Me and My '05 Limited, Riding On Air

[dude1116]

But I really have no plans to get that deep into trouble off road. I'm a wannabe photographer, not a rock crawling, mud bogging, dune blaster. Let alone the extreme cost of lockers. Will the slightly taller, somewhat heavier wheels and tires I'm putting on be too much strain on the Al Dana 30a? If it's just a matter of protecting it from rock damage, I can do that cheaper with skid plates, which I plan to use anyway.

I've only seen one steel front diff for the KJ - from JBA. Is there something cheaper available?

You'll be fine with a D30a. The only real way to blow it up is to be spinning the front tires and suddenly get grip. If you're just on logging roads and not deep mud/water...you'll be fine. Even with an open dif.

 

[Jim McClain]

You mean I can save a grand or two???

 

[HoosierJeeper]

If you want....or just send it to me.

You'll be fine for your uses as is...just wanted to point out what could be!

 

[Dave]

Good forum, huh.......you could get dude1116 a drink or 2....LOL


Dave

 

[Jim McClain]

Yeah, the support you can get here is the best... well, MY forum is the best, but this is a really close second.

 

[tommudd]

I've had 3 KJs in my garage replacing the front diff in over 12 years, each of them was due to excessive spinning going up high, rocky areas. Wheels spinning and like mentioned one suddenly grabs traction and BOOM.
If you want to do anything something like a Detroit TruTrac would be a great upgrade, get into a situation like that and just get it to lock up and instead of BOOM it will be "BAM I'm up and over that area".
I've been in situations like that but knew what may happen so feathered it through and never busted one .

 

[Jim McClain]

Yeah, DTT in front would probably be a good thing to have in the snow and ice around here.

 

[dude1116]

DTT would probably help all driveablity conditions (snow...rain...etc) and I would agree with that. As for myself...I can't afford to drop the money for 4.10s and DTTs (front and/or rear) so I have decided to not. Everywhere that I go...the open difs have gotten be through without a problem. It's up to you based on your pocket and what you feel like would improve your driving experience.

 

[tommudd]

Driving experience almost more than anything
The old guys I wheeled with back in the 1970s kept telling me "nice and easy" but I liked full bore, :gr_grin:soon learned what they meant so I didn't replace parts for 4 days to take one day to tear it up:happy175:

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Part of the reason I got a winch, if I can't make it up something without questioning if I could break the diff, just winch it.

 

[profdlp]

To go back to the recent power/regear question:

I noticed a slight loss in power, especially the day I pulled out of the shop with the new tires on there. After about a week it just felt normal. A little more gas (not much), a few more rpm (not too many), just a slight alteration in driving style, really. I used to have to floor my old Tracker and pray just to merge on the highway. had I bought the Jeep with the lift and tires already on there I'd just have assumed that "that's the way it is".

 

[Jim McClain]

The rest of my rims have arrived, so have all the TPMSes. Today I ordered the rest of the tires and some hub centric rings (I don't know how ell they work, but they were cheap). The wheel well modifications will be done next Tuesday, so I should be driving around on new meat even before the last snowfall.

Well, I was mistaken when I said all the rims had arrived. I forgot I only had 4, so I ordered the last one shortly after that post. Almost a week later (today), I called Summit because I still hadn't gotten a shipping confirmation. Summit and most other dealers have these rims shipped directly from the manufacturer, Vision Wheels, but Summit had the best online price and free shipping and no tax. When I called, they told me they were notified by the manufacturer on the 28th (day after my order) that the wheels were 90 days out.

While I was on the phone with them, I got another call from Discount Tires. I still haven't mastered handling 2 or more calls at once on my smartphone, so after I got through chewing a new one at the poor support call desk at Summit, I called Discount back. They wanted to inform me that all my tires were in and ready to be mounted & balanced. I told the guy about my problem waiting on the 5th wheel and he asked me what wheel it was. I gave him the part number and he has it in 2 warehouse locations. Then he asked what I paid for it ($113.53) and he said they will match that price and it should arrive in 4 days.

After ordering 4 tires and now this rim, Discount Tire still hasn't asked me for a single dollar. It was all good faith based off my single visit to have one wheel & tire I didn't buy from them mounted so I could use it as a test setup for my wheel well modifications. They charged me only 10 bucks and asked me to let them know if it fit. The guy said he could match the online price I paid for the tires (the store price is a little higher, plus they have to charge tax). So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for getting the new meat and rims on my KJ early next week.

 

[wheeee32]

Well, I was mistaken when I said all the rims had arrived. I forgot I only had 4, so I ordered the last one shortly after that post. Almost a week later (today), I called Summit because I still hadn't gotten a shipping confirmation. Summit and most other dealers have these rims shipped directly from the manufacturer, Vision Wheels, but Summit had the best online price and free shipping and no tax. When I called, they told me they were notified by the manufacturer on the 28th (day after my order) that the wheels were 90 days out.

