35” vs. 37” tires and belly scraping

[tom.mary.glad]

Who has tried both 35“ and 37” tires with appropriate lifts? What is your experience with belly scraping? How significantly better are the 37s?
Thanks.

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[Jteakus]

The taller the tire, the higher the belly, the lesser the scrape. It all depends on the size tire you can stand to run on a daily basis. 37's look great on a JT but not everyone wants a 37 on their commuter. A 40" will for sure help with scraping but they bring with them big expensive necessary upgrades.
Going from a (true) 35 to 37 will give you 1" more belly clearance. May I suggest a good set of skid plates? They really do help. I have @Metalcloak on my JT and JL which are STRONG and on sale today. Artec Industries has good stuff too and in aluminum if you want to keep your Jeep lighter.
Just my .02

 

[tom.mary.glad]

The quotes I have from a local shop are about the same for 35”, 1.5” lift plus full motobilt belly plates vs. 37”, 3” lift, no belly plates. I asked for this thinking maybe I don’t “need” belly plates with 37s and 3” lift. Maybe that’s a faulty idea?

 

[PuddleJumper]

Who has tried both 35“ and 37” tires with appropriate lifts? What is your experience with belly scraping? How significantly better are the 37s?
Thanks.

i run my stock 33s as my daily/tow tire. And 37s for the trail. no lift. Definitely has way more belly clearance with the 37s. a lift would definitely help as well. I'd do a max 2in lift tho, i like my center of gravity as low as possible.

 

[Jteakus]

I'm on 37's with a 3.5" and drag every time I go offroad.
Also, I told you wrong. Metalcloak did a Valentines Day sale. No President's Day sale.

 

[Jteakus]

You can do the lift and tires now then the skids later. They are never really finished right?

 

[AmishMike]

Get skids! No matter how much clearance you have, you will push to that level. Also, they can save you from an unexpected oops. Rocks and stumps that you see and plan to avoid are fine, it be is that ‘little’ one that jumps up out of nowhere and causes major problems. With good skids, you can set the truck down on them and slowly scrape through. (Slow being the key).
Money spent on good skids, even the factory ones, is cheaper than a tow off the trail and invaluable as piece of mind.
I am on 35’s with lower control arm protection and factory Rubicon skids. I crawl under there after a day on the trails with a can of spray paint and put black on the shiny bits.
Skids and LCA protection will take you a LONG way, even on 33’s. Then you can learn what you actually need out there. I went to 35’s because I needed diff clearance on a couple of trails.

 

[BennieD]

I agree. Put on the skids if you are riding tough trails. I just bump and keep on trucking! They work!

 

[KevinM60]

The quotes I have from a local shop are about the same for 35”, 1.5” lift plus full motobilt belly plates vs. 37”, 3” lift, no belly plates. I asked for this thinking maybe I don’t “need” belly plates with 37s and 3” lift. Maybe that’s a faulty idea?

I think if you're looking to push your limits you'll go for the max of whatever setup you end up with. That's been my thinking anyway.

 

[BUZZHEAD]

SKID PLATES
I had 2 inch .lift and 35s full skids ,on one trail I fell off a rock had to winch through it.
Then I put 37 s on and cleared everything and walked right up. I have a rubicon so I gained more then 2 inches with lift.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

The first time I took my new $70k JTRD off road at my old stomping ground, Big Levels in Virginia, it was like Ralphie finally getting his Red Rider and then immediately shooting himself in the eye. The stock truck was worse than my teenage years 91’ Nissan on 32s, by a lot. I had realistic expectations. It’s not a JL, but it’s not even a Tacoma in terms of break over and departure. The truck is goofy long. I had the additional problem of the diesel’s essentially defective factory suspension.

I can’t compare 35s to 37s. I went straight to 37s after my first disheartening and disappointing trip. There’s no comparison between a TJ on 35s and a Gladiator on 45s. You can’t jack a Gladiator high enough to compensate for its length. They’re going to scrape. They will never be Wranglers, but I can carry lots of crap with me. The Gladiator is the best overlanding platform there is IMHO, and it can tow well, and it can be practical, and it rides well on road. The tradeoffs are worth it to me. But it will scrape and get high centered.

I would recommend 37s AND an aluminum belly skid from Artec or Next Venture. I’m going to get mine this spring along with diff sliders. You can certainly wheel the 37s without a belly skid but you will scrape in rock gardens and over ledges. The first armor I got was real rock sliders. With the Gladiator I’m less concerned with scraping than getting getting high centered in between frame crossmembers and getting stuck, especially when I’m alone. I want the belly skid as much to have a smooth surface under the truck so I can actually get off of obstacles. Also consider most belly skids actually increase ground clearance a bit.

I’m personally not going out West to the Rubicon or Moab until I get the belly skid, diff sliders and probably LCA sliders. I’ve also smashed up my AEV drop brackets in Virginia although they seem otherwise unaffected. I’m debating fabricating and welding armor to those too.

