What will I be happier with?

91 4.0 aw4 np231 4.5" lifted

Before I start, I have searched, and searched, and searched somemore and know the topis has been murdered, but I just need a little feedback.

I am in teh market for purchasing new tires within the next week. I have decided to go with BFG KO or KM2.
My real debate is size, well obviously price (the KMs are a fortune!), but more along the size part.

I am worried that 32s will not be big enough (for me) particularly with the KO. I have seen 32's, both KO and KM2, and it visually looks as the KMs are larger tahn the KO. If I was going with the KM2's, I would stay at 32.

My thoughts have been going back and forth on 32 or 33's literally every 30 seconds if I went with the KO. I dont plan on regearing (not anytime soon anyway). Would there be a huge jump in performance, such as gas mileage, if I decided to go with KO 33's instead of 32's? But the god damn KM2's are damnnnnn sexy. I'm so confused :looney:. Anyone have pics of 32 KO with a 4.5" lift or any of the above sizes? I'm just really torn and do NOT want to regret my purchase in the end. I dont want them to be too small for my liking. I will trim if I have to. Sorry for the discombobulated thoughts, I bet you guys can tell im torn! Any of your inputs are welcome and are always helpful.

It would help alot to know what kind of wheeling and driving you do. The size will be dictated by your tolerance for lack of power and how much street driving you do. The type of tread depends on the same things. I personally like all terrain tread (using BFG AT's) but depending on the type of wheeling you do you may want something more aggressinve looking. The more info you give us the better we can advise you.

The size difference is because your comparing a AT tire to a MT tire.You should decide that issue first then pick a size.

if you're talking about price, mud terrains arent for you, the gas mileage aint great, especially without re-gearing. buy the larger tires when you have the proper running gear.

33's + regear, or nothing at all!

I'm running 32" bfg ko's on my 2000 aw4 with 3.55 gears. It really struggles on the freeway. It will maintain speed ok, but any time I need to accelerate or come to a slight hill it HAS to downshift. So if you aren't planning on regearing DON'T put on 33's. You will want gearing the first time you drive it. I've had my 32's for 3 months, and I didn't plan on regearing, but I have since decided that I need to.

You'll be happiest with 33s and 4.56 gears, but without regearing, I would recommend against anything over 31's

Here's a pic of my xj. Its on 32"s with a 3.5" lift

xjclassic2000 said:

but without regearing, I would recommend against anything over 31's

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i was going to say the same thing.

31s doesnt look bad on 4.5". an youve got plenty of room to stuff them tires. but your going to be starved for power when your in high gear, which unless its a dedicated trail rig, your going to use 99% of the time.







you never posted what gears you currently have. all we can assume is stock.

I have a 4.5" lift, stock gears and 31's. After about 6 months I was KICKING myself for not getting 33's. After wheeling with guys with bigger tires, I started to hate my little tires and feel they look way too small and my diff hits way too much stuff. Also to note is that when I got the 31's it was my DD and now has become weekend only so I am ditching the 31's and getting the 33s. Gearing is so-so but seems to do fine offroad in 4 low, but I am sure gears will be better. I am sure everyone will disagree with me but I am getting the tires before the gears because it kinda forces me to do it later. I will deal with it for a while then when I get fed up with it, drop some gears in. Just my 2cents

Hell if I had money I'd buy 33's and 4.56's and not even blink...

It is mainly my DD/sometime weekend warrior. All-terrains make the most sense, but the KM2's are just well, sexy (redundant I know.) I am very picky and prob will hate not regearing, but money is tight (isn't it always?) and do not have the coin to drop on gears. On the other hand, I've been driving around the past couple months with 245/75/15 with the stock old school jeep rims. Ever since I lifted it I cant stand looking at those little tires everyday lol.

What do you think the cheapest/most logical route is? I'm dead set on BFGoodrich. I was thinkin 32 KO's while trying to find a set of axles from a 97+ (since I have a turdy5) with a 4 banger in it so I can have 4.10's. There are a a lot of XJ's in teh junkyard around here, but idk about a 2.5L anddddd I might regret not getting 33's. Will 4.10's and 33's be a waste?

Again, I don't want to regret it as this is the last tire purchase I will be doing for a while. I see a couple XJ's rolling around here with 33's and I love it. I still am torn...Ordering the soft 8's tomorrow:guitar: I've been dreaming of larger tires for a longggg time. Dream's becoming a reality. Thanks for all the input. Keep it coming! I'm a lost soul on this one.

think of it this way, if youre dream was owning a porsche, would you go put down all the cash you have down, and put the rest on payments? knowing theres no way you can afford it? much less the cost of insuring and maintaining it?

think about getting a miata, most of the fun, and much more realistic.. the miata method here involves 4.10 junkyard gearing. all you need is the 4.10 dana 30, then pickup a matching 4.10 ford 8.8 out of explorers.

we all have budgets, and we all come to the conclusion that somethings gotta wait, or not be possible at all.

re-think 31"s. or hell, buy a set of 33's and run em, who cares? if the power loss is too much, swap back to a 31". nobody mentions driving style... im sure a lot of people who drive slow feel as strongly about this as i do. i live in LA, you need that get up and go. if you're a retired guy, who aint going nowhere... who cares?

your comment about the 4.10's would work, its not perfect for 33's, but its a lot closer than 3.55 .

