gears, tires, axles, lift

ArttyG

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Nov 20, 2021
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Location
Memphis, TN
I have a 2010 2 door manual. I would eventually like to have 35" tires. I'd like to do it right, and would prefer not to trim anything. Is a 2" lift sufficient? Would 4.56 gears be necessary/appropriate? Any recommendarions on lift kit I should use? Can I keep the stock wheels? Do I need to worrey about the axle shafts? I am open to smaller tires. I basically want this to be a very capable trail rig that will maintain use as a comfortable daily driver. I don't plan to do extreme rock crawling. I took it on some moderately challenging trails this year, and am impressed with it's performance in stock condition. The only real trouble I had was occaisionally bottoming out, and also wishing it had a lower 1rst gear. Also ruined my steering damper on a rock, so I should probably relocate that! Before I lift or get bigger tires, I want to add a locker in the front. It has limited slip in the rear, which did fine. I think for now I would prefer to keep the limited slip in the rear because it never turns off, and has proven helpful on wet pavement. This is my first Jeep. I've had it for about a year and am enjoying driving it both around town and off road. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
going to bump this. There are some folks with a gearing chart on here.

Also, as a request, give us some paragraphs. Kinda hard to read a wall of text.
 
We have a 2010 JKU running 35s on stock rims and have a 2 1/2" lift. Ours is a Rubicon though. It could really use a 3" lift IMO. We have bottomed out a few times suspension wise.
You would need to regear for sure. We are ok with the factory 4.10 but could be better.
Axles should be ok.
Lift kits.....you get what you pay for. Save your money and get a good one up front. Clayton Offroad is the site sponsor and has some really nice kits.
 
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I have a 2010 2 door manual. I would eventually like to have 35" tires. I'd like to do it right, and would prefer not to trim anything. Is a 2" lift sufficient? Would 4.56 gears be necessary/appropriate? Any recommendarions on lift kit I should use? Can I keep the stock wheels? Do I need to worrey about the axle shafts? I am open to smaller tires. I basically want this to be a very capable trail rig that will maintain use as a comfortable daily driver. I don't plan to do extreme rock crawling. I took it on some moderately challenging trails this year, and am impressed with it's performance in stock condition. The only real trouble I had was occaisionally bottoming out, and also wishing it had a lower 1rst gear. Also ruined my steering damper on a rock, so I should probably relocate that! Before I lift or get bigger tires, I want to add a locker in the front. It has limited slip in the rear, which did fine. I think for now I would prefer to keep the limited slip in the rear because it never turns off, and has proven helpful on wet pavement. This is my first Jeep. I've had it for about a year and am enjoying driving it both around town and off road. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Bigger tires are for ground clearance for your axles. Spring lifts are to give you body clearance for the bigger tires.

Like you mentioned, they're pretty capable even in stock form.

There are a number of posts on here for gearing. I can't speak for the manual but the auto chart for tires/gearing is spot-on.

I have an '07 (same 3.8 as you) on 35's with a 2.5" lift with flat fenders and some extra bump stop added (auto trans w/ 5.13 gears) and have found that more than sufficient for moderate off-road trail use and perfect for daily driving.

If you have the dana 30 up front I'd look into that some more. I decided to go with eaton truetracs front/rear for my application and they are outstanding for on-road traction and moderate off-road performance. I didn't want to go a full locker on a dana 30, get bound up, and break something. Eventually I want to upgrade that axle to something a little more beefy.

Clayton makes an excellent relocation bracket for your steering damper and it's not expensive at all. Very pleased with the one I installed on my rig.

Good luck with the process we all go through ;)
 
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