Be very aware that you could get bit by the rock crawling bug!

I see your in South Carolina.....trust me you want to at least go with 5.13 gears.
If you ever start going to Gulches Off Road Park there or AOP in South Pittsburg
Tennessee, Harlan Kentucky, and so one then my thought is you can never gear
to low....Most of the guys around here in Georgia go with 5.38 gears.

 

 

Metalcloak lift kits get a lot of love. There's a dude on youtube who has installed their kit in detail, I'll see if I can find a link. I went with a Rock Krawler long arm kit (I'm also a fan of going overboard), I got their 2.5" kit which netted me over 3.5" on my relatively light 2 door. If I were to do it again I'd probably go with Metalcloak, their Duroflex joints look absolutely perfect for how I use my Jeep. I'm actually considering modifying my RK arms to fit their joints. One of the things you'll notice as you slide down the rabbit hole is that the term "lift kit" is just what they call it when they pick a handful of components for you and sell them in a bundle. It's a good place to start, but don't be afraid to assess how your Jeep performs for you and add or swap components for the features and functionality you want.

I agree, 37s are awesome. The difference from the stock Rubicon tires and 37s, or 35s to be honest, is huge.

I did 5.13s with my 37s. It's definitely on the lower end of the gearing but the Jeep moves when I ask it to and with the Rubicon transfer case it's delightful off road. You do sacrifice some at higher speeds but that just keeps me closer to the speed limit so I welcome it.

Here's the Metalcloak install:

 

I'd say that was totally true with the 3.8L, but with the 3.6L 5.13 and 37s is pretty dang aggressive. I run 3k or more at interstate speeds, and that gets to be a drag. Considering OP has a 4:1 TC, they're gonna have all the offroad crawl they could ever want even with 4.88, but the 4.88 will be more appropriate on the pavement. Not to step on toes or anything. I had to lean to 5.13s to get that offroad benefit given my wimpy Sport TC.

 

 

Would you agree that you run about 3k RPM on the interstate as well?

This is one of those subjective things depending on specific use. I'd prefer 4.88 for myself if I had the TC benefit. OP might want to force the jeep into lower gear and drive around with the engine running that high RPM for a bit, just to see if it's too much or not for them. Also kinda depends on offroad use too. The original post did note not getting in to heavy rock crawling.

 

Yes, I think I'm just below 3k at highway speeds. I'm not necessarily endorsing 5.13, it's just what I guessed at and went with based on what I want from my jeep. The places where the 5.13s and 4:1 TC shine are most definitely on the challenging, steep rocky trails. Even more so with the 6 speed and no torque converter to mitigate those low rotational moments. It's not quite as unstoppable as the stock gearing and 32s, which would turn the wheels if I stood on the brakes, but I think that's because the power output is now scaled down relative to the gears and tires. If those situations aren't an issue, 4.88 is probably the way to go to maintain more road manners. Or go 5.38 and make it like a dump truck, there's fun to be had at every ratio! I had a buddy with a TJ, don't know what gears he had but he'd get through all of them on his way up to 35 mph. That was a fun rig.

 

I'll state the obvious here.......if you do a truss, get the corresponding raised TB bracket since you'll want to do a high steer kit at the height you're looking.

Another random bit of advice. Since you'll be looking at steering upgrades, you might find this thread an interesting read through for a nice tie rod and drag link option -

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modi...ie-rod-346539/

 

If we are in the running on shocks, get them after March 1st.

 

I apologize that my posts might seem like random thoughts and aren't a nice concise single post that summarized everything there is. Unfortunately, there's just so much that goes in to a build like this that there is a ton to consider. I was sitting around tonight, and randomly thought about another issue you're probably gonna run in to. To do the lift you want, you're likely going to want to outboard the front axle shock mounts. You can do this with some brackets. Metalcloak has some nice ones that have an updated design. Their old style brackets totally twisted my factory shock mount, which ended in me chopping off the shock and control arm mounts and welding on new 1/4" artec shock and control arm mounts, to match my artec gussets and truss. Unfortunately, the gussets prevented me from outboarding the new shock mounts enough, so I STILL had to use the MC brackets, although the new shock mounts were too thick to mount the bracket on....which made me have to chop one side off the MC bracket and simply weld it to the artec shock mount. I have a lot of work in to a built rubicon D44 front.....smh, and it's still nothing compared to a PR44 or similar aftermarket with some decent tubes and a good locker. Anyhow, I've been down this road. These are the types of things you'll run in to. You may ask why you need to outboard those shocks to begin with...........you're likely to rub the shock bodies on the frame rail if you do any offroading.

If you're set on doing the truss, you may as well just build that axle up with 1/4" shock and control arm brackets as well while you're doing the truss, gussets, and ball joints. Just be done with it in it's entirety outside of regearing. If you're going to regear yourself, just do it at the same time too while it's out from under the jeep.