37s, 38s, 39s, and 40s! What would you have done differently?

[pvn.jt24]

My other thread blew up with so many good ideas on what that very first necessary mod was.

All the input was astounding and it’s definitely helping me a lot on what would be some good first mods for my JT.

My JT will most definitely run some large tires, no doubt about it.

For those of you who started your JT’s journey on running large off road tires, what is something you felt should have been the first thing to do, getting your rig ready for larger tires?

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[Jocww]

Wouldnt have cheaped out and gotten the spare at the same time as well as buying a matching wheel. I put the synergy front track bar a few months after I got it. Would have done it a little earlier. But other than that follow my sig it tells the story.

 

[n0arp]

1) Regear. The people who tell you "it is fine" are delusional and/or trying to justify being too cheap to do so.
2) Lift kit (don't cheap out) including geometry corrections.
3) Upgrade your ball joints and all steering linkage.
4) Also upgrade your axle shafts and/or consider other axle upgrades.
5) Consider the PS Boost Kit or hydraulic assist.

Anything over 35s requires something for all of 1-5 above, to be acceptable in my opinion. You can skimp for 37s if you tend to stick to pavement. The bigger you go, and the more off road you go, the more you need to address each point.

 

[Minty JL]

Entirely too subjective.

But if you have a long term vision......build it from the get go. Buy once, cry once....... instead of wasting money

 

[pvn.jt24]

1) Regear. The people who tell you "it is fine" are delusional and/or trying to justify being too cheap to do so.
2) Lift kit (don't cheap out) including geometry corrections.
3) Upgrade your ball joints and all steering linkage.
4) Also upgrade your axle shafts and/or consider other axle upgrades.
5) Consider the PS Boost Kit or hydraulic assist.

Anything over 35s requires something for all of 1-5 above, to be acceptable in my opinion. You can skimp for 37s if you tend to stick to pavement. The bigger you go, and the more off road you go, the more you need to address each point.

Appreciate this input.

I think what I’m asking is, ultimately what would be the first components you’d start replacing before you get into the lift, then wheels and tires?

Track bar?
Drag link?
Tie rods?
Control arms?

 

[Zachanadandy]

1) Regear. The people who tell you "it is fine" are delusional and/or trying to justify being too cheap to do so.
2) Lift kit (don't cheap out) including geometry corrections.
3) Upgrade your ball joints and all steering linkage.
4) Also upgrade your axle shafts and/or consider other axle upgrades.
5) Consider the PS Boost Kit or hydraulic assist.

Anything over 35s requires something for all of 1-5 above, to be acceptable in my opinion. You can skimp for 37s if you tend to stick to pavement. The bigger you go, and the more off road you go, the more you need to address each point.

The good old internet wisbow of replace everything because that's what I did and it worked. I've waited until the ball joints actually wear out before replacing them, because there's no need. The 1st JLUR made it to 40k miles on the stock ball joints and 37s. 2nd JLUR made it 32k miles on the stock ball joints and 39s. The JT still has stock ball joints at 25k miles on 37s. Between the 3 we've owned, wheeled all over the country, and put 150k miles on, I've never had to replace the stock tie rods. All 3 ended up with flipped drag links and raised track bar mounts because I agree that geometry is important. Replacing parts that don't need replacing is just pissing money away. We've run everything from the rubicon trail to Pritchett Canyon to John Bull, all on stock shafts. Now granted we have decades of wheeling experience and are fully prepared to change an axle shaft etc on the trail so I'm comfortable with potentially finding the limit of the stock parts. Some aren't so they'll drop $35k right out the gate (hopefully they still have the skills to make trail repairs because anything can break).

 

[VA6489]

Mods.....
first thing I recommend is drive it! What does you rig do well, What not so well. Focus on the not so well. What is the goal for you build? Funny question but most do not have one. Be realistic, if you drive it to work every day do you really want to run 40 inch rubber that has a life expectancy of 20,000 to 30,000 miles and cost $600.00 a corner to replace? It's just a toy..... not an excuse to build it with crap parts. At some point those crap parts will fail and leave you on the trail. Build it for you and what you do, keeping up with the jones's is expensive and there is always someone with more money.

- Big tires, The OEM suspension is built cheap. Plastic in the ball joints and rod ends as wear material goes away pretty fast. Lots of forces at play with bigger tires, upgrade the joints with high end serviceable joints (i.e. Greaseable).
- Re Gear. It is worth the money and reduces the stress on driveline components.
Track bars, forged and adjustable
- Steering gear, spend some money here. Aluminum drag link and track bars are a great upgrade to performance and driveability. bigger tires put lots of force into the OEM steering box. Look at at least a ram assist or upgrade to a full 1 ton system.
-Lift kit.... again do not cheap out. money spent on a good quality kit pays dividens going forward. Learn about Back spacing, Scrub radius and caster. Get all these things right and you will drive very happy for a long time. Get them wrong and you have a beast to wrestle each time you drive it.

For the mods mentioned, it is not out of line to spend $25,000 - $35,000 to do it right and more importantly do it once. Add that to you initial purchase price ....yikes that is going to be hard to explain to the wife....

 

[VA6489]

The good old internet wisbow of replace everything because that's what I did and it worked. I've waited until the ball joints actually wear out before replacing them, because there's no need. The 1st JLUR made it to 40k miles on the stock ball joints and 37s. 2nd JLUR made it 32k miles on the stock ball joints and 39s. The JT still has stock ball joints at 25k miles on 37s. Between the 3 we've owned, wheeled all over the country, and put 150k miles on, I've never had to replace the stock tie rods. All 3 ended up with flipped drag links and raised track bar mounts because I agree that geometry is important. Replacing parts that don't need replacing is just pissing money away. We've run everything from the rubicon trail to Pritchett Canyon to John Bull, all on stock shafts.

