KP's JKUR Build

KPM171 said:
I do! I do! That's gonna be a decent size write up requiring many diet cokes to complete.
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Your just to funny. Can't wait for another camp fire night. Maybe Rocco can break out the douchebag!

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KPM171 said:
Soooon!



Agreed. Hoping to get 3 snorts of approval around the fire again. :D



Never! Billet Silver Bypass Committee (BSBC) for Life!
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Lol I'm sure she will give it . The founder of the committee can't relinquish that title...

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Tire Time! (35x12.50r17)

From the minute I picked up my JK, I always knew deep down inside that I would end up on a larger tire. Oh sure, I tried to pretend that the stock size would be enough for me. But that fat bottomed girl kept reminding me just how long she is when it came to getting up, up, and over obstacles. A scraaaaaaaape here and there to let me know the skid plates are working also makes for a fine subtle hint. My research started well over 7 months ago with a simple spread sheet. As much of my research has been known to do, it just kept growing and growing. More metrics, more descriptions, more options. I became obsessed with true heights. Every ounce needed to be calculated. I had to COLLECT ALL THE DATA!

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With data in hand, I started thinking about what I wanted to do and what I could do. 40's? Nah, too big. I wouldn't fit in my garage. Do I jump into 37's? They do look awfully nice on a 4 door (great proportions). But, I can't fit them with out trimming or swapping out fenders. Ok, but I can't change my fender set up with my current bumper, so I'd have to swap that out for a mid or stubby. And while I'm swapping the bumper, I might as well change my winch line. And I should probably re-gear if I'm gonna do all that... Maybe now isn't the time for 37's. What about 35's? That's a nice size, not too big, not too small. Juuust right.

But, not all 35's are created equal. Some folks claim 315/70r17 is a 35, others say only a 35x12.50r17 is a proper 35. With 35's as the goal, I whittled away at a wishlist. Before you ask, yes I know I'm comparing MT's and AT's. I just put them all in one big pot to fight it out! The Ideal tire would score perfectly on all of the following (in no particular order):

Criteria
  • Highway Ride - Let's be honest, even if I wheel every weekend, these tires will still clock more miles on the highway than on the trails. I'd like a quiet comfortable ride on the road.
  • On road handling in all weather conditions - This is key. A great mud tire that can't actually get me (and my family) safely to the trail or anywhere else is pretty useless to me.
  • Price - I'd still like to be able to afford to eat after I buy a set of tires.
  • Sidewall Strength - I don't think this needs explaining.
  • Tread Pattern - They need to be able to get through/over whatever I throw at them.
  • True height - Why, why, why do all the manufacturers offer different true sizes of 35x12.50? If it's a 35, just stamp a 35" tire!
  • Weight - I know my JK isn't a hot rod or a fuel sipper, but increased rotational weight is huge a power and MPG drain.

The many, the disqualified!
  • BFG All-Terrain T/A KO - Excellent on road qualities, but mud is this tires kryptonite.
  • Cooper Discoverer STT - This has a nice aggressive tread pattern, a great price, is not too heavy, and doesn't howl on the road. It almost made it into the finale.
  • Dick Cepek Crusher - Just a little too heavy for the size and I could only find it in metric for a 35.
  • Dick Cepek Fun Country - Great tire that competes with the Duratrac, but has just recently been discontinued.
  • Falken Wild Peak AT - The tread is a bit weak here, but they are a great price and the only AT to offer a 50k mile warranty.
  • General Grabber (Red Letter) - I saw these on a buddy's JK. They have a nice tread pattern, but are too heavy.
  • General Grabber AT2 - Good true height, decent weight, but there's just not enough meat in the tread.
  • Goodyear Wrangler MT/R with Kevlar - Love the Kevlar side walls, the tread is nice and meaty, but I kept hearing about how loud these tires are on the road.
  • Hankook Dynapro MT - This tire took first place in 4wheelers mud tire shoot out, but they were a little pricy for what you got imho.
  • Kumho Road Venture MT KL71 - The price is great, but they are pretty damn heavy.
  • Micky Thompson Baja MTZ - The tread on this tire is nice, the weight is good, but during my research I found the tire to run a little on the small side when it comes to true height.
  • Nitto Mud Grappler - Meaty tread, strong sidewall, reasonable price, but they are just too loud on the highway.
  • Nitto Trail Grappler - Great tread, strong sidewall, reasonable price, but they are just too damn heavy.
  • ProComp Xtreme MT2 - The 40k mile warranty is nice and they do have an aggressive tread pattern, but I'm still on the fence on ProComp parts. They haven't wow'd me yet.
  • Toyo Open Country AT II - 80lbs for an AT tire? That's all the info I need to kick this tire off the list.
  • Toyo Open Country MT - Great tread and price, but at 83 lbs/tire, this is the heaviest 35 on the entire list. And possibly one of the heaviest 35's out there.
  • Yokohama Geolander M/T Plus - The lightest of the 35's but also one of the smallest true heights. Mixed reviews and the true height cost this tire a spot.