While I was on the phone with them, I got another call from Discount Tires. I still haven't mastered handling 2 or more calls at once on my smartphone, so after I got through chewing a new one at the poor support call desk at Summit, I called Discount back. They wanted to inform me that all my tires were in and ready to be mounted & balanced. I told the guy about my problem waiting on the 5th wheel and he asked me what wheel it was. I gave him the part number and he has it in 2 warehouse locations. Then he asked what I paid for it ($113.53) and he said they will match that price and it should arrive in 4 days.

After ordering 4 tires and now this rim, Discount Tire still hasn't asked me for a single dollar. It was all good faith based off my single visit to have one wheel & tire I didn't buy from them mounted so I could use it as a test setup for my wheel well modifications. They charged me only 10 bucks and asked me to let them know if it fit. The guy said he could match the online price I paid for the tires (the store price is a little higher, plus they have to charge tax). So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for getting the new meat and rims on my KJ early next week.

That's awesome you got some great customer service. I was always treated well at Discount when I lived in a state that had them. Post up pics once you get the new wheels/tires on.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Nice! Discount Tire has always treated me well. The closest one to me is about an hour or so away, but for the every few years I need tires, it's worth the trip.

I'll get the pics of how I trimmed my wheel well liners and my air dam, hopefully those will give you a good guide since we're at a similar height.

 

[dude1116]

Well, I was mistaken when I said all the rims had arrived. I forgot I only had 4, so I ordered the last one shortly after that post. Almost a week later (today), I called Summit because I still hadn't gotten a shipping confirmation. Summit and most other dealers have these rims shipped directly from the manufacturer, Vision Wheels, but Summit had the best online price and free shipping and no tax. When I called, they told me they were notified by the manufacturer on the 28th (day after my order) that the wheels were 90 days out.

While I was on the phone with them, I got another call from Discount Tires. I still haven't mastered handling 2 or more calls at once on my smartphone, so after I got through chewing a new one at the poor support call desk at Summit, I called Discount back. They wanted to inform me that all my tires were in and ready to be mounted & balanced. I told the guy about my problem waiting on the 5th wheel and he asked me what wheel it was. I gave him the part number and he has it in 2 warehouse locations. Then he asked what I paid for it ($113.53) and he said they will match that price and it should arrive in 4 days.

After ordering 4 tires and now this rim, Discount Tire still hasn't asked me for a single dollar. It was all good faith based off my single visit to have one wheel & tire I didn't buy from them mounted so I could use it as a test setup for my wheel well modifications. They charged me only 10 bucks and asked me to let them know if it fit. The guy said he could match the online price I paid for the tires (the store price is a little higher, plus they have to charge tax). So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for getting the new meat and rims on my KJ early next week.

Discount Tire has been absolutely phenomenal with me. When I shopped for tires...I found the most obscure online tire shop with my tires for cheaper and they matched it regardless of being a no-name site. And they did it without hassle! So glad you were able to get this worked out Jim. Hope the install goes smoothly!

 

[Aceofspades]

I just bought 5 from them for about $285 less then my local shop. Thanks for the tip !

 

[Jim McClain]

I'll get the pics of how I trimmed my wheel well liners and my air dam, hopefully those will give you a good guide since we're at a similar height.

A gentle reminder - the pictures will help. I'm hoping to hear from Discount Tires today or tomorrow to tell me they are ready to get me on my new rims & tires. If any additional trimming of the wheel well liner needs to be done, I'd like to know where that would be.

Thanks.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Just took the pictures this weekend...will up load them now!

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Here's the driver's side wheel well.

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Basically, just trim the inner liner, just where it starts getting deeper.
Front air dam. Yours is just straight right now and runs past the body color part, I did mine so it's stepped with the body color tab thing. Could just cut the whole thing I guess, but I thought this looked nicer.

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Same on passenger side. This one self clearanced actually, so really I just did the driver's side to match.

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Trimmed the air dam the same way.

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Here's what the factory air dam looks like for comparison.

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I'm not sure how your rims will change the geometry, but I'd lean towards not doing any cutting tomorrow (at least in the wheel well, the air dam I'm pretty sure will rub) and then watch for where it rubs. You'll be able to tell, just see where the dirt gets rubbed off. Hate to see you cut things that didn't need to be cut.

 

[Jim McClain]

Basically, just trim the inner liner, just where it starts getting deeper.

Front air dam. Yours is just straight right now and runs past the body color part, I did mine so it's stepped with the body color tab thing. Could just cut the whole thing I guess, but I thought this looked nicer.

Same on passenger side. This one self clearanced actually, so really I just did the driver's side to match. Trimmed the air dam the same way.

I'm not sure how your rims will change the geometry, but I'd lean towards not doing any cutting tomorrow (at least in the wheel well, the air dam I'm pretty sure will rub) and then watch for where it rubs. You'll be able to tell, just see where the dirt gets rubbed off. Hate to see you cut things that didn't need to be cut.

Thank you. This is great information. I already cut some of that out. It may not be dirty enough to show much under there. We've had a LOT of rain lately and more to come and 99.9% of the miles I will get after the tires are mounted is pavement or concrete. So, it's good to know where to look when I hear rubbing. And once I an confident there's no clearance issues for highway travel, then I can take it up a more challenging road to fine tune.

Thanks again.