Krynn

To fit 35's on with no lift, you need wheels with 4.5" backspacing (or wheel spacers) and some flat fenders, and even then most will still rub. From what I understand, the River Raider Tube Fenders are one of the few that sit high enough were you can fit the 35's with no lift and wheel hard with no rubbing.

As for the 33's, all you need are wheels with 4.5" backspacing (or wheel spacers).

Krynn

There's a couple of problems with 35's on the stock spare mount.
1) vibration. You need to make sure that the wheel stops are firmly up against the sidewall of the spare when it's mounted, or else it will bounce like crazy. The problem is when you have wheels with less backspacing than stock, the stock wheel stops on the tailgate don't reach the sidewall.
2) weight. Although there are some people who apparently have no problems, there's a fair number who've had their tailgates damaged from having an extra 30~40lbs bouncing around back there. This problem becomes much worse if you don't have the sidewall up against the wheel stops (see problem 1)

The safe answer is to get a more solid mount for your spare. As expensive as they are, they're cheaper than having to replace your tailgate. And there's a couple that will work just fine with the stock bumper, so you don't have to change that if you don't want to.

MarbleheadGuy

Thanks for all the responses. Still not sure! I do wheel and one of the reasons I want 35s is to be able to do more. Although I've seen people with 33s do just fine. Agh can't decide!

isshinryu28

Thanks for tailgate answer

PhantomRescue

x2 here as well, it's only important to you if it 'looks' good or not. Save the money by staying with the 33's and get something else for your Jeep. It'll be a nice balance between your wallet and what's functional for the off-roading you want to do. Whatever decision you make don't forget the pictures!!!

orfanidisnikolaos

Go with 35s....

Bosox5

go with 35's for sure. 33's look small on a 4dr and you will regret getting them since you are leaning to the 35s. You don't have to regear for a while, I did 3.73s for 2 years before I went to 5.13s and my auto and it was doable but not great. Just turn OD off on the highway. I am getting 15 mpg mixed driving with my heavy 35s, and my MPG did not get better with the regear, it stayed the same. another big thing is the type of 35 you are looking at? an AT or an MT?

MarbleheadGuy

Definitely looking at MTs. I guess I don't totally understand, but why exactly do you need to regear with 35s? If I just throw on 35s with my 2.5" BB and 1.5" spacers, will I have any immediate issues?

Bosox5

its going to be sluggish driving around with the bigger meats on already crap stock gearing, what is yours now? You have an auto, so that makes it even worse because the big tires are going to cause you to constantly downshifting while driving in OD, so you are going to have to turn it off to keep speed without all the downshifting. Its totally doable though, and like I said I did it for 2 years with no problems except for when passing people on the highway I would be doing some crazy rpms. our jeeps are not race cars anyway, just do 35s!

jcs07jk

I still have stock 4.10 gears in my 07 jku with auto and 35 bfg km2's. I Just used superchips to adjust speedo and on highway incline I shut OD off. Been fine for me for a year. But it's not a DD for me. I drive about 50 miles a week in it. You don't have to regear but by doing so gives the torque back to drivetrain to get you moving/ hold speed. It's up to you if you feel you need to do it really. But you will take a hit on MPG for sure, look at all the complaints all over forum. I get 14 around town and I'm fine with it