35s..

[Trail X]

Neil's still waiting for his first East Coast order for gas tank armor.

I've asked him for a cost on an aluminum one... he never replied. I'm not going steel. It's way overkill for me and it will rust here in no-time.

[janesy86]

He did have it on his website before he updated it and I believe it was $150 more than a steelie... but he no longer has it listed on there, and I'm with you on the alluminum, I don't want to deal with it rusting.


And back on topic with the 35's... DJarmy just said even that hitting curbs at the mall there is alot of rubbing. And that its not really for wheeling right now and if he did go wheelin he'd prob go for 33's. Plus he's 2WD w/o a G80, its not doin' half the shit we are on 32's.

Not tryin to put down your dream of 35's, because its your truck and you can obviously do whatever you want but I don't think its practical if you want to wheel it hard. Plus your goin to be stressing a lot of parts more than we already are with 32/33's..

[Gordinho80]

Not tryin to put down your dream of 35's, because its your truck and you can obviously do whatever you want but I don't think its practical if you want to wheel it hard. Plus your goin to be stressing a lot of parts more than we already are with 32/33's..

My point exactly...

[HARDTRAILZ]

35s ARE NOT WHEELABLE WITH OUR TRUCK. No one that uses our platform offroad runs over 33s for a reason. i did djarmy's install and there needs to be more cutting of metal for them to do more than make the truck move. Marks actually rub in rear with a heavy load on the hitch and bumps compressing the suspension.

my 33s barely clear with cut fenders, the 3 inch body and 2.5 suspension. With the zone 2 inch my 33s hit at full stuff.

I happen to have picked up a scout dana 44 this weekend that is the correct width.

38s would be ridiculous with our center of gravity even with a sas. Go big or go home is just stupid. You obviously dont wheel off chamber.

I am hoping for 35s and body lift removal with the sas, but I am just starting the piecing together process for it.

[foosh]

An all suspension sas would be best, but wheeling up here is all related to how big your tires are, and not very much your center of gravity issues... bigger tires= more mud moved and being able to go truth the center of the trail without worrying about framing out in a mud/water pit or going through to deep of ruts.

[bobbyblaze]

"Other" is fixed. Thanks, good catch.

I wouldn't call it jumping ship as much as having bought a lemon. A man has to know when to say when. I wasn't interested in throwing my money down a bottomless pit any more. Purely a financial decision. I miss my TB and the HP under the hood. I went from "275hp" to "185hp". Noticeable difference. That's a big reason for changing to deeper gears when getting bigger rubber.

I currently have 4:636 gears. When my current rubber gets down to 50% i'm goin' up to 32X12.5 M/T's and changing my gears to 4:90 to correct the speedo/odometer and a little more power/torque.

Would be a real good idea to up those gears with 35's.

You may want to change your vehicle info to other, so not to confuse those who don't know you jumped ship.

[HARDTRAILZ]

An all suspension sas would be best, but wheeling up here is all related to how big your tires are, and not very much your center of gravity issues... bigger tires= more mud moved and being able to go truth the center of the trail without worrying about framing out in a mud/water pit or going through to deep of ruts.

Then existing sas'ed TB would be perfect for you. Lots of power, big 39.5 inch tires, but even the builder said it needed to be dropped down some and on about 37s to really wheel it.

[foosh]

Haha very true... just saying sas would be benificial for what we do, there are very few hills... everything is flat and muddy or rutted.

[irishboy02]

Here is alot of deep water, really deep mud and even deeper ruts (deuse-and-a-halfs are commonly wheeled around here). Combine deep ruts with soft ground and your getting sucked in. Im going to try and upload pics from my phone of the mud im referring to.

That being said, a sugar sand base with swamp bottom mud pits and ruts will leave you sitting in the air high-centered off all 4, trust me i know. Now combine a loaded weight of approx 6600 on 31x 8.5 and your goin no where fast. Wheeling here is a totally different style/terrain that you will see out by you, not saying its for the better or the worse, just merely proving a point. We can head high up north and see rocks that are well over your front bumper, we have a very diverse terrain. Not to mention very high water tables, very, very high water.

Not trying to disprove your expertise of offroading, just explaining how this indeed would be more of a comforted necessity than a milestone.

[irishboy02]

To give you a better idea of how deep it really was in, it was up to my driverside window, i had to climb down and in, dukes of hazard style. You can see me standing next to my truck there starting to crouch down and back in and im still well over the light bar and im 6'1.

