"Thanks Gerald, From what you are telling me, if I were to go out and buy a MTR even in a 33 tomorrow, I would be dang close to increasing my 32 posers at 30 inches to a true 33 which would be like a 3" gain in diameter or a 1.5" gain in height and clearance..."
Yep, I believe you would. And you have to realize that a two inch to three inch difference in diameter is
huge. Go for the 33's and I bet you'll be happy as can be and you won't have to resort to the major sheetmetal modifications it will require to fit 35s on.
Originally posted by Clint
Gerald do u think u will have 35's on by Moab
Even after my last post, yes I do. I've got till next May to figure it out. I'm definately having to go to plan B though. Actually, maybe it's plan F or Z by now, truth be told
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I can hack out the inside of my fenderwells and the Eddie Bauer flares will still hide it so that's not a problem. It's the rear of the front fenderwells that is the problem. I
WILL have to cut out real sheetmetal at the rear of the front fenderwell and there's also no way to keep my pretty running boards while those 35's are on.
I plan on two more inches of lift. I'll bite the bullet and go to a 3" body lift instead of my current two inch. I'll also fabricate drop brackets to drop my front diffy down one inch and then go to a 3" torsion lift. OME springs with my Warrior shackles should nicely match that in the rear.
I still have my old armored running boards in addition to my new pretty ones. My current rumination on the matter is to run two sets of tires - 33's for daily and minor explorations, and the bigun's for major runs like Moab. For those I'll put the 35's on and my old beatup armored running boards and cut the running boards back an inch to clear the tires. I don't think it will look all that bad, though it may be not something nice enough for Sunday go-to-meeting.
We'll see. I've got all year and a lot more suds intake to figure this one out.
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PS/ Regarding the strength of the Goodyears, I have participated on two local runs with vehicles that had MT/Rs. Also if memory serves me correctly Rick had already dumped his Claws and had his MT/Rs on in Moab last May and I didn't see him take any damage. One of the local runs I participated in was a major one with over a hundred fifty vehicles. The BFGs like I have are supposed to have fairly tough sidewalls with their "TriGuard" triple sidewall construction. I looked at Jeeps returning from identical extreme trails - some with BFG MTs and ATs and some with the new Goodyear MT/Rs - and several of the BFGs were slit and showed some damage, though most held up as advertised and only one or two actually failed and went flat. I know mine have held up, but they show several scars and sidewall cuts.
For the life of me I couldn't find so much as a scratch on ANY of the Goodyear MT/Rs. I mean
nothing but very minor mars: you could clean them up when you got home and not tell they left the parking lot. If it was only a couple of Jeeps I would have thought, well it's different individual driving styles. But comparing over a half dozen of each, nah, there's more evidence looking at me here.
Those MT/Rs may be every bit as good as the press they are getting. Time will tell; and I am not willing to base a permanent opinion on the evidence of personal witness of just a couple of runs and a half dozen examples, but I gotta tell ya I am extremely impressed so far.
J/K
