37s on stock rubicon axles?

Being from Michigan, we don't have near the trails y'all do out west. Even then, I bent my front axle with stock wheels and tires at Rocks and Valley's. Fortunately, it only had about 2,000mi on it and was replaced under warranty. I have bent a flange on the stock rear axle shaft somewhere along the way as well.

I'm currently running 37" TG with Slabs. I did add gussets and chromoly axle shafts front/rear. The 4.10's are manageable but it does need regeared, even on our flat roads. I decided to hold off dumping any more money into it, and saving for Dynatrac's.

I recently made the switch to 37's. Running an 08 with auto and 4:10 gears and live in the mountains. Mpg currently around 10.5 in town and I'm maxed running 55 up a grade and about 70 on flat. It's bearable but I will be regearing within the next month. If you want 37's at some point just get them now. You'll kick yourself for going with 35's again


Build Thread - "Jenny"
http://wayalife.com/showthread.php?41740-The-build-of-Jenny&highlight=build jenny

I ran 37's on my stock Rubi 44's and bent the front housing pretty easily.

Ok I'm sure I'll take some heat for this but I've wheeled my two door hard enough to have a mall crawler for the mrs as well. On the mall crawler running 3.73 gears automatic. No wheeling at all. Should I be concerned about running 37's? It would just look cool.


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xman4602 said:

Ok I'm sure I'll take some heat for this but I've wheeled my two door hard enough to have a mall crawler for the mrs as well. On the mall crawler running 3.73 gears automatic. No wheeling at all. Should I be concerned about running 37's? It would just look cool.


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Click to expand...

You're right. It does look cool.

xman4602 said:

Ok I'm sure I'll take some heat for this but I've wheeled my two door hard enough to have a mall crawler for the mrs as well. On the mall crawler running 3.73 gears automatic. No wheeling at all. Should I be concerned about running 37's? It would just look cool.

Click to expand...

More than anything, speed on rough terrain is what bends axle housings. Being bound up in the rocks and having the leverage 37's will exert on drive train components is what what will break them. If you just use your Jeep for daily driving and do light to moderate wheeling, you should fine running 37's but you will feel pretty under powered with 3.73's especially on hills.

Just my 2 cents and experience with 37s on stock rubi axles. I managed to play to my hearts desire and not completely break any of the stock drive line components. I did have a front axle seal leak which I suspect was a slightly bent front housing but I never got a chance to figure that out before it got sold. I had C gussets and sleeves in the front (obviously reading many threads on here the sleeves were a waste of money). I did go with dynatrac ball joints as my stock ones were trashed with the 37s. But with that said I never broke any shafts didn't bend any flanges stock lockers were fine and that's including wheeling in CO on big rocks and 2 trips to moab. I did drive a little cautious and never mashed the skinny pedal on the rocks or carried a ton of speed on dirt roads.
In my case I had the 4.10s and a manual transmission, it would take me dropping into 3rd gear to get up vail pass but it wasn't terrible in fact I think it was more tolerable than my current 12 with 3.21s and 33s with the manual transmission.

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I got stock rubicon axles. I went to 35s at first and found it tolerable. 4.10 manual tranny. It kinda sucked on mountain roads basically stuck in 4th. A strong head wind would make me downshift to maintain speed. I picked up some 37x13.5r17 toyo mt on beadlocks off Craigslist in October last year. I kinda hated it. Had to slip the clutch a lot and still had weak acceleration. Was constantly in the 3k plus rpms to get power. Before I shifted at 3k. On the trail through a trail I did with stock tires 35s and 37 I liked the 35s best. No problems getting over the tougher spots. With the 37s I stalled lots of times. Probably equal to when I had stock tires. 35s I didn't stall. Point is 35s are good without gears. 37s I would do gears. I'm 300 miles into my break in on 5.13s I love it, but haven't gone over 55 or on the trail. Got to finish the 500mile break in. I got c gussets and an artec axle truss up front. Seems like that gussets are a minimum for 37s. I like the truss cause those tube are known to fail. But prepare to regear if you go 37s

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