The Ideal WB

[Seth]

What would you do?

Long enough for the tall waterfalls and short enough for the tight stuff. I am at 102 right now and sometimes I wish I were a bit longer.

Just curious what others experiences have been.

 

[Meat_]

My ideal is 108~114

 

[Tacoma]

I'd agree w/Meat.

The Uber715 has 126", but on 46's it'll have the same relative breakover, approach, departure angles as... a lifted Unlimited or something.

 

[SAMI]

i'm at 114" and i like it

 

[ChestonScout]

Im at 120" and it is great 90% of the time. I would say around 115. Of course it depends on the driving style and trails you want to run. 115 would be the ideal average joe rockcrawler in Utah, wheelbase

 

[78mitsu]

I tend towards 110, but I prefer a lower slung rig.

 

[Milner]

I like 103-106, seems like over 110 at it is too hard to make turns in tight spots.... no ideals, just a good compromise.

 

[Seth]

My thinking goes like this...

I can get to 106 without reworking the body. The tries would hang out the back 6 inches though and I am not overly thrilled with that look. The rear 4 link needs to be moved anyway to fit the new transfer case. So.. If that is being done anyway why not (famous last words) move it a bit more say 110. But it would be nice to have a bench seat again. If I go a bit longer that would help with the leg room in back. I am thinking 110 wb and box the body and frame to 114. That would not compromise the departure angle much if at all and gets me leg/storage space.

 

[kyojin]

I'm right at 107" right now. It was all from a rear stretch. Its a huge improvement over from the stock TJ wb of 94". I haven't had too many breakover issues and should have even less now that I took 2.5 inches out of my t-case skid plate. Down the road I can see stretching the front out 2-3 inches and being in the 110" range. At that time I will upgrade from 37's to 40's.

 

[Bart]

For comps I loved 101". With the LTJ I was gald I went to 106". With the new buggy I'm going to be between 110" and 112" and am looking forward to the extra wheel base. I think I can still squeeze tight stuff with the Atlas.

 

[notajeep]

I have really liked the 112" of the toyota, but somtimes wished it turned tighter. So... I built the buggy at 108".

 

[Seth]

For comps I loved 101". With the LTJ I was gald I went to 106". With the new buggy I'm going to be between 110" and 112" and am looking forward to the extra wheel base. I think I can still squeeze tight stuff with the Atlas.

That is what I hear quite a bit. You add 6" and then another 6". I just don't see anyone going down to 106". It is fine if that is where you are but rigs keep getting a bit longer it seems.

 

[littlesolidkick]

im a sami driver and love the short wheel base it gets a little butt puckering some times but thats what get. i like 90-93 on 35'' and 86-90 on 33"

 

[1995zj]

I'm at 109 right now, and compared to my old XJ at 105 I like it a lot more

 

[Seth]

I think I am looking at 114" in order to fit a second row and a toolbox. It will require a bunch of glass work but it should look like a cj6 when we are done.

 

[yellowbronco]

I think you might like 114 I'm at 113 and yes, it does get a little tight on some stuff, but you adapt. Plus, it's really kind of fun to just walk up stuff that would have short wb's turning turtle!:greg:

 

[RockRig]

Depends on where you wheel. I'm out east and running 106 WB. There's no way I'd go any longer.

On my yearly trip to Moab, I find 106 a bit short at times.

 

[Bart]

Great point. We were in Oregon last spring and the ideal wheel base was around 90" with narrow axles and tall skinny tires. This was to negotiate a lot of mud and squeeze through trees, and high speeds. It was a blast, but a lot different than Moab.

 

[Cody]

My old buggy was at 107 and I thought it was a little long. I didn't have any problems climbing anything, but found with my width and length sometimes struggled to negotiate tight turns and had issues with breakover angle.

I'd like my buggy to be around 105. I think lighter rigs can get away with shorter WB's because they don't have to drag so much damn weight up with them.

 

[Herzog]

My buggy is currently 103" and I love it. If I were to change it, I would only go longer by an inch or two. JMO.