Lift & Tires???

[scbronco]

so i had been leaning toward a 3.5" SL with a 2" BL to fit 35's and maybe sqeeze in 37's...

I have noticed over on classic some guys are fitting 37's with 4-4.5" of total lift, so here is my question...

Can i go with a 2.5" SL and 2" BL, and still potentially fit 37's? I think doing the 2.5" SL will not only save a little dough, but it will also help maintain a lower CoG, and better driveline angles... I already expect to do some substantial cutting on the fender openings, and i am ok with that, i just dont want the fender flares to touch the green in the pic below... i would like to keep them about 2.5" inches from the green (Body Line)...

[shon]

if I said you had a beautiful body , would ya ship it to me.....hehe.

[broncosbybart]

This is my opinion- so take it for what it is- free

I'd steer toward a nice 3.5" lift with a 1" body lift and 35's. IIRC, you are wanting to use it on the street, right? You'll gain some running a 37 off road, but on road you'll have to beef up some steering components and want to run steel wheels to try and balance them. 35's are much more streetable and plentiful. You won't have to cut anywhere near the upper part of the fenders/quarters that way. With 37's, you'll have to cut out some of the inner fender areas both front and rear. It can be done, but I don't know if that is your intent w/this build.


What are your thoughts for suspension components? With a 3.5" lift you can get away with a stock front d.s. You'll need to lengthen the rear d.s. With a good kit, you'll still have good street manners.

[scbronco]

Thanks Charles! That answers the question, one way or another... if i have to cut the body at this stage in the build to run 37's then thats not happening. everything on the body is how i want it right now, and im not alteriung it other than cutting for flares...

[Crawdad]

You have seen mine. 2" BL and 3.5-4" SL with 37s. I was told I did not need to lengthen the rear DS but I can see the blue on the teeth??? I think I just need to add angles to the leaf springs to make it straighter. Tire Kingdom on Garnersferry give Military discount which may save you $150 -$200. Are you sticking with 15"s? Plenty of 35s out there and are fairly affordable. I had 35" Nitto Mud Graps that were just plain sick, the 18s were $50 cheaper than the 17s. So I swapped to 37" KM2s on even exchange. Course you know I special ordered the rims and they took a couple of weeks to come in. I bet my paycheck the 37s will rub IF I crawled those rocks and ditches.

[broncosbybart]

that is one bet I'd not take.

it would probably be worth your while to have the d.s. lengthened. i am working with a guy here in charlotte that might be sponsoring my race rig (really amounts to nothing more than a discount), but i'll take what i can get, right? last drive shaft he lengthened for me was about $100, using new DOM tubing. he is here in charlotte. his # is 704-598-8272 and company name is Universal Service.

[blazinchuck]

if you plan to wheel more than drive...37's...if its the other way around...35's.

i cant wait to install the 3.5"SL out of FBG...for lower CoG. however, right now i have a 5.5" SL the owner installed...and the new 33" MT's touch the front fenders while flexing out!!!. so i cant drop the SL til i get flares and trim alot!

i say running a 3.5", cut anything that hits, and running 35's...37's wont net you a whole lot other than more cost. tire placement is everything and you can do great things with 35's.

i chose 33, cuz...it will be a domino effect...bigger tires,more gearing,beadlocks,etc...

BL are nice...and can give ya some room in tight spots, but dont run them if you really dont have too. im planning to run gorilla warflares to the body line.

[Timstrk]

I run 37" tires with 3 1/2 SL and 2" BL and am no where near the body line. See sig pic. No cutting the inner wells and wheel just fine. It has Al wheels and they are balanced so street is no problem either. Do want lower gears but that's a leftover from the 33s that were on it.

Tim

[NGABronco]

Hey Nick, I wouldn't go past 35's, more street and I'd go 33's. Just my 2 cents!!! I put a 3.5 SL &2"BL on Stretch, well below body line and lots of room for the 35's. Don't remember if you have or not but go for the long radius arms!! You'll be glad!!!
Good luck!!

[scbronco]

Hey Nick, I wouldn't go past 35's, more street and I'd go 33's. Just my 2 cents!!! I put a 3.5 SL &2"BL on Stretch, well below body line and lots of room for the 35's. Don't remember if you have or not but go for the long radius arms!! You'll be glad!!!
Good luck!!

This is definitely gonna be a dedicated fun-mobile. no less than 35's acceptable. i want it to have decent street manners, i.e. run 60-70 top speed, and have positive steering, but i do expect it to drive like an offroad truck on the road. the above listed streetability goals do not deter from the fact that i want a flexy crawler on the trail with enough low end grunt to climb the steepest of hills. i know i am asking for the sun AND the moon there, but i really am not willing to give up anything in the offroad department. if streetability suffers a little then i will make peice with it. for some reason everytime i say 60% offroad/40% street, everyone always hears it the other way around... LOLcratchhe:

I am going to do longarms. im building them myself. they will be 8 inches over stock, built form 2" diameter 1/4" wall DOM (that charles was awesome enought o include in the payment for a recent sell i made to him, Thanks Charles!):notworthy:. The DOM will be welded and pinned to the stock Radius Arms close to the C's, and have Ruffstuff's 1.25" Heims at the other end.

To respond to all the advice listed here, i just ordered the Tom's 3.5" basic lift. that got me full springs shocks and nearly all of the cables lines and brackets. i hadnt wanted to need extended driveshafts, but i guess i'll see how that goes.

Crawdad came over today, and helped witha lot of the 2-man workhorse chores i needed to accomplish in order to progress, (Thanks Matt!) so as soon as my parts come in, i will be getting started on a rolling chassis. mokin:

Thanks for all the advice to all, im sure i made the right choice for the long run...:xyxthumbs: