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35s on stocks

Y

Yeahdude38

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Cape Cod, MA
Hey just trying to get some input for my 97 xj. I have a 5.5" extreme duty Long arm kit going in from RE. I was planning on putting in rear blocks and getting the 8 inch coils for the front since that kit is upgradeable and wanted to run 35 swamper tsl/sx. Now my question is it safe to do that with a 8.25/d30 with 3.55s. I have heard mixed stories. some say its not safe while others say it is safe as long as you dont wheel it hard or whatever. If i did do that I planned on going 44/44 eventually but have no clue when with 4.11s. The thing is i would have no clue when i would do the axle upgrades, Probably not for awhile since its gonna cost a little bit. Just want some opinion if the 35s would be safe. It is a daily driver but it wouldnt bother me having the bigger tires and i do no someone that ran 35s on a 8.25/d30 with the 3.55s and he said it went fine. If you guys think its not a good idea or safe I can always just run the 33 tsl/sx cas i no that they are fine with the stocks and 3.55s. Just a little help. Thanks guys.
 
well thats what im saying like if everyone tells me that the 35s arent a good combination with stocks and 3.55s then i would leave it at the 5.5" lift and run 33s. Id rather be at 8 inches with 35s but if axle upgrades are needed quickly then then im going the 33 route. I have heard the "dont do blocks thing" also but i got the idea from the guy i no who used rear blocks and upgraded the coils and then ran his 35s right on the 3.55s of the 8.25/d30 and he says it was fine.
 
TNT said:
Say no to lift blocks...
Click to expand...

What he said. I use to be in the " I've never had a problem with them" group, until a hand full a years ago I broke one and it took out my rear drive shaft. Never again :lecture:
8 " of lift is going to cause you a lot of interesting problems that will need to be addressed, Drive lines brake lines, steering and a high COG to name a few. I would stick to the 33 plan & keep the lift under 6". 35's are over rated, & it seems every clone wants to go straight to 35's before learning how actually drive and pick your lines. Knowing how to drive on 33's will get you farther than 35's and not knowing any day. Not to mention being more reliable.

Rob $.02
 
FELIX said:
What he said. I use to be in the " I've never had a problem with them" group, until a hand full a years ago I broke one and it took out my rear drive shaft. Never again :lecture:
8 " of lift is going to cause you a lot of interesting problems that will need to be addressed, Drive lines brake lines, steering and a high COG to name a few. I would stick to the 33 plan & keep the lift under 6". 35's are over rated, & it seems every clone wants to go straight to 35's before learning how actually drive and pick your lines. Knowing how to drive on 33's will get you farther than 35's and not knowing any day. Not to mention being more reliable.

Rob $.02
Click to expand...


What he said :lecture:

3.55 gears suck with 33's . 35's would be way worse. Besides that 33's break less parts and still stop ok at best. Braking would really suck with 35's...
 
Felix, dude, help me out here. I just put a 6.5" long arm lift in my XJ and I still have a dakota bastard pack in the rear with a 3" block (and an 8.8 with discs). in my (simple) mind, the blocks are temp until I get to a junkyard and mix n match a better leaf pack and probably longer shackles but you know what they say, eh? it's only temp until it becomes permanent"

My blocks are aluminum and they seem pretty darn sturdy so I'm wondering what situation did yours break in? I've heard other talk of blocks breaking and I would like to hear some first hand experience with this.
 
fuzzydog said:
Felix, dude, help me out here. I just put a 6.5" long arm lift in my XJ and I still have a dakota bastard pack in the rear with a 3" block (and an 8.8 with discs). in my (simple) mind, the blocks are temp until I get to a junkyard and mix n match a better leaf pack and probably longer shackles but you know what they say, eh? it's only temp until it becomes permanent"

My blocks are aluminum and they seem pretty darn sturdy so I'm wondering what situation did yours break in? I've heard other talk of blocks breaking and I would like to hear some first hand experience with this.
Click to expand...

Aluminum blocks are the ones that usually break. Cast iron ones are the best. But they all suck. Usually the U-bolts get lose from the added stress on them and then the blocks fail.
 
Get rid of those Al blocks pronto, unless your truck is only going to be a mall crawler. I ran blocks for about 5 years no problems. I took an aggressive line and the block broke in 1/2 in the XJ. It about left me stranded, because when it broke, I lost lift, the pumpkin rotated to the sky & took out the rear drive shaft. my u-bolts did not have enough thread to tighten against the axle once the block parted company. Like TNT said , the stock brakes would definitely suck w/ 35's. That's a lot of weight to trow around with the stock steering box & more forces pulling on the uni-body as well. You can pick thru the bone yards & make some thing up for springs, I would get a set of RE springs and shackles for the best ride.

Like they say you can do it right or do it again. 35's can be done, but to do it reliable takes some planning and more $$$.

