daniellemarie008

Are 33 mudd tires to much for an xj. I know alot of ppl ride around with bigger and are find. But I bought my jeep with only 100,000 miles on it and I plan on keeping it for a really long time. I've heard all kinds of horror stories from them breaking axles to tearing out steering boxes and giving death wobble. and making your gas mileage plummet. Are they really worth it. or will it lessen the life of my xj. I'm just afraid of running into a ton of problems once I get them. and also worried it's going to make my death wobble terrible. are they going to wear my jeep out i guess in all aspects i mentioned or is it not that much of a problem. I really want to take it on long trips like down to florida and I guess i'm scared to death it wont be reliable anymore even tho i want the tires so bad. like my death wobble will come back once i get it fixed if I go on long trips because of my tires. I feel like they give you a lot less peace of mind.

CheapCherokee

any size tire can make death wobble come back... just make sure they are balanced. as far as wear and tear on the jeep, if you run stock gears it WILL wear out your drivetrain faster. most especially your transmission (if an automatic) or your clutch (manual). it works a ton harder to turn those massive tires from a stand still. your brakes and engine are also working harder to move and stop them. the size and extra rolling mass of them will also turn your mileage to crap. most of this can be remedied if you re gear your axles to 4.10 or 4.56 or even 4.88. i would highly suggest doing that first.

xjoz87

If you build it right and have the steering set up properly then it wont be a problem. Ive run 35s on stock axles with stock gears for the last 3 years and havent had a problem. so far. The only thing ive had a problem with has been u joints, which is to be expected from any jeep that is taken offroad. As far as the long distance trips, if you want better power and gas mileage then i would definately recommend re gearing your axles with running 33's. There is a noticable difference in the power when you run bigger tires on stock gears.

daniellemarie008

You mentioned setting your steering up right what kind of things would you suggest?

elkwagn

IMHO, it sounds to me like you should avoid 33's. If you aren't going to be wheeling them a lot then it would be a waste. They are expensive, noisy, grab ruts in the road, need more lift or cutting, WILL wear out parts faster, kill your mileage, and generally make you hate your jeep for anything but wheeling or mall crawling. I just went from 265/75-16 tires to 33's, and everything has changed. As I continue to correct the issues like gearing and steering it gets better, but I also had to add a little more lift, cut, track bar, and align again, and when you start to add that up with the price for the tires, I now have more into the setup by far than I paid for my jeep! Not that I don't love the 33's, just make sure that if it's only for looks you are prepared.

xjoz87

Well the biggest factor will be what size lift you have. The major components that will say wether or not you will have death wobble will be your track bar, steering linkage, alignment, making sure your bolts are tight, and the balance of your tires.

There are many setups you can look at to upgrade your steering to if your wanting to do that.

First and most important will be that your track bar and drag link are running parallel. If they arent then you will have a bad case of death wobble. There are a few things you can do to get them running parallel. You can get a drop pitman arm to help bring the angle of the drag link down. The size of drop pitman arm will depend on the size of lift. You will need to get an aftermarket adjustable track bar to be able to center your axle under your jeep.
Next you will need to make sure your tie rod ends are all good and not bad or sloppy. Then a big thing that a lot of people dont remember that will cause death wobble is EVERY bolt that holds your steering components together must always be tight. Then like any vehicle, you must have a good alignment done. If all of that stuff is set up correctly you will have a peaceful drive on the street death wobble free. Regardless of the size of tires. I personally run 35's and have no death wobble. Whereas my brother runs 35's and neglects everything I just mentioned and wonders why he always has to deal with death wobble.
It was a little long winded but hopefully it helps you.

helmut

That has nothing to do with the tire size. It has to do with lift size. I mean you know that with lets say even an 8in lift you could run stock tires and still have to upgrade your steering. On the other hand you could use 33s on a 3in lift if you trim and bumpstop and you will not have to upgrade the steering. Also you will not break stock axles from having 33s and daily driving or mildly wheeling.

helmut

Why would a 33in tire be noisy and grab ruts more then lets say a 30in ? It is the type of tire not the size !! It all depends on your setup, not that you have a 33in.

xjoz87

It has everything to do with the tire size because in order to run 33" tires you have to lift your jeep. even with a 3 in lift you have to make sure your steering geometry is correct to ensure you dont get death wobble. Daniellemarie008 isnt talking about running stock tires with a huge lift.

helmut

All you will need is aligment if the OP wants to run them at 3in of lift (which I doubt is the case) but upgrading steering is directly linked to lift size not tire size. Wouldn't you agree?. The OP's question is about 33s not lift. Maybe the OP has the Jeep lifted already in which case just getting larger tires wouldnt nessecitate upgraded steering for a DD.

xjoz87

Im not saying that the steering components need to be upgraded. I was simplying saying upgrading the components is one option. The stock steering linkage will work just fine as long as the geometry is correct. Ill agree with that but wouldnt you agree that tire size directly correlates with the necessity to lift a vehicle. I guess we would need to know a little bit more about the OP vehicle stats as it sits currently. I wouldnt say either of us are wrong. If the op does already have a lift that will allow larger tires then the only real necessity would be to have a good alignment and balanced tires. However, if no lift is currently installed and wants to go to 33's then everything I said would apply. Even with a 3 in lift you have to re-locate the track bar to center the axle or get an adjustable track bar. Either way everything we have both said needs to be taken into consideration. I say that because the steering components need to be checked and re-tightened (when needed) periodically.

helmut

We see eye to eye. I agree with everything you are saying. The OP did not provide enough info. Plenty of rigs out there with 33s that are properly setup and run DD better than ones on 30s. My 33in Goodyear Kevlars are quiet, my axles have not broken yet and they never would if all I did was DD. MPG went to hell, but again, we dont know if the OP cares about that.

xjoz87

I agree. I would like to get a little more information from the op so we can give em some more idividualized advice pertaining to their particular situation.

daniellemarie008

Did you re gear and still get terrible mileage? and my bad I have a 3.5 inch lift and I don't like the factory fenders so I took them off and am cutting them soon. it's actually my birthday so my family said they would pay for half of whatever tires I choose to get (toyo open country mt ) And as for steering set up I found a kit from kevinsoffraod for death wobble that comes with everything I think you guys mentioned for around $500 I'm going to check my u joints before I buy it tho.

daniellemarie008

I'm in college right now so gas mileage does matter a little I figured regearing gets you back pretty close to original I haven't really asked anyone that has regeared tho if they got close to what they had before

I've been trying to ask as many questions as I can about stuff and read anything I can get my hands on that has to do with my jeep