Hello! New to the Jeep family and forum. We have a 1999 TJ Sport. Looking at a 3" lift kit( shocks, spring perch and diff lowering hardware). Will 35's work or would 33's be better? Will be mostly a dailey driver with light and limited offroad use.
Will 35s fit with a 3 inch lift kit?
- Thread starter Karolinacouple
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Read Me: Lifting a Jeep
32’s will fit, 33’s might fit...With only 3 inches of suspension lift you will likely be adding a bit more bump, which would compromise up-travel. Have you looked at curries 4 inch lift or zones 4.25 inch combo lift kit?
Dirk at DPG off road might be worth a google/call.
Diff lowering hardware? I’m not sure about diff lowering. I believe you mean transfer case lowering which IMO is not the right path when lifting. Why lift the Jeep for more ground clearnace only to turn around and lower the skid, sacrificing gained ground clearance?
Save and get an SYE, adj control arms, and a new rear driveshaft. Do it right the first time.
Don't forget its best to re-gear the front and rear diffs for the bigger tires. Adding selectable lockers is also wise at this point since you will have the diffs apart for the re-gear.
If you are only doing light off roading, stick with the factory suspension and just enjoy it. A lunchbox locker for the front would be a great start.
Read Me: Lunchbox Lockers
32’s will fit, 33’s might fit...With only 3 inches of suspension lift you will likely be adding a bit more bump, which would compromise up-travel. Have you looked at curries 4 inch lift or zones 4.25 inch combo lift kit?
Dirk at DPG off road might be worth a google/call.
Diff lowering hardware? I’m not sure about diff lowering. I believe you mean transfer case lowering which IMO is not the right path when lifting. Why lift the Jeep for more ground clearnace only to turn around and lower the skid, sacrificing gained ground clearance?
Save and get an SYE, adj control arms, and a new rear driveshaft. Do it right the first time.
Don't forget its best to re-gear the front and rear diffs for the bigger tires. Adding selectable lockers is also wise at this point since you will have the diffs apart for the re-gear.
If you are only doing light off roading, stick with the factory suspension and just enjoy it. A lunchbox locker for the front would be a great start.
Read Me: Lunchbox Lockers
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Stay with the 33's unless you have money to burn. There are a number of manufactures of good lift kits for your tj, you don't need to spend a fortune to have a nice jeep that you enjoy.
Welcome to the forum.
3” lift is borderline for 33’s. Have to add more bumpstop and sacrifice up travel. Add a 1 or 1.25” body lift and you’ll be golden for 33’s. Also need lots more to make this work. $8K +. If trying to do on the cheap, go with 2.5” and 32’s.
You really need 5-5.25” for 35’s. A 4 + 1 is a good combo. Lots more money $10K +
3” lift is borderline for 33’s. Have to add more bumpstop and sacrifice up travel. Add a 1 or 1.25” body lift and you’ll be golden for 33’s. Also need lots more to make this work. $8K +. If trying to do on the cheap, go with 2.5” and 32’s.
You really need 5-5.25” for 35’s. A 4 + 1 is a good combo. Lots more money $10K +
I've gotta ask, what is this ''lots more'' you speak of for running 33's? Another 8k after the lift? Remember the OP said for ''light and limited offroad use''.
$8K total to do 33’s right, lift $900, a regear will run you $1500 minimum, while in there you might as well do lockers, another $1400-2300. Adjustable front trackbar, $200, rear trackbar relocation bracket $25, extended rear sway bar links, $30, body lift, $170, MML $170, front sway bar disconnects $175, winch and recovery gear $700, bumpers? $750, tires $1000, wheels with proper bs or spacers $500-800, extended brake lines?, what else for your unique situation? Every TJ has its differences. Maybe you need a SYE and DC to eliminate vibes $600.
None of this is including labor, parts only.
Now, yeah, you can live with 33’s and crappy gearing and thus no lockers and a TCase drop and you can be irresponsible and not have a winch and you could jettison the bumpers, but how are you going to carry a 33 spare? You can’t jettison most of the other stuffs
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I think what you call the 'right way' is just how you would do it, and to call anyone without a winch 'irresponsible' is ridiculous.
Since the OP said " Will be mostly a daily driver with light and limited offroad use. " I think he could get by with a 3" lift and a 1" BL and clear 33's. And no lockers, gears, sway bar disconnects, winch or bumpers. Now it would be a more capable jeep with all of these extras, but for limited off road use the OP could start with the min. and then add as you go along. Most first time jeep owners don't start out with a 10K + budget, now many of us end up there. The one thing I would add to the list would be some nice rock sliders.
My recommendation would be to read a lot, and determine what you think you want at the end. Jeeps are a funny thing you may start out thinking just a little Fire Road driving next thing you know your on the Rubicon Trail.
I stared with a 95 YJ Rio Grande edition, which is a 4 banger and a Dana 35 / 30 combo. This was bought to have fun little weekend car to leave at my cabin. Started out with a lift and 31's, I was happy for a couple of years. Then wanted to tackle harder trails, so out went the Dana 35 in went a Dana 44 and a ARB in the rear. Then came a 1" BL and 33's, which sucked with only 4 angry squires, so in came the re-gear and an ARB in the front. Now i was ready for the Rubicon, I add a blast with this little Rio Grande. Guess what I gave it my son and bought a 05 Rubicon because I want to run 35's, so the build started all over again.
Just to show the OP this is my 05 with 35's and a 4" Currie Lift before I added a 1" BL.
