TJ Wrangler

Joined: 31 May 2004 Location: Sydney, Australia

Just in the planning process of buying a new Jeep. I currently have a Toyota LC 80 Series that has been heaviliy modified.

What are some of the modifications I would need to do to run 37" tyres ?

- 8-10" lift kit
- body/engine lift
- new gearing

Any recommendations, pitfalls, etc would be appreciated.

How about engine mod's such as Turbo, Supercharging, etc ?

Thanks heaps.

PAUL

Joined: 24 Jan 2003 Location: Ferntree Gully, MELB

For a TJ to run 37's:

5" syspension lift.
1" MM
1" BL
SYE and new rear drive shaft
4.88 ratios
Look at upgrading the front D30.

That is VERY BASIC run down, OR you can start chopping guards like one of the guys has on www.ausjeepoffroad.com, only 3" syspenion lift, 1" BL and running 37's. Lots of different ways of doing it to keep your COG low.

Check this out for what I was talking about: http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6216

Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 5:52 pm

Paul,

You've no doubt seen those US mags with 8-10" lift....well forget 'em...
Firstly unless you do substantial work entending your wheelbase and width you'll be worsening the performance.....Personally i'd look at a 4.5" long arm lift, 1" BodyLift and 1"motormount lift and cut the guards for any extra clearance needed.

As Lexx said the dana 30 will need some beefing to run 37"s....I'd look at Warn hubs, Ox or CTM unis and Chromemolly inner shafts....you might wanna consider a "Super 30" kit with replaces the D30 27 Spline inners with 30 splinners.

How much money from there would you like us to help you spend Wink

Joined: 05 Jan 2004 Location: Snowy Mountains

PJ,

I'm in the same position as you - I'm in the process of selling my GU ute and moving to a TJ that will end up getting as out of hand as my ute has. So far the comments I've got back are reflected in Lexx's and Wooders' comments - a tall bad arse TJ will spend more time on it's side that on the 37's.

I'm actually thinking of running the GU diffs out of my current rig so I don't piss away the 4.88 gearing, lockers, 16x10 alloys and new 37" Xterrains! I'll probably get them cut down but will wait till I have the TJ to finally decide.

I'm actually not 100% convinced that I'll got to 37's. I've been driving a little with the guys from SJC and their TJs seem to leverage the fact that they are far more nimble than the bigger rigs that we are currently driving.

I'm looking at the 4-6" long arm kits. One thing to keep in mind is that the actual (vs quoted) lift seems to vary heaps with the kits. A 5.5 RE LA kit seems to give closer to 7" of lift.

Ausjeepoffroad and Jeeps Unlimited are 2 forums that it is probably worth hanging around for a while.

Good luck . . . there could be 2 new monster TJs getting around before too long!

Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 10:20 am

Funny thing is though BC, if you asked about on JeepsUnlimited you'll see a lot of guys that went for RE 5.5 coils are now swapping back to 4.5" coils and looking at flat fenders etc for the extra clearance....and these are guys running upto 38" tyres....heck I plan to run 38's next and I'll be cutting not lifting Twisted Evil

Joined: 25 Nov 2002 Location: Sydney

IMHO 35" is more than enough for stock TJ wheel base

I am a firm believer in max tyre size is dictated by wheel base and not lift amount available

JP magazine had one of their few articles that made good engineering sense on the subject and provided a wheel base to max tyre size guideline Like all guidelines you can take it a little either way but within reason and other limitations come into play

The other factor in Australia is that we must have the wheels completly covered and have limitations on the max increase in track width This means we can NOT lift a vehical as high as you can in some sates of the US as we can not practically go to full width axles

Have a look at all the TJ's that are doing well in the Australian comp scene 35" tyre is by far the most common size and those who have gone up above that are not seeing incremental gains to match the expense in doing so.

Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Location: Mornington, VIC

I have spent alot of time stting up my TJ as a rock Crawler. I'm running 3" custom suspension lift, 2" BL, and alot of time and effort spent raising my drivline up 2" so I can have a flat crossmember. I am running 35" (they measure 36") Maxis Crawlers (specialist rock tyre). 4.88 gears, detroit lockers front and rear, beadlocks, crawler gears, etc.

This lift combination JUST clears my tyres at full articulation. THe TJ looks quite low when you look at it, but is VERY stable (essential for serious rock crawling). With good wheel placement, the 36" tyres are more than enough to keep up with Paul and Dave Mackay, Hobzee or Allan Macmullan on the Rocks.

I have just come back from a trip (reckie for the 2004 Pajero Challenge) where a GQ on 37's ended up on it's roof/side following me up a rock ledge.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that within reason, tyre size is not all that important on a TJ, it is more important to makesure that everything works well together. THe TJ is an awsome vehicle, and a well setup TJ with 35's or 36's will outperform trucks with much larger tyres and bigger engines.

Joined: 29 Nov 2002 Location: Canberra

Guys looking for TJ's .... 8500k's and a whole bunch of mods for $30K

http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8186&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Posted: Sat Jun 05, 2004 11:48 pm

I agree that a 35-36" tyre is a very neat fit onto the TJ....but I differ from Dave in that I think a properly setup TJ with 38's is about ideal without stretching the wheelbase.....But keepig the cog low is the key to making i work......Heck 38's on a Tj is probably line ball with a Zuk on 33"s Wink

(with ref to WB)

Joined: 24 Sep 2003 Location: Redcliffe/Brisbane

or you could just buy a TJ that is already on 37's and has an injected 5ltr in it Wink

i just so happen to know of a guy that would sell his Wink

hehe

Joined: 28 Nov 2002 Location: Melbourne

Rockkrawler wrote:

I have spent alot of time stting up my TJ as a rock Crawler. I'm running 3" custom suspension lift, 2" BL, and alot of time and effort spent raising my drivline up 2" so I can have a flat crossmember. I am running 35" (they measure 36") Maxis Crawlers (specialist rock tyre). 4.88 gears, detroit lockers front and rear, beadlocks, crawler gears, etc.

Any more specs on what you're running (lift wise?). I've got 2" BL and a 2" BB and I'm planning to dump the 2" BB for a 3 - 3.5" coil lift, with the goal of fitting 35s comfortably, so I'm glad to hear you can squeeze 36s under there (although I know zzzz is running 36s with a similar set-up).

Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 11:47 am

RockKrawler,

I agree that sounds like a neat setup......I think we need a pics thread Wink