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37's are the new 33's...
 
I still remember the day when Chris Geiger called the 33" tires on my gray x-cab "training wheels."
 
I agree with your wife.

Either way, 35's or 37's will mean 4.88 gears if you want to keep your sanity when driving on the road in the mountains. Guys at sea level can get by with stock gears but, IMHO, you will be MUCH happier if you re-gear above 33's.

-Mike-
 
It does look like 37's are more trouble than they're worth. I will probably regear to 4:88 to keep the highway travel good.

B, What's your hub to fender measurement? What measurement should I expect from the J's with my weight.

Also, has anyone noticed a more tippy feel with the Slee 4's or does the stiffness negate the new height?

G
 
I do not notice a more tippy feel with the Slee 4's. I don't have the hub to fender measurement but I'll try to remember to get if for you this evening.

-Mike-
 
Thanks.
 
Beowulf said:
I agree with your wife.

Either way, 35's or 37's will mean 4.88 gears if you want to keep your sanity when driving on the road in the mountains. Guys at sea level can get by with stock gears but, IMHO, you will be MUCH happier if you re-gear above 33's.

-Mike-
Click to expand...

Hey Graham - Interesting thread. I wanted to give you a few thoughts. Somebody mentioned garage door height - is this an issue for you? I like to park my rig inside out of the elements. I wasn't thinking when I built my garage and put in a 7 foot door. Big mistake - it should have been an eight foot door. I can still fit my rig inside with about half an inch to spare, but I had to remove the factory roof rack to get it to fit.

I totally agree with Mike's thought about re-gearing to 4.88's. I am running 315/75 MTR's and drove for a bit on stock gears. It was pretty pathetic. You will appreciate the power with lower gears.

I'm not sure I have any sage advice on 35's versus 37's. I know that I will still rub a bit on the rear tires when I'm fully stuffed into one side or the other. The rubbing happens behind the tire and I have trimmed quite a bit of the flare "lip" if that makes sense, but it still rubs when conditions are right. If you are planning on removing flares, that's not so much of an issue. I am also running 1.25 inch spacers from Slee to widen the track a little bit to help me feel more comfortable on the off-camber situations. These spacers also help so I am not rubbing on the inside of the wheel wells.

I guess I am happy with the 35's. I don't plan to go any bigger, since I can still fit in the garage, and I'm still learning to drive to match the capabilities of my truck. Also, given that the 35's are rubbing now, going to 37's would mean more mods and body trimming.

I did wheel at Moab last year with a guy in an 80 on a Slee 6-inch lift and 37's. Now that was a big truck - too big for my taste.

Keep us posted as your plans evolve. :cheers:
 
you are a little like me Grahm. everytime I decide to go the less $ route, I wish I had gone bigger later. Robbie runs the 6" slee and swamper 36's. I say go big since you are regearing anyway. (says the guy with 40" Iroks:hillbilly:)
 
Thanks for the input guys,

I won't have garage problems, my door opening is 7'11" when measured. My crusier sits outside anyhow. I keep the 4runner and new Tundra :grinpimp: in the garage. Pretty funny, most of all the newer homes in Farmington all have huge garage doors. I think its from the monster trucks people drive and the rig trucks are huge as well with full mud tires.

Contrary to popular belief I don't always agree that bigger is always better. There is no way I want the 6" lift. I agree with Evan, its just too big.

For me it was a numbers game. I'm about 2.5 inches over stock, with the added inch of 33's which brings total to 3.5". If I go with the FOR lift and 35's I've added 2" to my setup. 2" doesn't seem like much but thats all I think I need to avoid scraping like crazy. I'd rather wheel instead of drag myself around. I'm happy now, I don't want people to think I have not been pleased with my current setup...its just we all grow in our skills and how we wheel.

By getting the FOR, would that make it easier to keep my delusions of a possible 37" tire open? In relation to ease of tinkering to make it work.

G
 
Called FOR this morning and he stated that the lift for heavier rigs was in limbo. He asked me to call back in a few weeks.

G
 
David,

I have five 1/2 used (I measured the tread) MTR's in the 305 size. I have J's up front and OME Heavies in the rear with a 10mm spacer. As soon as I figure out what I'm going to do they will be sold.

Tires for sure. I'm going to see how things are before jumping at the slee 4".

G
 
I may have a local buyer, if not I'll PM you soon.

G
 
I agree, bigger is not always better. I like the FOR kit because it's a "tuned" package. If you can swing it, check out the custom shocks for Slee's 4" setup. I wouldn't mind going a tad lower on my lift some day.... As long as I can move the 315s around w/o rubbing too much, I'd go for the min lift possible. Now, 37"s is a whole different deal. Just a reminder, these 80s are not the best rock crawlers IMHO.
 
Here's another data point. After running some of the harder trails at Moab (Cliff Hanger, Behind the Rocks, Golden Spike), it's surprising how many 80's are running 37's. We ran into the Toyota 4WD Owner Magazine 80 series on Behind the Rocks (David Zartman) and he's running 37's with 5.29 gears. Rumor had it that he was running Pritchett Canyon the next day.

We also ran Golden Spike with a bobbed 80 on bias-ply 36 inch TRXs, that he said actually measured 37 inches. It seems that 37's are the new 35's! But I will stick with my 35s. I have 4.88 gears and I can't imagine re-gearing again. I am running 8% lower gearing than stock with 35's and 4.88 gears. I think running 37's and 4.88 gears would not work well. Also, as I mentioned, I enjoy having the Cruiser parked in the garage for maintenance and keeping it out of the weather. It wouldn't happen with 37's unless I am airing down to get it to fit under the door.
 
what about full airbag? the expensive complicated best of both worlds...ali had a place for a controlled setup that looked saweet, and 6" lift was less than slees kit, admitably it had less stuff in it. IIRC the name was AirRoc?

shrug. i have OME 850/860 at 3" with 285's and if i went past that i'd wish i could drop it for the highway, well i already wish i could drop mine back to stock height for highway anyway.

my .02$ but i've never had mine on anything like your vids...
 
What Evan said. Back in the olden days.... people went to 31's because they were big tires. At that time, forward looking people went to 33's. A little bigger tire gives that little extra clearance under the diffs, which is what counts. These days, with 33's, you can tell that the axles barely clear and scrape on many trails. So, a lot of people have been going to 35's. It will not be long before 35's are the norm. When that happens, 37's will be a huge advantage. We're on 33's, and will skip 35's on the way up.

Of course momentum overcomes a lot of disadvantages... :smokin:
 
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