Indio
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2016
- Threads
- 4
- Messages
- 399
- Reaction score
- 387
- Location
- Chicagoland
- Vehicle(s)
- 1998 Jeep TJ, 1985 Jeep CJ-7, 1972 Series III Land Rover
- Occupation
- Procrastinator
I would not be concerned running 33 inch tires on a Sport. Here are the numbers:If it will be a street machine and there are no plans to put big tires on it get the sport. If it will be doing moderately difficult off roading or you want bigger tires get the Rubicon.
I personally wouldn't put big tires on a sport. It will need spacers or rims with less back spacing which changes the scrub radius, which puts more force on the ball joints and steering linkage. The Sport doesn't get the 4.10 gears.
The Rubi takes care of those problems with the wider axle and numerically higher axle ratio.
Sport stock tire:
245/75R17
31.5x9.6 r17 (inches)
Rubicon stock tire:
LT285/70R17
32.7x11.2 r17 (inches)
Rubicon tire is 1.6 inch wider - or 0.8 inch more width each side of tire. That is not a huge difference, and aftermarket wheels will often have less positive offset as well. Or choose a narrower tire. I don't have a concern with some outboarding of the wheels. For years I ran aftermarket wheels on my CJs with less positive offset than stock. In fact my CJ5 had 15x10 inch wheels with negative offset. Didn't have any issues related to that.
4.10 gears are nice but with the new lower first gear of both the manual and auto trans many sins are forgiven. Especially with the auto trans.
Rubicon has it's place of course, but don't underrate the Sport. I mean it is news to people like me, who have driven CJs and other rigs all over the place off-road, that the new JL Sport is somehow a street machine. Did Jeep screw up with the Sport and I am unaware that it is inferior to the CJ?
I say upgrade the Sport to the stronger rear axle for added insurance and go have fun off-road - it should take most people wherever they want to go.
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