Tires For 3" lifted Liberty Renegade 04'

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osufans

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I'll grant you that the optimal gear/tire combo was chosen for optimal MPG. But this would've been done not only for wear, but also to meet CAFE standards or whatever the heck it is that manufacturers are rated on for EPA emissions testing.

Yes, a bigger tire will put more stress on gears, axles, etc. What are the actual tested limits of the factory gears?? That I couldn't tell you. I don't think I'm anywhere near the limits merely running a 31" tall tire though...especially on a vehicle that has a 5000# tow rating stock.

Sorry to rant...I may have been in a less than stellar mood yesterday when I threw my comments out there. :)

I just try to keep the discussion open about what can work, and that there may be differing solutions for specific applications (trail rig vs daily driver). In my opinion, 31" tires are by no means pushing the limits of our Liberty on stock gearing (at least for the rear axle.) I would agree that going bigger than 31"s would start to push those limits, and that's even with proper re-gearing. However, since most owners aren't interested in spending the thousands required to lift higher than 2"-3" you gain from the standard off the shelf OME, we have, by default, a built-in tire size limitation to 31" anyway.

I'm rambling again, but basically what I'm trying to say in the end is, if you don't mind losing a few MPG's, and you don't intend to convert your Liberty into a seriously dedicated rock-crawling trail rig, 31's on stock gears are perfectly fine. The reality is, you're pushing the limits of your axle shafts long before you cause detrimental issues to anything else. The motor has plenty of power, the transmission has plenty of strength....it all comes down to your axle shafts, which from some quick googling, show that 33"s are pretty much the limit to the Chrysler 8.25 29-spline anyway. And honestly, if you are trail riding your rig, you won't even be reaching 4th gear....so the whole "see how many times your ****** downshifts between 45-55 MPH" is a moot point.
 

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