Sorry about the poor quality just wanted to give you the idea. And no, i wasnt even night wheeling, thats just how long it took for someone to be able to get me out. Got stuck around dusk approx 545pm, final attempt to get me out (this pic) was a 6"lift on a f250 turbo diesel on 35" procomps and it took him about 8 chain yanks cause i wasnt even budgin, this was 215am. Extremely dangerous but it was the only way.

[HARDTRAILZ]

I am not an expert, just 15 years of experience wheeling and lifting. I think of offroad as trails, rocks, creeks, lil mud and what you describe as mud bogging. We got both, but mud tears shit up so I stay away with our pathetic front end. You need some portal axles and 44 in boggers for your area.

[irishboy02]

15 years means you know your shyt. Seeing a vehicle on 38s around the wheelin spots is not uncommon.

One of me and foosh's spot has a nice little water crossing. Doesnt look too bad at first glympse. Saw a yota on 36s drive in, and just sunk. Sand just swallowed him. Then watched a cherokee on 33s go through no problem. Its extremely unpredictable around here. Reguardless of where you go or what type of rig you have here, you will always encounter a reddic amount of water, hense i will be the first person with a working snorkel (you can hold me to that) because its a necessity.

Guess ill hold off on the tires for the time being, have quite a bit of plannin ang throught to throw into this one. Rocks are also very abundant here and are pretty serious, i just have been shyin away for the time being...thanks for all the input, keep it comin!

[HARDTRAILZ]

I did some thinking and dreaming and it may be possible to have useable 35s if you had the front bumper cover off and inner fenders removed and a couple inches of metal cut off all the way around the fender, but up inside on the firewall-ish area they still may rub when stuffed, but for most stuff, esp bogging, it could work if you were willing to go all the way.

[irishboy02]

How would the firewall be an issue? Flex is only a verticle chnge, not horizontal, correct?. Evn with a larger diameter, the only issure would be the fender metal, not deep into the firewwall. And for rear, just longer controll arms would help fix that, i think the stock JK's can work. Gonna look into that

I already have my front bumper removed and my fenderwell plastic actually rubbed out with my 31. Yes, you read that correctly. I rubbed with 31s and barely had bj clearance. I dont know,tom and i both couldnt figure it out. I have a factory freak.

[The Roadie]

I should post some pics, but the firewall issue is in the footwell area where it makes room for your toes. Mine's shiny where the tire's been buffing it when slightly turned and then you compress the springs. Far worse when I had weak springs. It can be sledgehammered back a bit. Oh, it's also worse when you whack the tire or lower control arm into things and the lower control arm bracket slides back in its adjustment slots - it throws caster off, but also reduces the clearance at the rear of the tire. Even with 200 ft-pounds on those three bolts I keep sliding the bracket rearwards.

[HARDTRAILZ]

I should post some pics, but the firewall issue is in the footwell area where it makes room for your toes. Mine's shiny where the tire's been buffing it when slightly turned and then you compress the springs. Far worse when I had weak springs. It can be sledgehammered back a bit. Oh, it's also worse when you whack the tire or lower control arm into things and the lower control arm bracket slides back in its adjustment slots - it throws caster off, but also reduces the clearance at the rear of the tire. Even with 200 ft-pounds on those three bolts I keep sliding the bracket rearwards.

Stepping up to the 3 inch body will eliminate the tire rubbing.

[The Roadie]

Stepping up to the 3 inch body will eliminate the tire rubbing.

After vowing in 2006 to never get a body lift, and just paying the price for that short-sighted decision by having Neil move my rock sliders and front bumper up, I have to RE-vow that 2" is it. The Roadiemobile is going to stay at 2" body lift until I get some terminal disease and pull a Thelma and Louise with it, and everything else that needs sledgehammering or Sawzalling to fit 34's is just going to get sledgehammered or Sawzalled.

You win.

[HARDTRAILZ]

I almost wish my tires werent wearing so well and still like new because I would love to get some 34 1050 17 and see if they hit, but it is to uncommon of size to even find someone with them to try.

[AlekG]

Better late then never ...

One thing that nobody seems to have mentioned is fuel costs when upgrading.

If I remember correctly, I dropped from around 600 km/tank to 500 km/tank when going to 4.56 gears on 33 inch tires, and am only back to decent (maybe a bit better than stock - sotp) power over stock.

I can't imaging running less than 4.11 gears with 35s, and even that would feel sluggish.

AG

[HARDTRAILZ]

My 33's with 3.73's and my exhaust, opened up airbox w/ upgraded filter, and tune feels stronger than stock w/ 3.73s and 30's. I lost 2-3mpg initially but now I am only about 1 mpg down.