Topic: Thinking about going from 37's to 35's

[FourbangerYJ]

Been on the fence about this for some time. I am overall happy with the 37's. Gearing wise and pretty much all the way around. Problem is there is not much in the way of choices for new ones or if I ruin one.
 My tires still have enough meat where I can get a few dollars for them. So I'm thinking try and sell and replace with 35 inch KM2.
One of the drawbacks is since I moved the rear axle back the frame spring hanger is a rock magnet! The larger tire helps not get hung up so much. But all the trails I run a 35 will do just fine.

[Jesse-James]

36's   

[Jeffy]

Honestly, I think 35's are probably my limit.  35's are more common which is nice.  Also, by going smaller you can increase the trail difficulty a bit without having to do harder trails.

How about making larger skids for the spring hangers?

[Bounty Hunter]

There's a little room to move the leaf spring eye up in the hanger and shave the hanger.  Also seen some sweet frenched spring hangers in some of the 4wd mags.

There is such a large price gap once you get over 35" tires, that prolly limits a lot of wheelers.

[aw12345]

Scott since a lot of tires run small including the old MTR's you could always go for a set of 35" krawlers and get pretty close to where you are at now. Those things are true to size. Also they are a pretty darn good tire for the rocky stuff, very little worries about cutting sidewalls and excellent traction

[FourbangerYJ]

There's a little room to move the leaf spring eye up in the hanger and shave the hanger.  Also seen some sweet frenched spring hangers in some of the 4wd mags.

There is such a large price gap once you get over 35" tires, that prolly limits a lot of wheelers.

I did trim the hanger back a bit. With 37's it's about the same as a non trimmed with 35's. I thought about frenching it but don't feel like messing with the pinion angle. I have seen where people have moved the hole up a bit and trimmed the hanger even more.

Scott since a lot of tires run small including the old MTR's you could always go for a set of 35" krawlers and get pretty close to where you are at now. Those things are true to size. Also they are a pretty darn good tire for the rocky stuff, very little worries about cutting sidewalls and excellent traction

Krawlers are a nice tire but HEAVY! Plus I don't trailer so I don't think they will last all that long.

Honestly, I think 35's are probably my limit.  35's are more common which is nice.  Also, by going smaller you can increase the trail difficulty a bit without having to do harder trails.

How about making larger skids for the spring hangers?

For the trails I do I pretty much walk right thru stuff. So a 35 should make it a little more tough. I like the idea of having a common tire and size. I have been real lucky and have only put a hole in a side wall once. But you never know. Having a tire that is not in production or having few choices for replacement is not a good feeling.

[Bounty Hunter]

I would move the hole up as much as the spring eye/frame clearance will allow.  Your cutting didn't save you much, and looks like it would hang you up pretty hard when you catch on something.  The stock hanger would have been angled more to help you up and over and not get hung up solid on an obstacle.

[FourbangerYJ]

I would move the hole up as much as the spring eye/frame clearance will allow.  Your cutting didn't save you much, and looks like it would hang you up pretty hard when you catch on something.  The stock hanger would have been angled more to help you up and over and not get hung up solid on an obstacle.

How much does say a inch if it's possible affect pinion angle?
You can see where I keep getting caught towards the bottom.

[neale_rs]

If you raise the bolt one inch you will lose 1/2 inch of lift at the frame over the axle and the bolt will be only about 1/2 inch higher off the ground.  So if you french, you should consider doing both front and rear unless the front is already lower than the rear and you want to level the Jeep.  And also, it you use shims to set the pinion angle when SUA, this will also reduce the lift a bit.

[FourbangerYJ]

If you raise the bolt one inch you will lose 1/2 inch of lift at the frame over the axle and the bolt will be only about 1/2 inch higher off the ground.  So if you french, you should consider doing both front and rear unless the front is already lower than the rear and you want to level the Jeep.  And also, it you use shims to set the pinion angle when SUA, this will also reduce the lift a bit.

I'm not to worried about the loss in height.
Pinion angle shims are bad. I'd live with the vibes, or cut the perches and move them, or a bit longer shackle to fix before I did shims.

[Jeffy]

You know instead of cutting the hanger back you could have also lengthened it.  This would decrease the angle at the front of the hanger so rocks would slide on it rather then getting caught up on it.

[FourbangerYJ]

You know instead of cutting the hanger back you could have also lengthened it.  This would decrease the angle at the front of the hanger so rocks would slide on it rather then getting caught up on it.

My thinking was to have less so it won't touch. I can see where a longer one will act more as a ramp. But from what I have seen if it touches it will hang up ,no matter what the angle.

[FourbangerYJ]

Welp, a potential buyer is supposed to come over this weekend to look at my tires.
I need to find out how soon I can get some KM2's. I guess they are not avail for some time.
What else is worth looking at besides the MTR Kevlar?

[Jeffy]

Truxxus MT's?

[jagular7]

I was thinking the same idea of a small ramp. You could look into adding roller blade wheels/rv roller as part of it as well. Before all the trends of today's articulating and soft riding 4wds, the old school leafed 4wds used rollers outside the front shackles when approaching obstacles here in Moab.

Looks like you'll have to redesign the mounts for the size tire you'll be running, ie just like you did with the 37's. Too bad you can't get up in wheel size.

Another tire option is the Cooper STTs. They have 35s in 15s.