Rob $.02
 
fuzzydog said:
My blocks are aluminum and they seem pretty darn sturdy so I'm wondering what situation did yours break in? I've heard other talk of blocks breaking and I would like to hear some first hand experience with this.
Click to expand...

I had a pair of 1" aluminum blocks for only a couple months before I noticed one day that I was missing half of one of the blocks. I hadn't even wheeled it hard yet, just dirt roads really. That scared me enough to decide never to do blocks again.
 
Dont rush it! do what you can afford......

Forget the 35's, wait till you have some cash for axle shafts & gears before doing that.

33's will suck too with 3.55's..... sure people will say its fine but wait till you re gear you will see how shitty it is. But hey if you have to do it, go for it....

Its all a learning experience!
 
mattyj said:
33's will suck too with 3.55's..... sure people will say its fine but wait till you re gear you will see how shitty it is.
Click to expand...

I'll have to agree with the rest of the group here. I'm running 30" tires with 3.55 and not happy with the performance. I want 32's, but not until I regear.
 
I had 33s and 3.55s for quite a while. Its not the end of the world, you can still use OD on the highway etc. I would for sure install a trans cooler.

Life with 33s and 4.56s is MUCH better though :D
 
BlueCuda said:
I had 33s and 3.55s for quite a while. Its not the end of the world, you can still use OD on the highway etc. I would for sure install a trans cooler.

Life with 33s and 4.56s is MUCH better though :D
Click to expand...

well 33s with the 3.55s seems like the way to go. And as for the trans cooler...yup already thought about getting one. Ill wait till i can afford new axles and better gearing before i think about upping my lift and tires.
 
I run 35's and stock gears and open diffs. Its not a DD and the performance is horrible, but how fast do I need to go with no swaybars!
If you run lockers and 35's on stock axles they will break sometime, but mine is open and have had no problems YET.
For a DD, I would stay away from 35's for any reason, because I can't afford that much gas. Build your rig how you want and be ready to fix it when it breaks, learn from your mistakes, and start over again.
 
i hope this helps .
i run 35,s with 4.56 gears in a 8.25 and a 30 . the drive/acceleration is very similar to stock. i think with this and a light foot you can survive , but if you don't re gear it ll put a lot of stress on you trany and tcase .plust it would be a dog on the road . and no saw bars is scary on road in my opinion . you can do it but .....i wouldn't suggest it .
 
I run no swaybars on the road with my '95 and like it. Proper spring rates and shocks make a world of difference. I will be swapping out my front springs again when the winch arrives and using some Denver JeepSpeed springs for an even stiffer spring rate then what I have now. It's all about how you set it up.

Do you think JeepSpeed XJ's use swaybars? Most don't but a few do run a very soft one like an anti-rock.

Stock/soft spring rates and soft shocks are scary thou...

I tow with my '94 so I run a front bar on it.
 
I think 35s are marginal with the stock axles/gears.
Problem 1 is, if you put low enough gears in to make up for the tire size, the gear strength is going to be an issue.
Problem 2 is, the swampers have those great big lugs on the tread, and when you skip one off a rock, the next one tried damned hard to stop everything cold when it hits. Likes to tear U-joints out of the front end. I say stick with the 33s(actually, the 33s are probably marginal if you start wheeling hard)

On the 8" lift, I say no. I have a personal thing against arched springs. On the lift blocks, DON'T. If you want to go any higher with lift, check out Go-jeeps web page: " http://go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoRearLeafMounts.htm " This is a little more work then swapping springs, but way cheaper, and will preform a lot better then 4 or 5 inches of arch..
 
Just my opinion:
1. 35's on stock gears and brakes is INCREDIBLY unsafe!!
2. Blocks are not "normally" desirable but they can fine for certain situations. IF you do decide to use blocks you need to make sure that they installed correctly, and torqued, and re-torqued to spec regularly to make sure they don't come out or get broken. Steel is normally better than Al, but most people have issues with them because they are not installed correctly and re-torqued the way they need to be.
3. Anti rock sway bars work very differently than stock sway bars, don't compare apples with oranges.

Michael
 
thanks so much guys.....i think ill just stick with the 5.5" lift and wont upgrade it until later when i can actually have the funds to get the right axles and regear them. and as for tires ill just get some 33s for now as well until the funds come in for the axles. after axles and gears and i no my rig is beefed up the right way it is supposed to be then ill look into upograding my lift and tire size. then again who knows i could love the 33s for all i no l0l. I guess with the extra money it was gonna cost to get bigger tires and upgrade the lift i can get armor or somthing that will help out the jeep somewhere else. thanks again everyone.
 
you can run 35's with 3.55 gears, i did on the xj my brother now has, it was just a trail rig, no speeds above 65, i dont think 4th gear was ever used even on the high way, also i ran it with stock shafts open/open and had no problem, i locked the front on stock shafts for about a week then pawned it off on my brother then he switched to cv's in the front and he hasnt had any problems
 
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