Of course, no seat belt so my head piled into the A pillar. Still feel it in the neck the odd time.
 
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