Advice - Possible Cut Plan To Fit 35S W/o Lift

[NewKindOfClown]

Howdy, all.

I rarely post here since I'm still very active at CherokeeForum, but I love the info from the site. I had an XJ before, lifted 3.5" on 33x12.5x15 Duratracs. I was looking at my LWB MJ's rear wheel wells the other day, and it allows for far more play. So here's my plan:

 

First I want to apologize for the long post. I'm trying to explain it as best as I can, but I can't load or see pictures on my work computer, and I can't access my truck for reference right now. This is also one of the few forums that isn't blocked yet, so I'm hoping someone with more experience can help me out.

 

I want to open up (hack) the front fenders as high as it will benefit me, but not remove them since it's still driven on the road. That's the easy part.

In the rear, the bedsides are rusted out above the flares, with the driver side being much worse than the pass side (almost rusted forward to the fuel door). Because of this, I want to open the rear inner fenders so they continue straight outward from their highest point instead of curving back down toward the outside. This will result in a ~90° turn upward where the inner fender meets the outer bedside. I think the trim will net an opening of about 1" forward and aft of the rear wheel well and about 1.5-2" at the top. Coupled with a rear quarter cut, my plan is to fit 35x12.5x15s on a 15x8 wheel with 3.5" BS. Aftermarket LCAs are planned to help alleviate rubbing. Copious amounts of bumpstopping and a Durango steering box are also planned.

 

The truck has the original (non-MT) leaf springs, and was used for plowing and hauling. I plan to replace those with new MT springs from Hell Creek, with new shackles, V8 ZJ coil springs, and new shocks. The plan is to get it back to stock height, closer to level, with a refreshed suspension. It'll ride on a trussed XJ D44 and an Aussie-locked HP30 with chromos with 4.88 gears.

 

I'm open to ideas/suggestions on everything I talked about. What sounds good? What sounds problematic?

[mountainman]

Only issue i see is D30 already has lots of deflection and likes to chew up pinions, especially in reverse.

So 4.88 the damn pinion is so small, may want to go a bit less ratio for as much meat as you can and run it open. Go 4.37 or 4.56.

 

Or spend the money on putting a D44 under the front with truss and axles. Mucho bettero.

 

I can't talk smack cause I'm using a turdy in my build. After talking with tons of people ive gotten some pretty solid info on the old toothpick. Should work great for me running it open and 33s.

Soon as you lock em... they start coming apart.

 

Have i ever wheeled either setup and have personal experience.. no. But have i read probably 250 diff opinions from other people, yes. One guy builds expedition/crawler Xjs and he loves the 30. said they are perfect if you don't throw 37s and a locker at em...lol.

And of course having the driver mod helps. If you have an affair with the skinny pedal then your in big trouble. heheh.

 

Ive been researching almost a year as to how i want my MJ to be at stage 1, and the 30 is part of it. Stage 2 (if i break the 30) will be a trussed D44 with the works. Then my rear D44 is next in line and the build never ends. lol.

 

Hope this helps.

[mnkyboy]

Lots of people run 4.88s locked in a D30 with no problems. Any application were it is a problem you wouldn't run a d30 at all.

 

the main problem I see is if you cut the rear enough to fit 35s you will end up cutting the bedside free from the wheel wells so you will have to figure out how to reattach it.

 

 

[codymanche]

If u cut the rear cut just below the spot welds and u should be good. I tuck 33s no problem.

[Pete M]

35s on no lift means you'll be dragging your belly across everything. We've got waaaay more wheelbase than an XJ or wrangler.

[NewKindOfClown]

Mnkyboy:

I should have mentioned a friend of mine will be doing the cutting and welds with new metal to close that gap. He used to work at one of the local offroad shops before starting his own business, and his work is excellent. I was more wondering if there was anything in there that I would need to know about before cutting it open. Is the inner bed all empty space?

 

Pete M:

And I've taken it offroad several times already. I recently went to Gore, VA for Fall Crawl, and with 30x9.5 street tires, I was doing blues and a black at Rausch Creek, PA. I also play in a lot of mud, but nothing too deep. The 35s and fresh springs should give me about 4" over where I am now, and that would be plenty for what my friends and I do. Furthermore, I have the Pioneer package with skids, and that welding friend will be making me sliders and bumpers.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm still open to input.

[mnkyboy]

If you got a guy that can do the metal work you should be fine. Just cut till they fit and fix the holes.

 

We just did that to a Samurai and got it to fit 38s with just an SOA and gained a ton of flex but it took many hours of metal work to put it back together.

 

[tubpilot]

Have you run Hell Creek springs before? I'm in need of a set of stock height springs to replace my worn out stockers. There are not too many people making stock height springs, and I want to keep it spring over.

[Garvin]

I ended up cutting up past the lower layer of the outer wheel well for the rear. Just cut the metal off at the pinch seam and kept the inner part (did stretch my wheel well rearward since the rear axle is stretched about 5" back). The rear and front are both cut up to the body lines. Right now my rear is sitting around 4" of lift on 38.5's and still have 2" of space at full stuff so I can run 42's barely.