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35's with trimming, or 33's without or minor trim?? See pics inside

1K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  kg6mov 
#1 ·
I love the 35's but its going to take some major trimming to clear with 5.5" lift. I'm not doing spacers cause my driveshafts are at the limits already. Not to mention 35's are the limits of what the axles can handle. So question is, sell my 35's and my 32's and buy 33's or just start cutting?

Btw, I'm only running 4:11's

 
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#2 ·
well you have to ask yourself where do you want this jeep to be in the future? if 35s are in there then keep the 32s on, get an axle to replace the d35 regear it either replace the d30 aswell or put a little bit of money into it and don't wreck it by doing stupid stuff on 35s

oh and you can get away without a ton of trimming at 5.5" and 35s, look at Dyn0mitemat's build he was sitting at 5.5" on 35s with a tiny amount of trimming. just get your bumpstoping right.
 
#3 ·
I guess I should mention that I'm done throwing money at this thing for quite awhile. It's already got a HP dana30 with trutrack up front and full Detroit out back with chromoly Yukon shafts. The axles should handle my style of wheeling, I'm not a throttle jocky or anything.
 
#5 ·
then for 35s throw them on get the right bumpstops wheel it see how you like it then if it seems to work for you get the correct length shocks for how the bumpstop is set up.

if you don't like it go to plan b then.

so you have already ran the 35s for a bit or just the 32s?
 
#6 ·
Just the 32's. i picked up the 35's for a steal and with 5.5" lift I knew I could "clear" them, just a matter of how much I would need to trim. In the front it's a solid 2" that would need to go. Power seems fine on the street even with all the extra rubber. I am gettin pretty tired of wrenching and ready to start taking it out. Bump stops are in and doing their job, just the sheer size of the 35's is too big to clear.
 
#7 ·
35s will fit as is dyn0mitemat did a very minor amount of trimming for 35s, the correct bumpstops and shocks will make this work. You won't have the same up travel you did with 32s but if you get the right shocks you would gain some more droop.
 
#8 ·
you guys saying bumpstops must run short arms. works completely different on long arms. for example, i have 2" of clearance between my bumpstops and the axle. yet i can still stuff my tire further in the well than a short arm set up; its your job to research how that works :)
stop regurgitating what others have 'said and done' i've run 35s on that exact setup too. and i'm telling you it didn't fit. perfect for the road and any wheeling where you keep a sway bar connected. if thats 'fitting' then they fit. your call

kind of funny. i'm at the EXACT same spot with my ZJ; i'm sick of dumping money into mine too; its built, it works, but i wanna go a bit bigger, but nothing i have on it is really going to work to go that little size different. to many little things won't work.

here's what i'd do. sell tires and get a good set of 33s on beadlocks. that tiny little difference between 35s and 33s isn't worth the hassle, at least, it isn't to me.

locked and geared and spent that money already, not like the 35s are gonna make the rig that much more capable........

my view at least
 
#9 ·
Very true Johnny. Thanks for the input about not fitting. I'm thinking 33's is the best answer. I used to have an XJ with a welded diff on 31's and it was completely unstoppable. The only time I couldn't hang with the big boys was in a deep mud pit.
 
#10 ·
No regurgitating what I read about someone's cousin's brother's college roommate doing here. Been on 35's for close to 5 years with 4.5" of lift. No rubbing. Proper trimming, bumpstops, and adjustment of the control arms is all that's needed. Contrary to popular belief, adding more lift does not always make it easier to clear bigger tires.

Pics for refernce:






EDIT: More on the 33's vs 35's debate. I ran 33's for 5 years, and been on 35's for about the same time. I'm not running a whole new set of trails and conquering a whole bunch of different obstacles now than when I was on 33's, but it rides smoother on the trail, and gets up the same obstacles I was doing before without beating on the rig as much. If you had short arms, I'd say stick with 33's. Hunter is about the only guy I know who's made 35's work well on short arms. But with long arms, your suspension is set up to handle 35's already, might as well do it.
 
#11 ·
break out the sawzall IMO. 33's to 35 is more of a difference offroad than many may think.

after wheeling on big tires, it would be very hard to ever wheel anything with smaller than a 35. it will take some trimming, but with a good combo of both trimming and bump stops you can maintain good travel with the 35's.

i went from 31's, to 34's, to 36's on the 95. non typical sizes, but 34's to 36's was huge in how it went. all this on a 2" BB btw. you don't need big lift for big tires. clearing 35's on 5.5 would be a cake walk.
 
#12 ·
Big Dave, can you post pics of your fender trimming? Or anyone else that is on 35's.
 
#13 ·
I trimmed the fronts about 10 years ago to run 32's on a BB, didn't have a digital camera then so no real pictures of that. Some pics through my build thread of various things, lots of the pics don't work anymore though but you can get an idea. http://mallcrawlin.com/forum/showthread.php?2841-Project-Red-Roof-Inn

And with trimming what one person does isn't necessarily going to work for everyone. I trimmed the outer fenders more than needed as some punk hit me and wrinkled the fender a bit, so I cut enough to get rid of the damage. If I had to do that part over again, I would leave that little bit of flare that the fender has before it goes to the vertical section for more tire coverage. Everything else is flex, check for rubbing, and adjust either the suspension or massage the sheet metal. It's all part of dialing in the rig. The pinch seam in the back of the front fenders probably took the most work. In the rears it's cut right up to the doors, and that took some work with a welder, but I've seen other methods where people have made relief cuts and then bent the fender back.
 
#14 ·
i'll post up again, didn't want to come off as a dank if i did i apologize.

ya you can run em on 5" long arm. i have done it now too (i forgot to add that) moved arms way forward, no problem. OP thats why i recommended it. i cut up my fender almost identically to bigdaveZJ too.
so yes, on the long arm set up they can work. the short arms, i had to much trouble and gave up. (well they fit but didn't flex)

i kind of catered my response the OP who is in the same type of boat as me, whose sick of spending money on his rig lol. you can do it, but theres a bunch more costs to factor in as well. gears, etc. i guess, if its already dialed in on 33s, is that much more work/time/etc worth the smaller increase? i'd rather spend that money on a new tow rig.... ;)


oh, and i hear ya on the mud pit... wife almost killed mine in a pit... hence snorkel.......... if only i could snorkel my transmission lol
 
#15 ·
33s for street and light trail. 35s will make the difference on the trail. You need to ditch the 4.11s and get some 4.56s.


Hunter
 
#16 ·
Look at the notch customs flares, that would help.

Get out the tools and trim. Go big, wheel the d35 till it snaps. Shouldn't be a problem to stuff 35's on that lift.
 
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