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What lift for 31" tires?

R

rstickley

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Carencro, La
My son (16 yrs old) has a 98 and his grandfather wants to give him a lift and tires for his birthday. He will mainly be using it as a DD to school but will use it for hunting on very mild trails. I have found an excellent deal on some 31" all terrain tires. What lift is needed to clear them? The budget is around $400 for the lift and of course, don't want to have to change more than necessary.
 
I have an 86 2 door with a 2" lift and 31s on stock steel wheels. The only place I rub is on the lower control arms when I turn the wheels to full lock. WJ style lower control arms take care of that part.
 
A 3" full spring/leaf lift like a Rustys will clear the 31's if you have the proper BS on a 15x8" wheel that being 3 3/4-4" max to clear lower control arms.
 
Why would you want to run a 31x10.50 on an 8" wide wheel? A 7" works much better and doesn't have such an obnoxious scrub radius. On a 7" wheel with the same backspacing, you don't need as much lift or need to do as much trimming. (Sorry, 20+ years of 4wd building experience...)
 
XJRN said:
This. I wouldn't go over 3" as it would look too tall IMO.
Click to expand...
Mine sites right at 3.5" Looks good with 3.5" lift.

Hillbilly XJ said:
A 3" full spring/leaf lift like a Rustys
Click to expand...
I don't think his $400 budget will hit the full spring kit... also I wouldn't touch anything from Rustys.
 
I have the Rusty's full spring 3" lift and 31x10.5" tires. No clearance problems. Not sure why Rusty's has haters; I've had absolutely no issues with their stuff. That's just the way the internet works, I guess. The full spring kit is like $450 or something.


20140811_125336.jpg
 
Talyn said:
Mine sites right at 3.5" Looks good with 3.5" lift.


I don't think his $400 budget will hit the full spring kit... also I wouldn't touch anything from Rustys.
Click to expand...

Another foolish quote about Rustys, exactly what do you have photos of his items that are bad. I'm running about $5k worth of things I've bought from him and zero issues in over 2 yrs.

Yes a full spring/leaf 3" lift $438 from him.

Usually at 3" an SYE not needed but a TC drop kit (that is all I had) is or a 3* shim in the rear.
 
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Hillbilly XJ said:
Another foolish quote about Rustys, exactly what do you have photos of his items that are bad.
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I don't need pictures when I have heard many issues over years. Sagged out springs after very little miles, broken track bars, broken control arms, etc. Reputations are earned.
 
Talyn said:
I don't need pictures when I have heard many issues over years. Sagged out springs after very little miles, broken track bars, broken control arms, etc. Reputations are earned.
Click to expand...

My trac bar didn't break, but the bracket did. That't fun when you are doing 70. After I rewelded it I didn't have any problems.

I wasn't mad about the part breaking. I understand that happens. What really made me mad was the customer "service". I sent it back to him (on my dime). He looked at the bracket and said it was my fault that it broke because of something. He then said he was going to ship it back to me, but when the fedex or UPS guy came back, he just gave him the package back, with no new postage on it, so they just had it in a warehouse. I finally was able to find out where it was and the shipping company was nice enough to ship it back to me.

Jeep was down for about 2 months for this. This was in the spring of 2007 during my freshman year of college.

Sorry I don't have pictures :rolleyes:

All that being said, I think they have come a long way since then and I have looked at some of their skid plate options and other items.



To keep my post relevant to the OP, a 2-3" lift would be fine for 31's.
 
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Talyn said:
I don't need pictures when I have heard many issues over years. Sagged out springs after very little miles, broken track bars, broken control arms, etc. Reputations are earned.
Click to expand...

What I thought another hear say post.
 
iluv83vettes said:
My trac bar didn't break, but the bracket did. That't fun when you are doing 70. After I rewelded it I didn't have any problems.

I wasn't mad about the part breaking. I understand that happens. What really made me mad was the customer "service". I sent it back to him (on my dime). He looked at the bracket and said it was my fault that it broke because of something. He then said he was going to ship it back to me, but when the fedex or UPS guy came back, he just gave him the package back, with no new postage on it, so they just had it in a warehouse. I finally was able to find out where it was and the shipping company was nice enough to ship it back to me.

Jeep was down for about 2 months for this. This was in the spring of 2007 during my freshman year of college.

Sorry I don't have pictures :rolleyes:

All that being said, I think they have come a long way since then and I have looked at some of their skid plate options and other items.



To keep my post relevant to the OP, a 2-3" lift would be fine for 31's.
Click to expand...

That would have been an issue for me also and something that I would complain about and I would have also.

At least you have owned a piece of his gear where most all of the others have never even saw a single piece of it, just parroting what they heard.
 
Hillbilly XJ said:
What I thought another hear say post.
Click to expand...
Lol.. post right under mine proves my point.

Hillbilly XJ said:
At least you have owned a piece of his gear where most all of the others have never even saw a single piece of it, just parroting what they heard.
Click to expand...
Why would anyone buy a POS that has a high failure rate? Your just pissed because you didn't know any better when you purchased your stuff. LOL
 
As I mentioned before, this Jeep will mainly be used on the street about 99% of the time. Does the trac bar need to be changed even with a 2" lift?
 
No.

Really all you need are coil spacers, and longer shackles. Longer shocks wouldn't hurt either.

After that, get an alignment and be done.
 
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