just make sure youre geared right and you have the brake upgrades to stop tires that big

 

With the right ring & pinion gear ratio in your axles, 35" tires are fine for long distance traveling. I've been driving long distances on my TJ for years with 35" tires.

 

bah. . . .

I went from
MI to Key West last year....no problems whatsoever. 35's with 4.56. 5 Spd. Kept it at 65-70.

I have the Cooper STT's and couldn't be happier with the offroad and onroad use and wear

 

Too big? Nah.

Too expensive? Maybe. :laugh:

If you're going to be driving like that you might want to consider getting two sets of tires. One for the trails, and one for the road.

 

Not sure how easy that would be. Carrying four tires around in the back of your TJ while doing a cross country trip? Kind of makes if tight on space for carrying anything else you may need, like your toothbrush.

 

Lol! You should have seen mine the last time I went home! 4 - 33x13.50s, 6 rabbits, 2 cats, 150lb great dane, 9lb Min-pin, all our luggage, and 2 frogs - plus me and the wife...it was a fun 700 miles!

 

I just bought my Rubicon yesterday. I'm about to drive from CO to TX. It has 35s with the stock D44/4.10 gears and is an auto. Not driving across county, but I can give you an opinion of how it goes when I'm done.

 

Whenever I see posts like this I always ask, "are you concerned about making it to your next oil change"? Highway driving is about the least stressful type of driving on the vehicle.

 

I was more concerned about drivability and how much tire i would blow during the trip. not stress on the vehicle. In response to an earlier post about having another set of tires, I would love to but home is in PA and i will be living all over midwest while 4 wheeling with it and i can't afford to haul 35's and tires even more than using 35's for the long drives. Thanks for all the advice to all of you that posted!

 

With 35" tires being bigger, tougher, stronger, heavier-duty, etc. than smaller tires, why would you worry about them blowing more than a smaller tire?

 

imo 35" are fine. I've been daily driving mine with 35" for over a year. I would go with 3.73 gears for ideal mpg. I get about 14mpg at 70mph with 4.11's. If I had 3.73 my rpms would stay at 2000 and my mileage would be about 16-17 which is the mpg I get when I drive 60mph. If you do that much driving in it than a gear swap would be cost effective for a few hundred bucks.

 

Did you just suggest 3.73's for 35" tires? :rofl:

 

If you really didn't want to do the gear swap than i would just say find some really nice 33" tires. You will accomplish the same thing and be able to sell or trade your 35" tires and wouldn't put too much stress on your axles/drivetrain.... Hope that helps.

 

I have 4:10's that was somebody else that said 3.73. Do you think i will need to regear to haul a small enclosed trailer, and do you think since i have the rubicon 4 wheel disc brakes that i will need to upgrade?

 

You should at very minimum upgrade your front brake pads to EBC yellow stuff, and although I wouldn't want to pull an enclosed trailer with my lifted TJ yes you will want to regear.

 

That sucks because I average 12mpg. 2005 unlimited 6 speed manuel with 3"lift and 33x13.5x15. Stock axles. Whats the trick?

 

regear to 4.10 or 4.56, buy 33x9.5" tires on 15x7 alloy wheels and keep your foot off the gas. then calculate your mileage again.

 

I too 4 to 5 times a year to north state Oregon,Idaho and Montana and back through Washington on 35"s.I love the hills!!

 

I have a small trailer (about 2000lb) I tow back in forth from VA to upstate NY on occasion.. I have 33's, 4:10 gears and an auto and my engine is maxed out getting up and over hills in PA. I have 35's in the garage but there's no way in hell I'd run them through PA with my trailer until I regear. Without the trailer, the 35's would be 'ok'.. I usually average 14mpg with the 33's - I averaged 12 with the trailer on the trip. Seriously.. regear to something like 4.88's to bring the vehicle/engine close to stock with 35's.

 

Sell the 35s and get some 33 x 10.5s. For the kind of use that it sounds like you will be putting it to you probably don't need the 35s. You gearing will be more in line for going up hills, won't need to worry about bigger brakes, gas mileage should be better, can't really think of a downside...

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I plan on doing traveling physical therapy next year

 

I'd say it depends on the tire. A radial like an MTR is going to outlast a bais tire like a iroks. And hey will be a lil' easier to deal with while on road.

 

35's are fine

 

Yes I did suggest 3.73's for 35" tires. We aren't talking about rockcrawling, we're talking about driving across country. Those gears behind a 4.0 with 35" tires will be just fine for driving across country and getting optimal gas mileage. They wouldn't be good for off-road but that was never one of the issues.....

 

:brickwall Your wrong even for highway.

3.73 on 35's and you would be using way to much throttle to maintain speed.

 

If you have to drive accross the country for physical therapy (which I can't phathom why), you'd be better
off renting a small car that gets excellent mileage. You can probably snag a smaller 4-door sedan that gets 25-30 MPG for about 60 bucks a day, if not less.
I've regularly rented '07 and '08 Tahoe's for $ 60.00 per day for business outings (with unlimited mileage).
Money ahead when it's all said and done.
Plus zero wear and tear on your TJ.

 

First, I had 3.73's on my jeep when I swapped to 4.11's so yes I know what I'm talking about. You can argue all you want but no one drives across country at 55mph. We all do 70... At 70mph my 4.11's run around 2300rpms whereas the 3.73's run around 2000. The difference in gas mileage was over 2mpg. We aren't talking about anything but driving across country. Assuming there aren't alot of mountains, etc. then the 3.73's would be fine. I would hate run a 4.0L engine at 2500+ rpms for 3000miles over the course of a few weeks... They are great engines but I'd rather keep the rpms low. You can argue all you want but when all we are discussing is mpg 3.73 is a good ratio for those tires. All things considered I would rather have a beater to drive across country than jeep anyways.

 

Jeez I give up. There's always a maverick aound who will believe we didn't go to the moon and that the world is flat who won't listen to anyone that offers reasoned reasons why things are the way they are. With your past recommendations in only 21 posts, I'm beginning to think you're just trolling here.

 

I also have the full edge intake upgrade and aftermarket header. If I had cruise control on my black jeep then it might even top 17mpg with 35" tires.

 

In that case, you OBVIOUSLY know what you're talking about.



/thread.

 

geez guys, settle down. First off to those of you who think i should keep the gears i have I plan on doing some hard offroading while I am out west. 2nd I will probably be hauling a small trailer. Third I have a rubicon with 6 gears so i should have prefaced that but i didnt realize this thread would go so far. Thank you to all of you for your advise good or otherwise.

 

Another 2 cents: I don't believe that this was mentioned.... Be mindful of some tread patterns that may cause excessive road noise. I have driven 500+ mile long trips in my jeep, and the noise can get monotonous on long hauls (course I'm running a rag-top :thumbsup.... Something else to think about! Good Luck:wave:

 

I don't think blackruby56 is thinking about only driving on the highway. He did state he wanted the 35's for the offroad capacity.

Have fun and good luck on your road trip.
:thumbsup: