So i'm going to putting my '02 TJ up for sale this weekend, wish me luck. I'm in the market to get a '17 JKUR to build before my wife and i have kids. I have a shopping list for lift, tires, gears, bumpers, etc. I plan to go with a RK 3.5 X-Factor for the lift, the tire i plan to go with is the NITTO Ridge Grappler. The reason i post this in the show and tell is because i don't know if i really should go straight for the 37's or just do 35's, or if i really should go with the 2.5 X-factor or the 3.5. this will be a build i keep for some time, considering the money ill put into it, but its getting close to crunch time for sales and the new jeep in the driveway. any pictures and or advice is welcome.

thank you to all that reply.

 

I would say choosing between 35s and 37s right off the bat will depend on your eagerness to regear a brand new axle. You can survive with 35's and 4.10 gears.....even 3.73 gears, but 37s will really drag your down. If you're willing to regear, then by all means go for 37s and build appropriately. If not, I'd go with 35's, build it properly, and then when you're ready to regear you can change to 37s and be set. Outside of some possible pinch seam trimming there's not a whole lot more to change from 35's to 37s. If you do that, just make sure you choose the proper wheel to start with. You're going to need something with less BS than the 4.5" most people go for with 35s. If I could do it all over again, I would have gone with beadlocks and 3.5" BS right from the start. That is one thing I regret as my wheels are now close to worthless for resale.

Good luck with the sale, purchase, and build!

 

What are you going to do with the jeep and what do you expect it do to should be the first two questions we ask you. budget is the third. I highly doubt you are going to be do rock crawling with a brand new jeep. Will it even go off road? I generally tell people 37's on a daily driver is just stupid but many stupid people do stupid things. 35's lockers and proper gearing will get any driver with decent off road experience thru most trails and will do it with minor mods and less overall maintenance. IF you are just building a mall crawler for the "look at me crowd" and don't care about replacing worn out parts frequently then throw on a RK lift and 37's. Personally I would throw on a Rough Country 3.5" lift on over the RK as they both have about the same track record with issues and the RC costs about a third of the price. If you are building a daily driver I would do either Metal Cloak or Synergy all day long over any other kit out there. They are quality companies that make great products and give back a lot to the off road community by sponsoring events. Their joints are maintenance free and ride really nice. You might kill a RK joint if you pump too much grease into it. It looks like RK uses their company profits as a write off for their racing hobby. They use a lot of bs marketing and social media to push their products on people that don't know better. Just go to Metal Cloaks website and you will get an education on their parts and how things work. RK has a tech thread and answer questions in a pretty timely manner if you have any. Metal Cloak has a thread as well.For full disclosure I do have 4 metal cloak joints on my rig and I do have a synergy drag link and track bar although I think they will be replaced soon. I don't use any rock krawler products or rough county. I have a custom totally retarded fully stupid coil over bypass long arm set up with 18" of travel and 40" tires.
Its your jeep and your money so do what you want with it and keep up the build thread so we can see how it turned out. Good luck with the build and welcome to the forum.

 

This. Since you're buying an Unlimited, perhaps you're thinking of the opportunities to go out and explore that great region of the U.S. in which you live. Overlanding is a great use for the four door Jeeps, but it calls for a bit different approach to mods than some other pursuits. And 37s are overkill ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl2D1KbMZpg