I need opinions

[Xploderkid97]

So… im a newbie who needs opinions. I picked up a 97 wrangler with intensions of building it into an off road only crawler, but the more I look into it, the more I lean towards keeping it street legal. I would like to run full width axles and coilovers, but im not sure whether to stretch the wheel base out or to keep it where it is and not sure how hard it will be to keep a full width jeep within “safety” specs. Any one willing to share your personal opinion or experience that would be greatly appreciated. I am only in the beginning stages, but would like to start working out a plan and a budget, so I will have a lot of questions. Thanks for the help!

 

[LT.]

Not knowing where you are from I am going to guess that putting full width axles on a TJ will make the tires stick out too far for any bolt on fender flair to cover. I think that in Utah you need to have most if not all of your tires covered. If you live here in New Mexico then rock buggies are legal if you have them registered and insured.

Good luck and I hope that if I am wrong someone will correct me,
LT.

 

[Xploderkid97]

I am up here in highland utah, so that would run a problem for me, but i am looking for a way to get around that, i dont think it would be to hard, but i guess i wont see until i get one under it, and see what im working with

 

[Rusted]

I have been thinking much along the same lines as you.

check this out:

http://www.rockymountainextreme.com/showthread.php?t=32224

He is from this board, but he has gone full width axles, sucked in the tires with some deep back spaced wheels, added some flares to cover remaining tires. And he is very close to street legal.

 

[benjy]

if you keep it street legal, will you have a tow rig? If not, I wouldn't plan on any bigger than 35s

full width axles and coilovers... stretch the wheel base out or to keep it where it is... and a budget

maybe you should define "budget"

 

[Xploderkid97]

Hey rusted, i checked that out, it looks pretty good, it gave me a good idea for a "bolt on" fender kit that i could build, so that i could put on for the street and when i take it off, i could have the competition cut for tire clearence.

Originally posted by benjy
if you keep it street legal, will you have a tow rig?...maybe you should define "budget"

We do have a tow rig so that is not a big concern, my main reason for wanting to keep it street legal is for joy rides around town, and we have a lot of local areas that have decent trails, so i think it would be a lot easier to just be able to drive it straight there, rather than having to tow it to the trail head then unload and such.

as for the budget, it is a father and son build, so we are wanting to build something very capable for a good price, i am doing this research to see what i am truely looking at, so not 100 percent on a budget as of yet, but i have access to tooling and such, so that will save a lot of money doing everything on our own. I just wish i didnt get addicted to such an expensive sport/hobbie.

 

[Xploderkid97]

are there any others on the site running full widths and are still street legal? or is it kinda, once you make the switch, you make it off road only? Should i look at keeping them under the jeep? or should i put the full widths on?

 

[Spork]

I never saw the appeal of tires that stick out a foot on both sides but whatever floats your boat. :-\

 

[Maverick]

I drive project "Exreme Scrambler Makeover" and it has full width axles. I have 7" TJ flares. I'll be doing the same basic thing as mbryson but right now I add extenders to license it. I drive it around town (without the cheesy extenders) but tow to the trails. I plan on 17x9 rims with as much backspacing as possible (sucking the tire in).

I like full width...especially the side to side stability. Had full width since before it was cool...mainly because I was too cheap to narrow them.

With a '97, you've gotta mod the axle anyway (brackets) so go with whatever with suits your preference. How big of tire do you want? I wouldn't run full width with anything less than 38's.

 

[Xploderkid97]

I like the look of the full width too, and would like the width for stability purposes, I can build a flare to cover it up, so im pretty confident I want a full width. I will run the same style as you maverick, drive it around town but not too much, then tow it when im going to do some real wheelin.

My next question is, should I extend the wheelbase while im replacing the axle? or should I leave it? (like you said, ill have to make new brackets anyway, and I understand that I have to replace everything when I do) So is it really worth it to have the longer wheelbase?