If I keep the truck, I will eventually make the $30k leap to 40s or 42s. The moral of the story is that if you want to wheel it seriously, go as high as you can reasonably afford and still expect to scrape all the time.

p.s. If you overland/car camp it, I would strongly recommend you consider a lift that’s overland geared, like Clayton or AEV. AEV’s 2.5 lift is more like 3 inches. A lot of manufacturers 3 inch lifts are more like 2-2.5 inch lifts. The 3” AEV lift is closer to 4-4.5”. They’re designed for loaded trucks. With an AEV 3” lift and fully loaded, mine retains a slight rake. You don’t want your ass sagging when you’re loaded down and trying to off road. A lot of lifts sold by shops are designed to just meet the requirement of getting size x tire under the truck.

Even if you don’t carry a RTT, fridge, and tons of camping crap, the Gladiator allows you to carry more and better recovery gear, jacks, bikes, etc. All the adds up too even if you’re not loaded down like the Clampetts. Armor, winches, bumpers, etc., also weigh a lot so consider heavier springs.

 

[tom.mary.glad]

The first time I took my new $70k JTRD off road at my old stomping ground, Big Levels in Virginia, it was like Ralphie finally getting his Red Rider and then immediately shooting himself in the eye. The stock truck was worse than my teenage years 91’ Nissan on 32s, by a lot. I had realistic expectations. It’s not a JL, but it’s not even a Tacoma in terms of break over and departure. The truck is goofy long. I had the additional problem of the diesel’s essentially defective factory suspension.

I can’t compare 35s to 37s. I went straight to 37s after my first disheartening and disappointing trip. There’s no comparison between a TJ on 35s and a Gladiator on 45s. You can’t jack a Gladiator high enough to compensate for its length. They’re going to scrape. They will never be Wranglers, but I can carry lots of crap with me. The Gladiator is the best overlanding platform there is IMHO, and it can tow well, and it can be practical, and it rides well on road. The tradeoffs are worth it to me. But it will scrape and get high centered.

I would recommend 37s AND an aluminum belly skid from Artec or Next Venture. I’m going to get mine this spring along with diff sliders. You can certainly wheel the 37s without a belly skid but you will scrape in rock gardens and over ledges. The first armor I got was real rock sliders. With the Gladiator I’m less concerned with scraping than getting getting high centered in between frame crossmembers and getting stuck, especially when I’m alone. I want the belly skid as much to have a smooth surface under the truck so I can actually get off of obstacles. Also consider most belly skids actually increase ground clearance a bit.

I’m personally not going out West to the Rubicon or Moab until I get the belly skid, diff sliders and probably LCA sliders. I’ve also smashed up my AEV drop brackets in Virginia although they seem otherwise unaffected. I’m debating fabricating and welding armor to those too.

If I keep the truck, I will eventually make the $30k leap to 40s or 42s. The moral of the story is that if you want to wheel it seriously, go as high as you can reasonably afford and still expect to scrape all the time.

p.s. If you overland/car camp it, I would strongly recommend you consider a lift that’s overland geared, like Clayton or AEV. AEV’s 2.5 lift is more like 3 inches. A lot of manufacturers 3 inch lifts are more like 2-2.5 inch lifts. The 3” AEV lift is closer to 4-4.5”. They’re designed for loaded trucks. With an AEV 3” lift and fully loaded, mine retains a slight rake. You don’t want your ass sagging when you’re loaded down and trying to off road. A lot of lifts sold by shops are designed to just meet the requirement of getting size x tire under the truck.

Even if you don’t carry a RTT, fridge, and tons of camping crap, the Gladiator allows you to carry more and better recovery gear, jacks, bikes, etc. All the adds up too even if you’re not loaded down like the Clampetts. Armor, winches, bumpers, etc., also weigh a lot so consider heavier springs.

Great info! Thanks. But I think you meant belly pans DECREASE clearance, right?
Also, I've read that Aluminum skids don't slide well and bend easily. Steel is better but obviously heavier.
My local shop specialize in RockKrawler lifts. Are they true to size?
Thoughts?

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

Great info! Thanks. But I think you meant belly pans DECREASE clearance, right?
Also, I've read that Aluminum skids don't slide well and bend easily. Steel is better but obviously heavier. Thoughts?

I think most makers actually advertise that their belly skids actually increase clearance over the stock skids (which they replace) and factory cross members. Aluminum may not slide as well as steel, but neither slides really well. They all slide better than cross members and the bottoms of transfer cases, etc. I’m not sure about Artec, but you can get the Next Venture with UHMW panel which slides better and is replaceable/sacrificial.

Personally, I’m going with aluminum with the UHMW panel because this is a huge piece of material that’s going to weigh a lot on an already heavy (as I have mine outfitted) truck and I don’t want another thing that I have to worry about rust. I can fabricate replacement panels out of UHMW or HDPE from the local plastics supplier pretty cheaply as needed.

 

[Orange01z28]

I'd go with the bigger lift, bigger tires, and no belly plate

Then just get an engine skid

 

[Jteakus]

Artec advertises an INCREASE in ground clearance with their skids

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