I'm new to all this stuff so please forgive me if this is in the wrong thread or this has been answered. But I'm looking to run upgrade my 30x9.5 tires to 33x12.50 on my 3" lift. But I'm worried getting bigger tires is gonna open a whole new can of worms besides regearing. Is 33s worth it? Will it wear stuff out faster?

 

You really need 4.5" of lift to run 33's (especially 12.50 width) or you need to be bold and do a LOT OF CUTTING around the wheel wells, as well as a fair amount of bump stopping, whether the upgrade is worth it depends on how and where you wheel your jeep.

I wheel in Florida where we have a lot of big trucks digging ruts in the woods, 33" tires are a big benefit here, bigger if possible. But I have been amazed to see what nearly stock jeeps can do out in the woods, throw a set of lockers in and its even more impressive.

With me.... I like hitting that mud hole everyone else wants to go around.... so locked with the biggest tires I can afford to build my jeep to handle is my thing.

 

33s on 3" will work nicely but you will need to do a little trimming. With 33s you will feel the need to re gear. They are definitely worth it if you wanna wheel.

 

I went with 31's on a 3in lift, (actually the metric equivalent but whatever) and 31 general grabber at2's have not failed me and i have at no point wished i went bigger. Like Bryweb said... the cutting and headaches for just the few gains are in my opinion, not worth it. If you have your heart set on 33's though, you shouldn't have to re gear. It definetly would not have the same pull that you would get from a smaller tire but i think 33's are about the limit before re gearing is completely necessary.

 

As far as wearing stuff out faster, steering components will be under higher forces, hubs will have a little more stress from wider tires, especially with the low offset wheels you'll need to not rub. But these are marginal worries. Get a $100 ZJ steering upgrade and check your hubs for play and you should be good.

If you want 33's and 3" lift, just face the facts. Get out the sawZall and hockey pucks lol. Cutting jeeps up is pretty fun.

 

Not that bad.

 

You mention the zj steering upgrade. Doesn't serious off-road sell a 1 ton kit. If I upgrade anyway should I go with the 1 ton?

 

I agree. Doesn't look bad to me. But seems like half the people think you shouldn't and the other half think it would be fine. I could just put a spacer and shackles if I think it's too much cutting. Don't think it will be though.

 

33's and a little cutting shouldn't be too bad on 3 inches of lift. Idk that I would go 12.50's unless you have to tho. Just follow the body line where the flares used to be might have to go a little wider on the bottom of the wheel well tho. Mines on 31×10.50's with the worn out stock suspension. Don't forget to bump stop as well or the tires will remind you too every time you hit a pothole

 

Yes he offers a kit. Most people would be fine with a zj kit. But my philosophy is if I'm gonna upgrade its only happening one time. So I tend to overbuild right from the start.

 

You're going to be adding a pretty significant amount of unsprung weight to the truck but that hasn't stopped hundreds of people from doing it. You will wear things out faster but you drive a 16-year-old Jeep so....

You'll have to trim if you don't want to destroy your fenders. 88whitecommanche ran 33x12.5s on 3 inches of lift for a long time. He eventually did the basic cut and fold in the rear to match the front and still crunched a little on flat land. Pretty dang capable though.



This is what will happen under compression without a cut and fold rear:

 

I have currently been researching the idea to upgrade from my 31 baja claws to a set of 33s or any other 33 MT for that matter. You will at the very minimum need to remove the factory flares. Trimming will need to be done if you want to do minimal off roading. My plan is to get the 33s as well as some bushwacker flat flares. This will allow for the 3" lift to actually work with the 33s to do a fair amount of articulation. There is a youtube video of a guy with flat flares and 33s on a 3" lift and he has plently of flex to climb over some fair sized rocks etc.

 

try that link

 

Here is another video. Same guy..

 

Unless you do major rock crawling the ZJ setup is fine, I run it as many others do and I have 35" tires on at times now.


I ran 33x12:50's for some time on a 3" lift with just trimming and the proper wheels 15x8" with 3.75" of BS.