Finalists:
  • BFG Mud-Terrain T/A KM2 - My stock tires are the BFG KM's and I really love them. The KM2's are the same style tread, offer a very good highway ride and a strong Kevlar sidewall. However, the highest price combined with low scoring on ice traction cut this tire from my list. The weight is pretty good and they are the front runners for 37's if/when I go that route.
    bfg_mudterrain_ta_km2_ci2_l.jpg

  • Dick Cepek FC II - Replacing the DC Fun country is the FC-II and is a pretty aggressive AT tire. There's a lot of engineering and science that went into that tread. Nice highway ride, good snow/ice traction, and a reasonable price kept this tire competitive.
    dc_radialfc2_ci2_l.jpg

  • Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac - I have yet to meet a person that's running a duratrac that doesn't like it. Great snow/ice/mud/highway ride, the best weight and the price isn't bad either. I just wish it was a little bigger. You hear that GoodYear? Make this in a true 35" or a 37" and I bet you'll get more than a few sales out of it. Small true height and a slightly weaker sidewall made this tire my runner up.
    gy_wranglerdt_owl_ci2_l.jpg

Winner:
  • Dick Cepek Mud Country - The DC Mud Country offers a comfortable highway ride, very aggressive tread that's surprisingly quiet, about average weight, an M+S designation, a strong side wall, close to a 35" true height, and a pretty reasonable price. Is this tire perfect at everything like I had hoped? Nope. But it is pretty damn good at all of it. Over the last 2,000 miles, I've tossed wet and dry pavement at it, DEEP snow, sleet, ice, and mud. The tires have performed extremely well on all of it.

    They especially excel at deep snow where I spent a good bit of time only needing 2wd to get around while others needed 4H or 4L. They were recently at Rausch Creek and they performed well. They offered nice sidewall flex when aired down to 19 psi (I'm sure they could easily go lower) and provided great traction for hill climbs and all the snowy trails. Yes, I did get stuck once but that's my own fault and no dig on the tires. On the highway for the first 200 miles, they were Lexus quite (not kidding). After about 250 miles, they did get a little louder. I can hear them, but only when I turn off the radio, and engage the clutch. The in cab noise clocks in at 72 dB with all the windows up & the hard top on.

    One of the best recommendations I can give a product is the following: Would I buy it again? The answer here is yes, yes I would.
    dc_mudcountry_ci2_l.jpg

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Speedo

After slapping on the new tires, I needed to recalibrate my speedo. I know most folks use a FlashCal or a ProCal, both of which are fantastic devices, but earlier this year I picked up anAeroforce Tech Interceptor gauge to go in the center of my sPOD. This gauge also features two way communications, a feature that I have yet to take advantage of until now. I flipped through the internets and found an older thread, but still a good read on JK Forum that gave a good description on how to set your speedo for your new tire size. He says "The Tire Size is entered based upon circumference in millimeters. Here's a little chart to make it easier: (You should round the number e.g. 2656.8 = 02657)"
Tire%u002520Setting.JPG
This chart is from the post referenced above. I did not make it.

Starting with that calculation pic, I went to the garage to measure the circumference of my tires using a very scientific method... I wrapped a string around my spare to get 2788 mm. When I tried using that setting, my speedo was waaaaaaaaaaay off. On a side note, for those of us with OEM NAV's, the speedo on the instrument panel and the speed display on the NAV come from the same source. One isn't a GPS based number.

