40’s only for rock crawling?

[DeVoTee]

Split the diff and go 39" KM3"s Run about 1.25" more than 37" Nitto Ridge Grapplers

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[J0E]

Tire diameter and width more determines how big of a contact patch you can use for grip or floatation.

Agree with everything you said.

See https://bt39.com/ for patch size.

 

[Yellowstone]

I ended up buying a new Gladiator Rubicon. Went with 39” BFGs, 4.5” Rock Krawler “silverback” long arm kit, Fox 2.5 with the compression and rebound adjustment, 5.13 gears. I have not put it all together yet as the lift kit has been on back order for months. But I hope to have it installed and finished during the first week of May.

in the short trips I’ve taken with the stock JT on some light trails in the Eastern Sierras, I’m very impressed with how plush it is vs. my parents lifted TJ. The TJ is exhausting whereas the longer wheelbase and mid arms that the JT features really make a difference.

so I have high hopes for the direction I took with suspension and tires for my intended purpose. I’ll post with an update once it’s all put together.

 

[Yellowstone]

Just finally got the lift on. That was 6 mo from my originally ordering the parts. Everything was on back order and delayed. But it’s 95% done now. Just have the rear bumper and steering stabilizer to install. I’m happy with how it all turned and and am looking forward to the next adventures!

 

[blnewt]

Just finally got the lift on. That was 6 mo from my originally ordering the parts. Everything was on back order and delayed. But it’s 95% done now. Just have the rear bumper and steering stabilizer to install. I’m happy with how it all turned and and am looking forward to the next adventures!

Nice job, looks like you're all lit up!

 

[DOOKEY]

Aaaaaand how does it ride?

 

[Yellowstone]

Aaaaaand how does it ride?

I only have put a few highway miles on it this morning and so don’t have much other than first impressions on the road. I thought the stock rubicon ride was very nice. But with the added weight of all the overlanding stuff, the on road ride was starting to get a little too soft and I was wallowing down the road.

1. The fox adjustable shocks are set in the more firm realm of their positioning which has tighten up the feel. It’s handling the extra weight of the overlanding gear way better now. I have not even begun to tune the shock adjustments to see how each position feels, but firmer than stock is what I needed right away and we have that now.

2. Tires are probably over inflated now so I need to do the chalk test. So firmer tires and firmer shocks = a firmer on road ride than stock. It feels like a truck now which I’m used to. But I bet I can dial it in pretty nicely for the street.

3. Off road ride I don’t know yet. My intent with with build is primarily long range overlanding trips that might be trail rated “easy” to “moderate”. The thought behind the 40s was that air’d down they would roll over smaller bumps and obstacles and that combined with really good shocks and the extended wheelbase of the gladiator would equal the most comfortable ride.

The stock gladiator was very nice on these types of trails so far. But on moderate trails I was scraping and dragging at times. So the lift and tires should solve all of those issues moving forward. I might be able to get out for a short off road test next weekend and will report back as soon as I am able.

 

[Yellowstone]

One thing the shop that did the lift install recommended was the synergy track bar and sector shaft brace. The gladiators have the steel steering box and I never had steering tracking issues stock. But they said with the larger tires beefing up that track bar bracket and supporting the steering box can’t hurt. So I’m going to try that. It’s just bolt on after all.

now on the rear...we’ll with the rock krawler kit I got the rear is now a triangulated 4 link. So no track bar to worry about at all!

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