What size lift for 35" tire clearance?

I have a 74 CJ5 4 spd with 4:37 gears. I know it is too low geared for what i will use it for I can take off in 3rd gear with no shuddering and without having to slip the clutch. Needless to say at 55 it is turning the engine pretty good!! Currently it has 32" BFG M/T's on it. I happen to have a brand new set of Pro Comp Mud Terrains 35X12.5X15's in the garage and got to thinking it might put my gearing to where I want it? So what size lift would I need to accomplish this? I have been told just to do a spring over but I just don't like that idea. I don't do any real heavy wheeling with the Jeep, only when hunting and nothing crazy then, mostly street driven. Thanks in advance for the help.

Dan

 

You can fit 35s under a 2.5-3" but w/ 12.5s you'll probably rub. A 4" lift would handle 35s fine. I run 33x10.50s under a 3" lift and don't rub. W/ 12.5s you may need spacers. Others will confirm or not, but it can be done w/o a SOA.:v6:

 

IIRC, the rear fender openings are about 34" in diameter, so anything greater than 33-34" you;ll need to either cut or put the Jeep so high in the air that the tires never reach the wheel wells.

A couple of comments - a spring-over would be a big mistake. Hackery, and inappropriate for a short WB Jeep IMO.

You should be fine on the highway with 4.27s. The 4-speed has no effect on highway speed. I owned a '73 with 4.27s and 31s and could easily drive 75-80 mph. If you have a fixed blade fan, they make a lot of noise. Also, you may not be accustomed to how noisy a Jeep is. Get a tach, and look at the tach numbers - with 33s and 4.27 gears, you are under 3500 RPM at 80 mph - well within the comfort zone of the 232, 258 or 304.

 

Depends on how you wheel it.

I have 4.5" lift And still had to trim the fenders on all 4 corners to keep the tires out of the sheet metal. But then again. I built it with a lot of flex and use it on some pretty tough stuff.

 

Mine has the 258 c.i. 32" tires and it simply will not do 75-80 mph, no way. I have owned a lot of Jeeps so yes, I am very familiar with the noise associated with them. This thing is TOO LOW GEARED, period. The tags say 4:27's on both differentials, maybe they are lower than that and the previous owner just left the tags on, I don't know. I just know I can take off in 3rd gear, no lugging, no clutch chatter, and still have to shift in to 4th gear in a matter of 30 - 40 yards. No, I don't have a tach in this one yet but would almost bet I am hitting 3500 rpm or better at 55 mph, it is that low geared! This is why I was wanting to run the 35's as I already have the new set in the garage from a different rig that I sold and figured it would be less expensive than getting re-geared..... I don't want to cut the fenders, the body on this 74 is all original and in VERY nice condition, the only rust I have found is at the top of the windshield channel where the top slides in to. Like I said, I rarely take it off the road, no rock climbing, no heavy trails, only for hunting and mostly only use 4WD for the mud then. I do agree that the springover is not an option for me, I had already discounted that idea........ I was hoping for an easy fix without the big bucks for gears!

 

Here is 35's with 4.5" lift. Notice the rear fenders are cut but the fronts have not been cut yet.


There is a lot of clearance. You can go with less lift as long as you use bump stops to limit compression travel. That will help keep the tires out of the sheet metal.

 

It's hard to reconcile the numbers with what you say. If you are doing 55 at 3500 RPM with 32" tires, that's a 6.05 axle ratio, which is not realistic... I'm not pulling numbers out of the air - that's the math. I don't see how it's possible unless one of your assumptions is wrong.

I'd suggest that you verify your ring and pinion ratio and make some actual measurements, either of the speed you are going with a GPS or of your engine RPM with a tach. Take the cover off of one of the differentials and look at the numbers stamped into the gears. This will give you the tooth count for the ring and pinion, ie 47 11 is 47/11 = 4.27.


Not arguing with you - just trying to be helpful.

 

No Lift Needed,,,,,, Just a Sawsall!!
It is possible, if necessary, to do a nice neat trim of the rear openings if you have minor rubbing. I used YJ Wrangler flares and slightly trimmed the sheetmetal. Looks good and still has a factory look.

 

LOL I am betting you have it in LOW RANGE...seen it before....

I have the same CJ you have ('74 CJ5 with 35x12.50.15 Swampers) and it has about a 6" lift (4" suspension and 2" shackles). I also have a front shackle conversion installed, so I had to cut out the front fenders to clear the suspension movements. In the rear, I cut out the entire fender sheetmetal and installed TJ fender flares to cover the hole.

Here is my rig when I bought it (with lift, before I took a sawzall to it)

Here it is after the sawzall attack

Rear tire clearance after the mods (flexed into the wheelwell)

 

Nope, not in low gear. I checked that first as I thought maybe somehow it was. Tim, no argument taken, I appreciate the help. I really do not want to do any cutting on the body, so that option won't work for me. I guess I will pull the covers off as Tim suggested, see what is in there and maybe do some gear swapping. I have 3:08's in the other '74 that I am going to be selling, I wonder with the 32" tires that are on this one if it will be too high geared then? I don't want that extreme either, just looking for a happy medium with decent CJ mileage.

 

I'm running 35's with 5.38 gears and I can do 60 in 4th @ just over 3200 rpm. . But who wants to go 60 in a Jeep?

 

Other than the 4" suspension and 2" body lift it shows in your signature did you have to cut any sheet metal for clearance? Not really interested in speed, I'd just like to pass a gas station once in awhile!!

 

I had to cut the rear fender wells to clear my tires. But they are 13.50's 12.50's might have cleared.