few noob questions/suggestions

[floridaboy56]

hi everyone im new to the forum and new to jeeps, i have a 66 jeep CJ5 i put on 4 inch lift springs and was lookin into a little more lift. ive considered the soa but i dont need that much lift, also considered shackles what are the upos and downs to both? i want to run either a 33in or 35 inch tire, wich i can fit 33's now, so any suggestions on what i should do? its all bone stock except for the springs. i plan on running either tsl's or boggers, ive had good results on my mud trucks with them, and its going to be more of a mud/trail jeep, not many rocks around florida! thanks for the help ....Marlen

 

[CJim7]

Hey Marlen, welcome to the site.
You might consider a 1" body lift to clear the 35's. I can only imagine 4" CJ5 springs are a bit stiff to begin with (?) so the lack of flex will probably keep your tires out of the fenders. I would absolutely stay away from lift shackles, especially on something as short wheelbased as a '5. Remember, to get 1 inch of lift, you would need a shackle 2 inches longer then stock. This plays havoc on everything from castor to spring wear to undue stress on suspension components causing wander and unsafe steering conditions.

SOA will get you the lift you need, but do you really need it? The main advantage to SOA is to provide a lot of lift while maintaining a soft ride and maximum axle articulation. The problem is CJ5 's and the short wheelbase (once again). Stretching the rear axle back a bit helps this and gives you room to run a longer rear driveline, but its a lot of work after you have factored in the high steer that you will want to do for correct steering geometry.
Not talking you out of it, just wanting to make you aware. I think SOA is to much for simple 35's. Are you against any kind of fender trimming? That'll really open up your options. The lower the center of gravity, the better.

 

[BusaDave9]

I agree with CJim7. The SOA is more than you'll need.
What do you think of fender cutting. Many people want to keep the OEM look. Once the fenders are cut you can't easily put them back.
On the other hand if you cut the fenders you can keep the CG much lower. You will mainly have to cut the front and rear of the rear fenders. That's what I would do. Actually that's what I did to my CJ5 to fit 35s.

 

[floridaboy56]

yes it does ride like a loaded dump truck with the lift springs on it. From what ive read on soa kits i really dont need that much lift. the 1 inch body would be something id lean towards more, im not a big fan of body lifts but would rather do that than shackles, dont think i want to put that much work into her yetlol as faras stretching the axles and such, id like to keep it oem as much as i can without trimming the fenders, cause the body is in really goood shape.

 

[Sasquach]

A couple things to keep in mind with a 66 is that if stock the steering box and column are frame mounted as well as the clutch and brake pedals thus lifting the body will create some issues there. Also your manual steering is not easily made power and those 33's you want are gona be a handfull.

 

[floridaboy56]

yea you do have a good point about the steering and pedals, i had 33 x13's on it before the werent terribly bad to steer not easy by any means at a dead stop i got rid of the them cause they rubbed the leaf springs so much, i have a set of 34x10.50 super swamper ltb's on my ford now ima swap em over and see how they do

 

[IOPort51]

Can you find rims with more offset? that may take care of the rubbing problem.

 

[the chief]

I went with wide (13.5) 35s on mine. It already had a 4" lift, I ended up adding a 2" body lift and still had to cut the wheel wells. I also had to put 1-1/2" wheel spacers to keep the tires from rubbing my under mounted springs when the steering is cranked. It's definately more work to get 35s to clear. If I didn't use my jeep solely for off road I would have stayed with the 33s

 

[floridaboy56]

i put on 2 inch wheel spacers today and my 34 1050 ltbs the did good, still had a lil rubbing on the leafs but not much