i bought my first jeep, a 2005 rubicon, in may 06. i did a bit of wheeling with an 87 chevy 1/2 ton before the rubicon. i figured if i'm going to buy a jeep, might as well buy a jeep. liked the fact that it had air lockers, dana 44's front/rear, etc. i'm getting to the point where i'm getting sick of bottoming out on the crossmember and rears. 

i want to put either 33's or 35's on the jeep for more clearance. i've been told to go with a 4 inch lift for the 33's and 6inch lift for the 35's. got a price from a local 4wheel drive shop to put it on and decided me and my buddy will do it ourselves. he can do a bit of welding. i'm not that great at hands on stuff but eventually figure it out. 

i bought a 96 saturn for a commuter car to work. i have an hour drive to and from work. figured i'd be nice to the environment haha. at 35 mpg i think it was a good choice. plus didn't wanna run up the mileage on the rubicon.

here's what i'm dealing with

i don't want to spend a great deal of money but since it's a rubicon don't want to totally cheap out on it.

i was thinking of a long arm suspension but i'm not that hardcore, well not yet haha. plus i didn't really wanna weld it to the frame if i wasn't dedicated.

i work close to 60 hours a week so i wanted something more simple to install.

i was thinking 33's but then figured, why not 35's?

with 33's or 35's would the 4.10 gear ratio be enough or would i have to go lower?

i usually do some mudding, trail riding and a little bit of rocks

since it's a rubicon what kind of spacing would i have to have with 33's or 35's at like 11 inch wide.

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. i'm still looking and doing research.

a 1" body lift with a driveline and fuel tank lift would help some of your problems.

for an actual suspension lift, and definatly a 6" lift, I'd get one of the long arm lifts. the lift manufacturer will be able to tell you what backspacing is required to fit the desired tires. I think most want 3 1/2"

I run a 2004 Rubicon with a Skyjacker 4" short arm lift, a flat skid plate and 35's. The club that I belong to has about 10 97 and newer TJ's, there are only 3 with long arm lifts. I can drive every place that they do. With a short arm lift you do not need to modify the exhaust when the lift is installed. Most of us that run 35's use 4.10 or 4.56 gears. The short arm lift cost me $1,500 less than the long arm would have.   

i wanted to stay away from welding anything, is the flat skid plate welded? also what gears do you run? i already have 4.10's on my rubicon, i would be tickled pink if i didn't have to change the gears. i'm trying to do this on somewhat of a budget haha. buying the thing sucked alot of my funds away haha! if you have pictures and other info it would be greatly appreciated! jrruta@aol.com  

if you don't a lot of serious jeeping on trails like the hammers, you don't need 35's" and a 6" long arm lift.  its more expensive, more difficult to install, especially if your not an experienced wrencher.  you already have a kick ass jeep right out of the box. you just need a bit of lift and larger tires to gain more ground clearence.  here's what i'd suggest.

a quality 4" lift like a rubicon express or currie enterprises johnny joint system.  be sure to get brake line extensions, an ajustable front track bar and a chomoloy tie rod is always good.  a steering box brace is good, since you'll be adding alot of stress to it with larger tires.  

tires, stay with 33" x 12.5".  don't even bother running anything thinner.  as for wheels, i ran 16x8 mickey thompson classics with a 4.5" backspacing.  this stuffs the tires in a bit more and your traditional 3.5" backspacing and allows for a sharper turns and simple looks better.  plus the M/T's have steel inserts in the lugs so the lug nuts don't have to be retightened.  this tire/wheel combo rubs slightly on the front lower control arms, but its very minor.  

this combination is stout, reliable, stable(35's and a 6inch lift gets a bit tippy), and can take you pretty much anywhere.  your 4.10 gears are ok for now.  it would be nice to have lower gears like 4.56 or 4.88, but that will cost some more scratch.  get use to how your jeep runs on the trails like this, and it'll teach you to be a better driver in the long run.  plus you can upgrade as needed and as your wallet will allow. this can be an expensive hoppy.

this is pretty much the combination i was running on my tj, except i only had limited slips front and rear, and 3.73 gears.  i was able to go virtally the everywhere dedicated built-up trail rigs did, all the while learning to jeep with more finess.

hope this helps.

i'm really just doing research right now for what i wanna do because i'll need the jeep for the winter if the snow gets horrible.

i will probably go with 33's the more i have been reading the more modification goes with 35's and a larger lift. the shop that quoted me a price for installation,lift, tires, wheels and fender flares wanted like $4500. hell no! i can mount and balance the tires myself, my buddy who has a nice heated garage said he'd help and lend me the garage. i mainly wanted a lift because i've bottomed out a couple times on mudholes and where the ruts were bad and dried out, also high centered stuff. i have become a pretty good finess driver so far, my buddy is a hammer head haha, i like to baby my jeep a bit ;->

i wanted to go with just plain black steelies with goodyear m/t's like whats on it. i'll have to see. thanks alot!

Agreeing with jrruta and money saved on not doing the long arm can go to getting rid of that huge skid plate and going to the Belly Up or something.  

The skyjacker flat skid plate is a welded heavu duty piece. It bolts on the same place as the factory skid plate. The 2004 Rubicon comes with 4.10 gears and that is what I am running for now.  

I to fell for the 05 rubi. I also toiled over the different lifts out there. Finaly gave up and dove in. Let me tell you, the rubi is different than all other models. I settled for a 4 inch short arm from ebay. This was a complete bolt in kit with shocks. I ran this lift with stock 31 tires for 9 months due to the rub rumor and wheel (LACK OF CHOICES) issue. I just bought 315 (35) MTR's and they do rub slightly in the rear. This thing craws and wheels like great. I also added a Tom Woods CV rear drive shaft to eliminate trasfer skid plate spacer. I am happy. Total was $2K. 500 lift, 400 drive shaft, balance tires and mounting. want to add adjustable track arms next. hope this helps. also I am maxed out legaly for lift height of 7 inches over stock or I would have done 6 " lon are and 38.

Brian