I've recently bought a 97 Jeep Wrangler TJ, it came with a 4" lift and 33 inch tires, mounted on 8x15's. My question is, my jeep has a four banger, and as is, I rarely get it out of 4th gear (it is a 5 speed) going down the hwy, however I am considering upgrading to 35's, and want to know if anyone has any experience with 35's on a four banger. I believe I have enough lift to handle the tires, but will it hurt what little performance that I have, vs. the benefits of the extra clearance? Your experience is appreciated.

You need to re-gear the axles to probably 4.88 to gain back your power.

X2 I'm running 35's with a 6 cyl and I had to regear it to 4.56's.

a kid ive wheeld with has 35 boggers with a 4banger . he has 513 and says its fine on the street and it def good on the trails just eats gas

Re gearing to 4.88's in the stock axles is going to make your stock axles even weeker for 35's too. Do you have the 44 rear?

Re gearing to 4.88's in the stock axles is going to make your stock axles even weeker for 35's too. Do you have the 44 rear?

x2

If you have a stock Dana 35 then you're asking for it to break..... Personally I wouldn't waste my money on regearing a stock dana 35. It's alot of money to spend on parts that just don't get it done. The dana 30 front can handle 35's okay but you'll want to have extra shafts if you wheel it. Instead of spending cash on tires, you might consider an axle upgrade and new gears, then you'll be ready for those 35's.

ive seen super 35's on ebay complete with locker and shafts and gears for as little as 200$

its a 4 banger, 44's will just weight you down. :D

When I upgraded to Ford 9's, I had my complete rear axle with a super 35 kit (Detroit Locker and 4:56s) for sale for months before I could unload that albatross. Don't waste money regearing that POS. Like the other guys said, get an 8.8 or a 44 and regear that. If you think you're low on power now, just try running 35s with your stock gears.

i've got a 4-banger yj with 35's and stock axles running stock 4.10 gears.. i DD it quite a bit...
never use fifth, cruise control = stick it in fourth and hold it on the floor... never gets over 80, sometimes have to pull 3rd to maintain 65 up a grade...

IMO throw some 35's under it and see what you think.. just be nice to the skinny pedal offroad and keep the d35 unlocked until you upgrade.. that should keep it together.

Thanks for the great advise, it looks like I might better stay with the 33's for now and look for some new gears. What type of auto should I look for in the junk yard that might contain a dana 44 or dana 60?

Just something I noticed: the other day I was looking in a four wheeling magazine and I noticed that I could buy two dana 44s ready to bolt on and locked for about 5000 for both, then I thought, I could sell my jeep, take the money and put with the 5000 and buy a decent Rubicon and save the labor. My God, I can't believe what those axles cost!

Thanks for the great advise, it looks like I might better stay with the 33's for now and look for some new gears. What type of auto should I look for in the junk yard that might contain a dana 44 or dana 60?

Just something I noticed: the other day I was looking in a four wheeling magazine and I noticed that I could buy two dana 44s ready to bolt on and locked for about 5000 for both, then I thought, I could sell my jeep, take the money and put with the 5000 and buy a decent Rubicon and save the labor. My God, I can't believe what those axles cost!

Tell what to do...save your coins and do lots of research on axles etc. Look and read here and on www.jeepsunlimited.com do not believe everything you read..just take most of what you read and research that for good ideas. As far as how much axles can run yes they can get very very expensive, but if you check the for sale sections you can find a good set of axles much cheaper or you can build some junkyard axles.

A good axle to build for your jeep is an 8.8 from a 96+newer Ford Explorer they are cheap, strong and is only about 5/8" narrower than a stock wrangler axle. You can build one up really cheap and just throw a lunchbox locker up front in you D30 and have a decent setup. If you want to go bigger than just save and read.

Heres some light reading on the 8.8.
http://www.jeepsunlimited.com/forums/showthread.php?t=674123

I would have thought that investing in a red star and searching the crap out of THIS site would have been a better idea. Everything he ever needs to know about axles is contained in Pirate4X4.com.

I would have thought that investing in a red star and searching the crap out of THIS site would have been a better idea. Everything he ever needs to know about axles is contained in Pirate4X4.com.

Yeah well Ive told lots to get a red star but most never do...they eventually figure that out. But the info I did give him will still be helpful al the same.

Thanks for the great advise, it looks like I might better stay with the 33's for now and look for some new gears. What type of auto should I look for in the junk yard that might contain a dana 44 or dana 60?

Just something I noticed: the other day I was looking in a four wheeling magazine and I noticed that I could buy two dana 44s ready to bolt on and locked for about 5000 for both, then I thought, I could sell my jeep, take the money and put with the 5000 and buy a decent Rubicon and save the labor. My God, I can't believe what those axles cost!

When I was looking for a replacement for my D35, I looked at a lot of D44s. I found the D44s to be just a little stronger than a D35 and WAY over priced for what you get. I had a 8.8 with Yukon Axles built and shipped to me. I ended up with a much better axle, at a lower cost than a D44.

Change the gears in your Jeep and you will think you have a new Jeep..... gears are a where its at.

I am running 35" SSR's on my '02 4 banger. I agree with the upgrading of gears and axles. I am running a D44/Ford 8.8 with 4.88 gears, but if I were to do it again I would go with 5.13 gears.

KILLERtj

With the 4 banger you are going to need really deep gears. You will really need like 5.13's or deeper but the problem is the lowest gear you can get with the d30 is a 4.88

I would have thought that investing in a red star and searching the crap out of THIS site would have been a better idea. Everything he ever needs to know about axles is contained in Pirate4X4.com.


great advise, there is a lot of info that can be found on Pirate4X4.com do some searching with a red star. There are many different options to look at depending on the type of wheeling you do and the amount of work you can do yourself.

you will def want 5.13's i am running a 4 banger on 33's with 4.88's and it is still sluggish, i ran it on 35's for a month to test them out, and would not want to run the 35's on the 4.88's it is not worth it you can kiss 5th good bye. i plan on 44's out of a waggy, and going with prob 5.37's, and 36's, it will be a great combo from what i can tell.

After you get the axle & gearing problem done you can start looking for some stronger steering(Currie) & possibly brake upgrades if it's a DD.