I daily drove 33x10.5 BFG MT's for 8 years with my stock 3.55 gearing. It wasn't great, but it got me by until I saved up enough for gears, lockers, etc. Granted I'm no race car driver and I live in a relatively flat area, but I didn't think it was that bad. The most annoying thing was the tranny constanly hunting for gears when trying to maintain freeway speeds up a steep grade.

I just bought another set of 33x10.5 BFG MT's and finally regeared to 4.56's. I've only had the gears about 600 miles, but so far... meh, I'm not as impressed as everybody said I was going to be. Sure it's got a little more get up and go and it cruises more comfortably in OD on the freeway, but it still gets lousy gas mileage and is a big slow Jeep. Maybe I had just gotten used to the feel of the old combo.

Moral of the story is if you get 33's, your performance will suffer, that's a given. It won't however make it undriveable. The 10.5" flavor helps reduce rolling resistance and the AW4 does a good job of compensating for the lack of gearing. Your driving style and conditions will determine whether the loss of power is a deal breaker for you. It really sounds like you're hoping to be talked into getting 33's and that you've already decided they'll make you happier. I say go for it!

Oh, and your perceived size difference between the KO and the KM2 is most likely just an optical illusion. The 33" KM2's are 32.8" and the KO's are 32.7". I doubt your eyes are actually noticing the 0.1" size difference.

bdahlg said:

It is mainly my DD/sometime weekend warrior. All-terrains make the most sense, but the KM2's are just well, sexy (redundant I know.) I am very picky and prob will hate not regearing, but money is tight (isn't it always?) and do not have the coin to drop on gears. On the other hand, I've been driving around the past couple months with 245/75/15 with the stock old school jeep rims. Ever since I lifted it I cant stand looking at those little tires everyday lol.

What do you think the cheapest/most logical route is? I'm dead set on BFGoodrich. I was thinkin 32 KO's while trying to find a set of axles from a 97+ (since I have a turdy5) with a 4 banger in it so I can have 4.10's. There are a a lot of XJ's in teh junkyard around here, but idk about a 2.5L anddddd I might regret not getting 33's. Will 4.10's and 33's be a waste?

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Your d35 wont last long on either 32s or 33s so you will need to swap it out anyway. 4.10's will be decent on either size tires, and junkyard axles are the cheapest way to upgrade, but its pretty hard to find good ones. Most 4-cyl xj's seem to have d35s also...

fyrfytr1717 said:

It really sounds like you're hoping to be talked into getting 33's and that you've already decided they'll make you happier. I say go for it!

Oh, and your perceived size difference between the KO and the KM2 is most likely just an optical illusion. The 33" KM2's are 32.8" and the KO's are 32.7". I doubt your eyes are actually noticing the 0.1" size difference.

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Lol, I would say that I really am hoping you guys would talk me into 33's, especially after re-reading my posts. The constant switching back and forth for me really just makes more sense that I would be happier in the long run with 33's, since I am so worried about size.

I think I'm gonna run it 3.55 for a while until I can get a set of axles fom the junkyard. Maybe I'll get lucky and get a full set of 4.10 out of an XJ, but if I can't, I'll just grab a D30 (and finally get rid of my CAD) with 4.10 and maybe just regear one axle, like an XJ D44 or 29 spline 8.25 (I would like an 8.8 but don't know how to weld). I think I can deal with regearing just one axle in a month or so. Would that work out well? Is buying used gears for the rear and installing them in another axle frowned upon?

Oh, and I bet it's just my eyes in regards to the sizes of the tires. I think it was the beefier treads that were deceiving me on th KM's. You guys really helped me out.

IMO you will regret 4.10's
33's need 4.56 min. or 4.88.
I'm running 32's w/ 4.10's and it sucks!

4.10s is what i would find ideal for 31s. im on 3.07s with the AX-15. i put a buddies 33s on to check the stance with my newly trimmed fenders... the look is proper, the drivability is lacking.

in all honestly... "youll be happier" with 31s. youll flex like a champ with no trimming, and youll still be very streetable. but its your money, if you want 33s, get 33s. i suppose you could always trade down for 31s right? :dunno:

KM2s aren't sexy. The treads look like caterpillars or something.

The AT KO on the other hand is a classic tire! The GMC Jimmy in Magnum PI had BFG ATs. You can't afford a Ferrari 308GTS, but you can afford BFG ATs

I'm sorry but I have to say.....a dude that uses the word sexy to describe anything but a woman is, well, questionable

buy yourself a DD and then purchase some KM2 33x10.50's

2001XJ said:

I'm sorry but I have to say.....a dude that uses the word sexy to describe anything but a woman is, well, questionable

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You have clearly never held a CTM in your hand.

cal said:

You have clearly never held an RCV shaft in your hand.

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FIFY.

xjclassic2000 said:

Your d35 wont last long on either 32s or 33s so you will need to swap it out anyway. 4.10's will be decent on either size tires, and junkyard axles are the cheapest way to upgrade, but its pretty hard to find good ones. Most 4-cyl xj's seem to have d35s also...

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The rearend is no big deal, you can find 8.8s with 4.10s in them all day at the you-pull-it like xcm said. It's d30s with 4.10s that are the tough junkyard-budget-gearing upgrade.

EDIT: of course, an 8.8 requires welding/fab work. A d35/8.25 out of another XJ doesn't.