Agreed lots of Folks just recommend a full on replacement of stuff because someone else told them.
My first question when building a rig is what is your goal? Too many times I get a deer in the headlights reply.
My next question is What does you rig not do well? Again Bambi looking back at me...

Define the build and replace parts to achieve the end goal. Nothing worse than getting your new build back and finding out 5,000 miles later it drive like shit due parts and assemblies not up to the task.

Most folks don't know how a vehicle should drive, "it's just a jeep they all drive like that..." They do not have to if it is build right with quality parts. For the average Joe, replace OEM with quality as you go, keeping in mind you ultimate goal for you build and do it in parts as things go bad is an economical way to go. . At some point replacement parts assemblies will necessitate replacing parts that are not up to task even if they are not worn out.

 

[Zachanadandy]

Agreed lots of Folks just recommend a full on replacement of stuff because someone else told them.
My first question when building a rig is what is your goal? Too many times I get a deer in the headlights reply.
My next question is What does you rig not do well? Again Bambi looking back at me...

Define the build and replace parts to achieve the end goal. Nothing worse than getting your new build back and finding out 5,000 miles later it drive like shit due parts and assemblies not up to the task.

Most folks don't know how a vehicle should drive, "it's just a jeep they all drive like that..." They do not have to if it is build right with quality parts. For the average Joe, replace OEM with quality as you go, keeping in mind you ultimate goal for you build and do it in parts as things go bad is an economical way to go. . At some point replacement parts assemblies will necessitate replacing parts that are not up to task even if they are not worn out.

Agreed, but the "up to task" line is highly debatable. And let's not forget that there are Jeep owners who just want to look cool at the mall. For them a 2" spacer lift with shock extensions and 37s is all the build they need. Sure it hurts the $35k+ guys feelings when they park next to the $500 build and they get the same attention as most people in the general public couldn't tell the difference. That doesn't mean everyone who wants 37s has to do it their way. That's gatekeeping horse shit. Hell with as good as the mojave shocks are and the deal I got on 37s it spent it's 1st year on an AEV 2" spacer lift and still hit freeway speeds in the desert regularly. After 20k miles I added front geometry correction brackets and the rock krawler triangulated 4 link in the rear. Just recently I added 3.5" metalcloak springs and their flipped drag link and raised track bar mount. Tie rod, track bar, front upper and lower control arms, and rear lowers are all stock. Rides better than stock through the washboards, tracks straight, and I'm $2500 into the suspension and steering upgrades. The idea of doing it right so you can only do it once it's just false. Even aftermarket ball joints, tie rods, control arm bushings, etc wear out. If you prematurely replaced everything instead of getting a reasonable service life out of the stock components that are 100% functional you just started the clock on buying those expensive parts again earlier.

 

[CyberShanks]

We ran stock springs/shocks (with spacers and extensions) on my wife's JKUR, wore down OEM tires, went flat fender, stuck on 35s till ~100k miles. At that mark, after OEM stuff was worn down, moved to Rock Krawler X-factor kit and now it is even more capable. While we're not running pritchett with her rig (we save those for mine), we've done some very solid trails all over the country. The stock system with some larger tires is very capable IMO, remember it starts out as a Jeep. :D

Jim

 

[Zachanadandy]

We ran stock springs/shocks (with spacers and extensions) on my wife's JKUR, wore down OEM tires, went flat fender, stuck on 35s till ~100k miles. At that mark, after OEM stuff was worn down, moved to Rock Krawler X-factor kit and now it is even more capable. While we're not running pritchett with her rig (we save those for mine), we've done some very solid trails all over the country. The stock system with some larger tires is very capable IMO, remember it starts out as a Jeep. :D

Jim

And the stock JL is even better than the JK thanks to longer arms/ better geometry. We did cliffhanger in the 2019 JLUR on a 2.5" spacer, new front lowers for caster correction, rocksport shocks and 37s. It did great, especially for a $1k "build". The 1100 miles each way to Moab had the cruise control set at 85mph. No issues what soever.

 

[CyberShanks]

A quality lift will come with most of those parts.

Bingo, but we already had factory tie-rod taco on top of the world trail when her rig was about 8 days old... Running synergy tie-rod/drag link on hers now.

Jim

 

[Zachanadandy]

A quality lift will come with most of those parts.

I don't think I've seen a single lift that comes with steering components? The front lowers or drop brackets to correct caster are necessary at 2"+. The rear geometry is screwed from the factory with the short uppers and long lowers. The rock krawler triangulated 4 link fixes that by adding almost 10" in length to the uppers. No more huge pinion angle changes throughout the suspension travel. Also eliminates the rear track bar so you get much less head toss over rough terrain. Stock tie rod is fine if you don't bash it into things. Front track bar and possibly drag link need addressed depending on lift height.

 

[Zachanadandy]

Depends on the situation of course. My buddy with 40’s still has the stock tie rod and wheels the crap out of it. I would upgrade it tho

The situation being don't use it as a battering ram on the rocks and it's ok. If you want to use your steering as a bull dozer you need to upgrade it.

 

[Solar Sparky]

Most important question is…..what do you plan to do with it? My first Mojave was stock, and it went anywhere we wanted to take it. Lots of time in Moab and western Colorado mountains. Engineer pass, Imogene pass, Chicken corners, Fins n Things, etc. Many of those places barely require 4wd in a Jeep. I live in Florida now and want 35’s for additional ground clearance, but I don’t anticipate anything more extreme than the high passes of Colorado or the crazy canyons of Utah, so I don’t see upgrading to 40’s. Everyone has their own ideas of what they want to do with their Jeep, and fortunately it is the most versatile vehicle available. Stay stock or move up to 40’s, or anything in between. It’s great to have the flexibility

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