Are 31's worth it?

[yossarian19]

Dude, I lived in Utah and I lived in Colorado, too. I don't know what you mean by "trails" exactly (old Forest Service roads? Mining tracks? Moab?) but I ran 235s, I ran 30s & I ran 31s all over the four corners and I liked the 235's the best.
I bet if you can afford / want to re gear to 4.10s & buy a high quality 3" lift kit then 31s would be great. A stock cherokee, though, will take you damn near anywhere you want to go.
For a daily driver on a budget... hell no. Get skid plates for your gas tank & transfer case & a front end skid if you don't have one. Stay stock & enjoy !

 

[corvette9210]

get the 31'trxus tire i have 33's of trxus and they are almost bald but still preform great! and thats with stock gears and stock rims

 

[corvette9210]

also if you are concerned about gears because you have 3.07 you could buy used axles off a 99' with 3.55 for the same cost or less.

 

[garr]

Sorry to get off topic,
I always thought that the XJ should have come from the factory equipped with 31" tires & 4.11 gears!

 

[XJLI]

curious to know what op ended up doing. he's had 2.5 years to mull over the decision.

lol... im surprised no one else noticed this

 

[fallacist]

since this thread has been bumped, and I'm sure there are people still wondering:

with myself, my prettier half, the dog and gear for a few days in the mountains, I absloutely feel the power loss of 31's and 3.55s above 9K'. I put it in 4low to climb anything great than 30 deg slopes, otherwise I'm flooring it and crawl less than 5mph. On flat roads, it drives like a raped ape.

I have a cowl intake, 2.5" exhaust, and injectors, and only 110K on the relatively "young" engine.

I really think it comes down to altitude, terrain, and cargo. If you're a lone wolf in FL, I'd probably rock 33's on stock gears. But if you're living and playing in the high country, and you've got friends or family in tow, then gears become much more important.

 

[Tate228]

All the difference is found on the street for wheeling i have had no problems. jeeps 87 aw4 3.55 30" tires, 95 ax15 3.07 30.5 (rubicon wheels and tires). With my 95 and stock tires i could drop it in so second and smoke the tire. I don't need that kind of acceleration with a jeep so I still drive my 95 with 3.07 an 30.5s. I have been thinking about grabbing some junkyard axles with 3.55 just because my axle needs rebuilt and id rather do It with the axle out of the jeep.