Long term on 35's review, what do you think?

JeffNJM3

Bought an X
WvKqE1y.jpg

Just rolled 120k on my X, which means that's 20k miles on 35's over about 3 years. I was told it was going to be hard to handle, not be a good daily driver, be a chore to handle on the highway, etc. Nah, it's been pretty cool. I Still drive my kids to school in it, my wife still takes it to the store, we still pack it up and take it on family vacations, drives down the road nice and straight (well, maybe not on the way home from wheeling!) and rides pretty damn good! Problems? Issues? Sure, of course. Steering racks don't seem to like my X. I pre-emptively changed out the original rack at 100k when I t-swapped and went to 35's because it had a good amount of rotational play. That POS "rebuilt" Cardone rack started leaking after 2000 miles and finally blew out at about 7000 miles. Then i put in a nice used rack with 39k miles, that lasted about 8000 miles, until I split it in the middle, but it was after a really hard hit that spun my wheel right out of my hand, and now im on another nice used rack, which seems ok for now. Brakes. Yeah, they sucked more, but we're not that bad to be honest. Not sure I can blame the mushyness on the tires. I ended up with the fat Bob's kit with titan brakes in the front as well, but i think the way i bled them at the master lines and the abs lines made a lot of the improvement. I would say my biggest issue was tire balance and that was mainly me trying to get balance beads to work, and wanting them to work so bad (not bashing them, i know people who they work for, just not for me). Plus with the brakes, the 4.56's slow you down a bit too.

So who else has been on 35s for a while? What's your experiences?
 

jsexton

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lewis Center, OH
I’ve been on 35’s for about 2.5 years now. Love them. Only gripe is they are starting to look small to me :(

37’s are in my future. It’s weird. It’s almost like the longer I do this stupid hobby, the dumber decisions I make.
 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
I’ve been on 35’s for about 2.5 years now. Love them. Only gripe is they are starting to look small to me :(

37’s are in my future. It’s weird. It’s almost like the longer I do this stupid hobby, the dumber decisions I make.
Yep. Agree. I've got one more set of 35s and then it's 37s.
 

JeffPro4x

Hot Pipe
Super Moderator
Supporting Member
Location
Glenside, PA
I’ve been on 35’s for about 2.5 years now. Love them. Only gripe is they are starting to look small to me :(

37’s are in my future. It’s weird. It’s almost like the longer I do this stupid hobby, the dumber decisions I make.
I'm just going 35s. Give me a year or so of not playing catch up. Please?
 

IM1RU

Skid Plates
Supporting Member
Location
SLC, UT
I’m not convinced you can run 37’s on an X without massive problems.

I think it gets too tall to be stable on steep inclines or off camber situations.

But by all means, prove me wrong, because they look ufcking great!
 

IM1RU

Skid Plates
Supporting Member
Location
SLC, UT
So is the consensus for 35”s require a TS? I know gearing is a must, is 4:10 enough for most crawling or 4:56s? Contemplating....

There are few ways you can get there, but If you really want to run 35's

TS, 2" BL, and 4.56's..... and then trim some front fenders.
 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
So is the consensus for 35”s require a TS? I know gearing is a must, is 4:10 enough for most crawling or 4:56s? Contemplating....
I'm on 35s comfortably with 2" suspension and 2" body and trimming. I'm still running stock uppers and no swap.

Rule is 4.10s for autos and 4.56s for manual.
 

IM1RU

Skid Plates
Supporting Member
Location
SLC, UT
I am firmly of the opinion, that 4.10's are the best for auto with 33's, and 4.56's for 35's... Those set ups run nearly identical numbers on the tach...... especially if you plan on towing anything at all.
 
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IM1RU

Skid Plates
Supporting Member
Location
SLC, UT
The thing that kills steering racks is the angle of the tie rods...... Maxterra has been running 35’s with the lift I described above for at least the last 5 years without issue.
 

JeffNJM3

Bought an X
BL is not mandatory for 35's, i don't have one, just cut a lil more than most, and took my time to make it look good. Also, i have 4.56s with an auto and would do it again, 3000 rpm at 65-70 is fine with me

There are few ways you can get there, but If you really want to run 35's

TS, 2" BL, and 4.56's..... and then trim some front fenders.
 

JeffNJM3

Bought an X
I'm running titan spindles and I think the angle isn't as bad. Was thinking of trying to swap them to top mount..........
 

IM1RU

Skid Plates
Supporting Member
Location
SLC, UT
BL is not mandatory for 35's, i don't have one, just cut a lil more than most, and took my time to make it look good. Also, i have 4.56s with an auto and would do it again, 3000 rpm at 65-70 is fine with me

Agreed. Just seems a BL is the way most go. And 4.56 with 35's and auto is the only choice IMO.

Just out of curiosity, are you running wheel well liners?
 

JeffNJM3

Bought an X
I am, heavily "modified" ones lol, I actually want to get my hands on a pair of Frontier ones, I think they would fit really good in there
 

XterraPA

Bought an X
Location
Doylestown, PA
I have been running 35"s for over 9 years. Wow, it is crazy to realize that it has been this long. I Titan swapped my front suspension and went to 35"s in May of 2010.

I have been through 2 sets of 315/75/16 BFG KM2s. I have had to replace my steering rack twice and the power steering pump once. The first rack I swapped in was used and I blame myself for installing incorrectly and causing it to prematurely fail. The 2nd steering rack was a new OEM steering rack from Nissan and that is still running great. The original pump failed, because I was not keeping up with my power steering flushes and the fluid was in bad shape. I replaced the pump with a new one from the internets and flushed the PS fluid about 20 times with the turkey baster method and I now have the best steering I have had in many years.

For me, the hardest part of 35"s is keeping them balanced because they require a lot of wheel weights and when you rock crawl with them the weights tend to get thrown off at highway speeds or scraped off on the trails.
 

Un4seen4

Test Drive
i agree, 37s on a X? i dont think its going to be happy. All the weight is sprung and up relatively high. its even a little sketchy with the pickup and that thing is supper light, like half the weight of the X and its solid up front too boot

4.10s are the 35s are just not quite enough, i think they would be if one ran lighter tires, the KM3s with the 4.10s are akin to 3.36 and 33s just needs a little extra, i think im going to to back to 34s/large 33s on the next set


but they do look pretty dam cool........


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