After quite a bit of trial and error testing, the perfect measurement to get the speedo to line up with a GPS was actually 2643 mm (or the same revs as a 33.125" tall tire). Either there's a been a change to how the 2013's calculate speed and distance (possible, but unlikely) or a tire under weight actually does compress THAT much. Wow! Did I just learn something new? If anyone has a stronger grasp on physics and can go into additional detail on tire compression calculations depending on weight, pressure, and ambient conditions (yeah, I know... I'm a bit of a nerd!), please feel free to PM me.
 
i know that eddie has said before that the true size of the tire is its size under load not the side wall. yours is a perfect example of a 35" (sidewall reading) tire but when on the jeep it measures to a 33. mine i know measures right at 34.25" so from the ground to where the sidewall meets the bottom of the tread is where you are to measure to find your true size for recalibrating.
 
cozdude said:
i know that eddie has said before that the true size of the tire is its size under load not the side wall. yours is a perfect example of a 35" (sidewall reading) tire but when on the jeep it measures to a 33. mine i know measures right at 34.25" so from the ground to where the sidewall meets the bottom of the tread is where you are to measure to find your true size for recalibrating.
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When I stated True Size, I was using manufacturers spec of what they claimed the pressed tire to be. However, I took a measurement of the true size you used for yours as well... Under load, compressed, my 35" tire settles down to a 34" from the ground to top which is still bigger than the 33.125" that I needed for the CPU to get the speedo to match up.
 
Jesus Christ. And I thought I did a lot of research when I was searching for what tires I wanted haha I do dig those tires man. I'm looking forward to the new Falken mud terrains that'll be ont he market sometime this year. When these tires die, I'll get those in 35's or bigger :)
 
jkmadness said:
Center of the wheel down to the ground X2.
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KPM171 said:
THAT is a measurement I don't have yet. I'll be back!
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From the ground up, the half way point (center of the center cap) is at 17 3/8's.
17.375 * 2 = 34.75" true height.

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Kenny-g said:
Jesus Christ. And I thought I did a lot of research when I was searching for what tires I wanted haha I do dig those tires man. I'm looking forward to the new Falken mud terrains that'll be ont he market sometime this year. When these tires die, I'll get those in 35's or bigger :)
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Lol... it's a blessing and a curse. I've been thinking about tires for MONTHS! I saw the tread on the new Falken Muds from the SEMA pix, they sure do look meaty!
 
KPM171 said:
Lol... it's a blessing and a curse. I've been thinking about tires for MONTHS! I saw the tread on the new Falken Muds from the SEMA pix, they sure do look meaty!
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Lol idk about meaty but if they're as good durability wise as my Rocky Mountain ATS IIs then they'll be friggin great ont he rocks/in mud. I was wishing they'd have a bit more of a "fun" tread to them since the Wild Peaks and Rocky Mountains are off the wall type designs. But if it works, it works! I think they're going to be available up to 40's (not that I'd ever be on 40's...).
 
Nice. I ordered the same bracket. The Synergy bracket doesn't work as well. I hope I can send it back.

KPM171 said:
Something I've always wanted in a Jeep but have always been a little leery of getting was on-board air. Simply b/c of the amount of space a full compressor takes up and the added weight. Lucky for me (not so much for my wallet!) I found an ARB High Output compressor kit from NorthRidge4x4. This little compressor fits under my hood in some dead space and has no problem airing up tires (only 32's for now) and possibly filling up a small tank for some air tools. But really, I only plan to use it for tires after trails since I don't even own any air tools at the moment.

I was just about to do a full write of my on-board air compressor install on this build thread, but @WayOfLife beat me to it. My bracket is a little different as it sits back against the firewall while his is perpendicular to mine. I had to relocate the horn and wired it to my sPod instead of the supplied switch, but everything else is pretty much the same. Here it is installed in all its on-board air goodness!
View attachment 33679

@Wayoflife's ARB High Output On-Board Air Compressor Under the Hood JK Installation Write-Up

The only complaint I have isn't about the product, which works very well, it's in my install. I drilled a new hole in the bracket when I had to move my horn and now I believe it's not grounding out properly. Nothing a metal file and some patience won't fix tho!
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