MJC

I'm planning on a 3" lift and 35's and see a lot of talk on getting this done, but nothing about anyone that had an issue to actually need it.

Who has had the bad experience that found this a necessity?

THANKS.

wayoflife

with 35's, yes, you really need gussets as without them, you will bend your axle c's. trust me, i and others speak from experience here. as far as sleeves go, i would say no, they are not "needed". at least, i punished my front axle for over 60,000 miles and running heavy 37x13.50's and trashed my pumpkin and shafts well before the housing ever came close to breaking. having said that, sleeves are cheap insurance and will give you peace of mind.

Olean NY Jeeper

I did it for the piece of mind. Of course, I did while regearing and my gear guy only charged me 200 bucks to install sleeves and gussets since everything was torn apart anyway.

Mad-Hatter

x2. The way I figure it, its like adding skid plates. You may not need it...until you need it. Therefore, might as well go ahead and beef it up

wayoflife

yes, i would recommend them with 35's even if you are just driving around.

actually, i'm gonna have to disagree with the adding of skid plates analogy. the skids that come on your JK from the factory are more than adequate and will protect your jeep just fine. we still run factory skids on both our JK's and so do all the people who you see in our many videos.

Olean NY Jeeper

x2 on stock skids. they work great. I have added a Rancho oil pan skid, skid row lower control arms skids, skid row evap canister skid and ARB diff covers front and rear but the stock gas is adequate and the trasfer case skid stock is fine.

Mad-Hatter

Well, I wasn't talking about our Jeeps per se, but the idea of skid plates in general. I guess if I would have said "undercarriage armor" would have been better.

wayoflife

ah, got it. yes, armor is definitely something you want to have and the ones that come from the factory are more than adequate

Mad-Hatter

Yep, I run all my stock skids plus the rancho oil pan and RR LCA and Evap can. TF diff covers as well. What I meant with my analogy is, you may not need undercarriage protection...until you come off that-one-ledge and smash/damage something you didn't want to. Just like you may not need the sleeves and gussets until you hit that-one-obstacle a little too hard, and the leverage of your 35s bends something. cheap insurance.

wayoflife

for sure