Welcome to the world of Jeep'n and this forum. You will love what your jeep can do vs. a full size truck. I run 33" tires on my TJ with a 4" lift, and 42" tires on my YJ with a 8" coilover lift. I would think that you had enough room for your 38.5" tires, but it will be close. I would think that a 36" tire would fit better, and give you enough room for articulation. You probably already know that you will have to re-gear to accomadate the larger tires. And while you are into the diffs. you might as well add lockers. You will be happier with a selectable type vs. a mechanical type, as you will be able to unlock them when not needed. Good luck, and happy wheel'n...........sounds like you got the bug bad.........lol. Your in the right place for the Jeep'n bug.
Greetings Jeepers (new guy)
Howdy, just found your forum few weeks ago and been a bit of a lurker. So i figured i would join up and hopefully get alot of questions answered from you jeep veterans that ive been debating. Im a member of the fullsizechevy forum and been there for quite some time. Im a former marine (jarhead) now turned professional fire rescue, and always been in love with hardcore mud running, wheeling, and trail riding. Up till about 3 months ago ive been a hardcorp full size truck only guy. But my truck has officially gotten too big to drive every day so i needed a daily driver. I never had thought about jeeps other then cursing them for being able to fit down trails i had to drive over trees to get too. But i found a 2001 TJ sport with 60k miles on it and said what the heck. Well ive officially caught this Jeep fever, and now my bone stock TJ has got 7 inches of lift. 3" BL and 4" X series rough country suspension. The jeep is a 5 speed with a dana 44 rear and the 4.0. Ive added a TB spacer, airraid intake, b&m short throw shifter, rock sliders, neoprene seat covers and a list of other doodads. I guess my first real question is what size tires can i fit on this thing without massive scrubbage? Im well versed with gears, axle strengths, lockers, from building my truck and i can install anything myself. Ive got a set of 38.5x15 boggers from my truck but im not sure if i could clear those. A friend i work with is running 35x14.50s on his 97 TJ with 2" less lift then i have and clears them fine. I would rather see if any of yall have run anything close to this size before i foot the money for rims. But speed is helpful, my jeep looks kind of funny with 7" of lift and stock 30x9.50 goodyear tires lol. Thanks in advance. 
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With that much lift i'm sure that your 38's would fit fine, but they will hammer on your drivetrain. The fron Dana 30 will not hold up to that much wheel spin with that large a tire. Upgrading to Chromoly shafts and better ujoints will help, but you'd still be asking a lot out of that little axle. However for mudding you might not have the same level of breakage than say rock crawling.
You could definitely run some 37's (still pushing the limit of the axle, but way lighter than a 38" Bogger).
You could definitely run some 37's (still pushing the limit of the axle, but way lighter than a 38" Bogger).
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I dont do any rock crawling personally, do some pretty serious trails, alot of hardcore mud running, and sand duning. But nothing extreme other then gettin a lil air at times. I didnt figure the 30 would stand up to the 38s so well, i will prolly end up throwing a 44 in front or whatever i can find. But for the time being im prolly going to order a set of 35x15.50 tsl/sx. Im sure 4:88s will turn them fine with the upgrades to the motor, but curious with a detroit in the rear and arb air locker in the front....should i still upgrade the axles with the super kits or just aftermarket axleshafts? Ive already redone all the ujoints thus far.
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35's will be fine with the D30 up front. Since you don't do a lot of rockcrawling then you probably don't get into many situations where the front tires are getting bound up which is what causes a lot of u-joint/axle shaft failures. I think for your application the Super kits are a little overboard, but it wouldn't hurt to have some high strength shafts up front with 760 joints and then have your old ones to carry for spares.
The gearing will be fine and so will the Detroit/ARB combo. Selectable lockers are the best option to run up front.
The gearing will be fine and so will the Detroit/ARB combo. Selectable lockers are the best option to run up front.
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