Planning on spending some serious money here shortly on my Heep.. Looking to bounce some ideas off of some more experienced Jeepers out there.

I know that without a doubt that locking my open diffs will be one of the best upgrades I can do to significantly increase my offroad performance, but since I'm on a budget, it's hard to get it all done at once.

Ideally I want to run a 33" tire, but again being on a budget I can get at a set of used 265/75 cooper mt's that are roughly 32" I'll drive those until funds rebuild in the bank account to buy 285/75 duratracs

Here's what I'm bouncing back and forth between:

RE 3.5" superride with full leaf packs
RE adj trac bar
bilstein 5100's
and an sye (would run a jy front DS)
roughly - 1300$ shipped to my door

ORRR Cutting up my fenders to fit the coopers at stock ride height and then gear and lock it..
Spartans F&R
4.88s
master kits and new front carrier
roughly - 1200$ shipped to my door

So, that being priced out, what would you guys do? Like I said earlier I know the lockers would benefit me most offroad so that's what I'm leaning to.. But how will my rig drive at stock height with that size tire?
Though the one thing that isn't taken into account with the prices above is what it would cost to install the gears.. I'm a confident mechanic, absolutely enough so to do the lift myself (helped a close buddy do his on his 96) but I'm definitely sketched about installing the gears to get that right.. I was quoted 450$ to do the gears front and rear..

Anyway, give me some advice fellow jeepers please!

Colter

 

You won't fit 32s on a stock jeep without a good amount of fender trimming and longer bumpstops. I'd just saw for the 33s. Your lift se up sounds good, but do yourself a favor and get the super flex kit, has flex joints instead of rubber bushings for less binding. I have the 3.5 inch superride and 33s. Check out my build thread if you wanna see some pics of how the combo looks.

 

Biggest reason I "went" with the super ride kit is I want to eventually go long arms. I don't really care to spend the like 200$ for the super flex when I'm just going to get rid of the arms eventually anyway

 

Perfectly reasonable.

 

I like the locker route my self!

 

That's what I'm thinkin, that and some bump stops lol

 

I made a mistake on my first setup, not enough research. I got the re 4.5" superflex kit, with 33" mickey Thompson mtz's. I loved it, but wish I would have upgraded my axles first, then with a sturdy foundation, build up from there. Build the axles, then watch cl, as cheap lifts show up from time to time.

 

have read most people dont regear untill going beyond 33s i think i would try it first before buying the gears it will be sluggish to be sure but maybe not unliveable

 

True,but in the long run he would be better of imo, so if he decides to go a couple inches in lift and tire size up, it would be ready. My theory, 32-33 4.10, 35-36 4.56-4.88, 37+ 5.13+.

 

You're supporting my thought process with this statement! I didn't want to be like everyone else when they think LIFT LIFT LIFT (which I did at first) but realize that it should be GEARZ TARZ LOCKERZ to benefit me more than the lift.

Also this will give me some time on the trail to really figure out what kind of lift I want, how high I want, whether I really do want to go long arms etc.

^^ I agree to that statement, but I think it's mostly because people just think to lift their rigs first and then realize they have a damn slug to drive. I don't want that, much less I know my fuel economy will go away but I think it will be better than with tires and no gears.

And it'll be fun to spin 33" tires without any hassle