My recommendation would be to read a lot, and determine what you think you want at the end. Jeeps are a funny thing you may start out thinking just a little Fire Road driving next thing you know your on the Rubicon Trail.
I stared with a 95 YJ Rio Grande edition, which is a 4 banger and a Dana 35 / 30 combo. This was bought to have fun little weekend car to leave at my cabin. Started out with a lift and 31's, I was happy for a couple of years. Then wanted to tackle harder trails, so out went the Dana 35 in went a Dana 44 and a ARB in the rear. Then came a 1" BL and 33's, which sucked with only 4 angry squires, so in came the re-gear and an ARB in the front. Now i was ready for the Rubicon, I add a blast with this little Rio Grande. Guess what I gave it my son and bought a 05 Rubicon because I want to run 35's, so the build started all over again.
Just to show the OP this is my 05 with 35's and a 4" Currie Lift before I added a 1" BL.
3” lift, daily driver and light off-roading I think your better off with 33’s. For one thing your probably okay to not do a gear swap. 35’s most certainly will need regearing which will add a big cost. As people mentioned running 35’s will add significantly more costs for other necessary mods to run the larger tires. 33” tires look very proper on a TJ. Along with a 3” lift they will take you up some fairly significant trails should you desire to setup up your Jeep further for harder wheeling in the future. Fitment wise the 33” will fit, possibly a 1” body lift depending on width of the tire, backspacing on the wheels and bumpstop extension.
My TJ on 33 x 10.5”, 8” rims with 4.5” backspacing, 1.5” bumpstop extension, 2.5” suspension lift and 1” body lift. Everything clears at full flex, which you would never see if your only lightly off-roading.
My TJ on 33 x 10.5”, 8” rims with 4.5” backspacing, 1.5” bumpstop extension, 2.5” suspension lift and 1” body lift. Everything clears at full flex, which you would never see if your only lightly off-roading.
As said above, 3" is not nearly enough for 35's. 4" is recommended for 33's so an additional 1" body lift together with the 3" suspension lift would be a good idea for those 33's.
Other people would do it the same way too. My wish list for 33s has exactly the same items on it as @JMT listed. When you look at how the Jeep suspension and driveline works, and what you need to make your Jeep more capable off road all those things start to make sense.
On the other hand, you can cut some corners if you just want bigger tires for looks rather than for tougher trails — and there's nothing wrong with that.
A street Jeep shouldn't be built much differently than an off road Jeep. The fundamentals are still the same. You want suspension travel and happy drive shafts.
A simple guideline is to always at least maintain the factory suspension travels. If you do that, most of the build will fall into place.
A simple guideline is to always at least maintain the factory suspension travels. If you do that, most of the build will fall into place.
If you wanna drive a crappy riding Jeep, go ahead and buy the RC lift and stuff some 33's on there. You'll have about 3" of uptravel, a dropped skid, and you'll probably blow the shocks out. Best case scenario is that every bump will have you into the bump stops. More likely, the shock limits the up travel and that sudden, jarring, stop is why people think that lifted TJ's drive like crap.
If you want something that drives at or better than factory... @JMT has a pretty good list for a regular TJ. Rubicons are slightly cheaper to get set up properly, but they cost more up front.
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Thank you for all the input. Like I said we are virgin jeep owners. I completely understand the sky is the limit with any modifications. I understand trade offs with modifications and "well you can't do this without doing xyz. We want to stay simple at first, maintain a safe decent ride. Have a nice stance with the ability to go trail riding and beginner type offroading in our future. Great input!!!
Your intended uses seem perfect for a 2.5” OME, a small tuck, front lunchbox locker and 32’s. Honestly, that’s a wonderful build that doesn’t break the bank and does well as a DD and off-road. The pic below is not my rig, it belongs to a 70-something year old I met in Moab. This guy ran the Escalator in under 3 minutes in this mildly built rig. He did Hell’s Gate with a smile. I saw much larger rigs on 40’s fail where he had success. He is locked front and rear, but still, amazing. If I build another rig, I’ll build a Rubi on 32’s with a 2.5” OME and a small tuck
Even with 35s on a Jeep that never sees off-road, you're reducing up-travel with your suspension, and therefore negatively affecting both the on-road and off-road ride quality.
So unless you're only after looks and don't really care how your Jeep rides, then I wouldn't advise doing it.
So unless you're only after looks and don't really care how your Jeep rides, then I wouldn't advise doing it.
Oh really, The first rough country kit that I used was in 1983 on a c10 chevy and have used them on various 4x4's without any problems. As far as ride goes I don't expect it to ride like a lexus sedan. And to address the dropped tc plate, I don't do any rock crawling only mud where I live so its a non issue.
i had a 3 inch lift when i first bought my jeep. and it was on 33s....worked well. i went to 35s and they fit just fine too. but i had already added tube fenders to increase my wheel well space. this worked for a while and i rubbed my tires on my tubes alot but it didnt bother me. then i went to a 5.5 inch RE long arm and then the 35s seemed to small. 37s would have worked well with that setup.
RE's springs are well known to give at least an extra inch over the advertised amount. That 5.5" kit gave your TJ more like 6.5" of lift. I ran RE's LA suspension on my previous TJ and after first ordering the 5.5" springs, downsized them to 4.5" during the ordering process after learning of that. Even with its 4.5" springs it was more like 5.5" of lift in reality. Even it, in combination with my 1" BL, was a bit too tall for my 35's. I'm glad I'm no longer running RE's LA suspension, it just didn't work for me well on the type of trails I enjoy.