Amateur needs help

Texasjeep01 · Jan 12, 2014

Be gentle because I am new to wheeling and new to jeeps (this past summer is when I got it). I've been wheeling 2 times now and I was wondering what I needed to upgrade first before I break it. I have new control arms and upgraded thick welded brackets. I have 33's and a 4.5 inch lift and that's about it. My gears are 3.07 and I have 2001 TJ sport. My friend says I need to sleeve and gusset my axles. Any tips and advice like that would be greatly appreciated!

Brankz · Jan 12, 2014

Texasjeep01 said:
Be gentle because I am new to wheeling and new to jeeps (this past summer is when I got it). I've been wheeling 2 times now and I was wondering what I needed to upgrade first before I break it. I have new control arms and upgraded thick welded brackets. I have 33's and a 4.5 inch lift and that's about it. My gears are 3.07 and I have 2001 TJ sport. My friend says I need to sleeve and gusset my axles. Any tips and advice like that would be greatly appreciated!

4.5 lift!? You will need a new driveshaft ASAP

pvanweelden · Jan 12, 2014

Brankz- tj not jk
You will want to look at getting a sye if you don't have one yet, and that means a new cv rear driveshaft

pvanweelden · Jan 12, 2014

Are you going any bigger tire size wise?
regearing to 4.10 would help your 4.0 with those 33's, but that isn't cheap.
Gussets I would recommend, but not sleeves.
What rearend do you have? 33's can tear up a dana 35 if you are heavy on the skinny pedal

Texasjeep01 · Jan 12, 2014

pvanweelden said:
Are you going any bigger tire size wise?
regearing to 4.10 would help your 4.0 with those 33's, but that isn't cheap.
Gussets I would recommend, but not sleeves.
What rearend do you have? 33's can tear up a dana 35 if you are heavy on the skinny pedal
View attachment 64108

I have all stock underneath, so I do have a dana 35 but I try not to go too hard on it. What about my axle shafts or my knuckles?

pvanweelden · Jan 12, 2014

I don't think I would change anything on your shafts or knuckles, your ring and pinion is going to be your weak link regardless, but should hold up to the 33's unless you hammer on it a lot. Have fun with it. Regear if you want the peppiness back.

pvanweelden · Jan 12, 2014

But carefully think before you regear, you can find tj dana 44's if you look around enough, you would be better off regearing a 44 and the lp30 instead of putting money into the dana 35

Texasjeep01 · Jan 12, 2014

pvanweelden said:
But carefully think before you regear, you can find tj dana 44's if you look around enough, you would be better off regearing a 44 and the lp30 instead of putting money into the dana 35

Thanks! I will keep that in mind

David1tontj · Jan 12, 2014

X2. Resist the temptation to modify your d35... I had a dana 35 with an ARB, 456 gears, and a warn full floater kit with chromoly shafts... It still broke any time I got on it! The best modification you can make to a dana 35 is to unbolt it from your rig!!

My ride- 2001 power wheel, 11" plastic tires, upgraded battery, boat sides, custom bumpers, tow hooks, new paint.

pvanweelden · Jan 12, 2014

to give you an example- I paid $250 for a tj dana 44 housing, but had to drive 2 hours to get it

Brankz · Jan 12, 2014

pvanweelden said:
Brankz- tj not jk
You will want to look at getting a sye if you don't have one yet, and that means a new cv rear driveshaft

Woops sorry I just noticed.

OverlanderJK · Jan 12, 2014

pvanweelden said:
to give you an example- I paid $250 for a tj dana 44 housing, but had to drive 2 hours to get it

You can also look into a ford 8.8. Ford ranger edge's came with them as well as (I believe) other 4x4 rangers 04 and newer. And most have 4.10 gears.

pvanweelden · Jan 12, 2014

Ford explorer for the 8.8, will have disc brakes already, but you will need an adaptor for the driveshaft, and the axle width is shorter, pumpkin is offset, so most people run a wheel spacer on just one rear wheel to adjust for it. I chose to keep looking for a bolt in dana 44 and then did the zj disc brake swap

pvanweelden · Jan 12, 2014

Woody3 sent me a pm, figured I would just reply here- the wj disc brake swap, google it, there's a good writeup somewhere on another forum. Basically, go to a junkyard, find a zj, get the caliphers, brake lines off the axle, pads and rotors if they are decent, otherwise buy new rotors and pads from auto store, e brake parts from inside the rotors, go to jeep dealership and get the backing plate from an 03-06 tj (these came with rear disc) the hard part to the swap- you have to pull your axles, press off the bearings, put in the backing plate and then press on new bearings.
Check the king pins on the caliphers, regrease or replace.

Woody3 · Jan 13, 2014

pvanweelden said:
Woody3 sent me a pm, figured I would just reply here- the wj disc brake swap, google it, there's a good writeup somewhere on another forum. Basically, go to a junkyard, find a zj, get the caliphers, brake lines off the axle, pads and rotors if they are decent, otherwise buy new rotors and pads from auto store, e brake parts from inside the rotors, go to jeep dealership and get the backing plate from an 03-06 tj (these came with rear disc) the hard part to the swap- you have to pull your axles, press off the bearings, put in the backing plate and then press on new bearings.
Check the king pins on the caliphers, regrease or replace.

Great, thank you for the reply.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Amateur needs help

Texasjeep01

New member

Brankz

New member

pvanweelden

New member

pvanweelden

New member

Texasjeep01

New member

pvanweelden

New member

pvanweelden

New member

Texasjeep01

New member

David1tontj

New member

pvanweelden

New member

Brankz

New member

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass

pvanweelden

New member

pvanweelden

New member

Woody3

New member