Tire and shock advice

[mjac22]

Hey y’all. I have a few tire questions. My Jeep is the Green ZJ. I have the double adjustable TJ control arms among other Metal Cloak goodies. I’m currently running a 3.5 inches of lift. My current tire setup are Michelin A/T 2, 265/70r17. They are 31” exactly @ 50 psi. I used to have the 255/75r17 KM as show in the 2nd to last picture. I was at 5.5 inches at that time. The other ZJ is I am wanting to go with either 255/75r17 Toyo M/Ts or 255/80r17 Ridge Grapplers or the 34x10.5r17 KO2. I was hoping to go from 31 to 32 actual height. I know the 34 KO2 run 32.25”, all the 255/80 tires run about 32.125-32.25”. Does anyone know how tall the 255/75r17 Toyo M/T run? I want a narrow tire due to the narrow wheel wells I have with my ZJ. Do y’all have any suggestions? Should I go with 31s or 32s to help fill out the wheel well? I do want an aggressive A/T or quiet M/T. Either way, the tires have to be good in the rain and the KM that I had on it briefly were not. The first picture is my current set up. The second picture is when I had my IRO 5.5 long arm with the KMs. The last is a ZJ with 3.5 inch lift with the 255 KM.

I also have a question about shocks. I am either looking to upgrade to BDS Fox 2.0s or Bilstein 7100 with the 255/70 valving or the 278/75 valving. Does anyone run either one of these shocks?

 

[Greg]

I'm not a ZJ guy, but I'll weigh in. I've heard good things about the Ridge Grapplers, but of the choices presented, I'd say KO2's... or even better, the new KO3. The new KO3 is supposed to be quieter and beefier.

Looks like you have plenty of wheel well room, I'd also aim for the bigger tire option. Down side, it will take away from freeway driveability, but offroad you will roll over rocks & stuff easier.

Of the sock options, I have heard that many of the Fox shocks are valved pretty stiff in general... but don't know about the BDS Foxes.

 

[mjac22]

I'm not a ZJ guy, but I'll weigh in. I've heard good things about the Ridge Grapplers, but of the choices presented, I'd say KO2's... or even better, the new KO3. The new KO3 is supposed to be quieter and beefier.

Looks like you have plenty of wheel well room, I'd also aim for the bigger tire option. Down side, it will take away from freeway driveability, but offroad you will roll over rocks & stuff easier.

Of the sock options, I have heard that many of the Fox shocks are valved pretty stiff in general... but don't know about the BDS Foxes.

Thank you for the input. Do you know when the KO3 will be released? I don’t like how wider tires feel while driving so if possible, it would be nice to stay close to a 10.5 in width.
I am planning on swapping the JK rubicon 44 axles with 4.10s. I do have the 5.2 v8 so power won’t be a concern.

 

[Anchor_Mtn]

I would go with the 255/80s in either Ridge Grapplers or BFGs.

As for shocks, I dont have any experience with the exact 2 you listed but generally I prefer Fox over Bilstein.

 

[mjac22]

Thank you for the input!

 

[XJEEPER]

I've run KO2's for the past 3 years and have been very please with them. They perform well on all terrain and have great road manners, wet and dry. I recently spent 1000+ miles in my Jeep, exploring in the Swell and SE Utah and logged over 450 miles off-road, much of which was in shallow mud, due to the recent rain storms. We had rain/mud 8/10 days and I ran in 2Lo (TeraLo in my T-case) about 90% of the time and these tires didn't skip a beat. I was actually surprised at how well they hooked up in the slippery goo.

I run an XJ with 5.5" lift, 4:88 gears with 295/75/16's, which measure out at 33.3" tall and 11.5" wide and this tire size works well with BW flat flares that I run.
I also run Bilstein 5160 series shock (similar to 7100's) up front and also run 5100 series (discontinued) in the rear for several years and have been very impressed with their performance. Sorry, I don't recall the exact valving, but 255/70 comes to mind.

 

[mjac22]

I've run KO2's for the past 3 years and have been very please with them. They perform well on all terrain and have great road manners, wet and dry. I recently spent 1000+ miles in my Jeep, exploring in the Swell and SE Utah and logged over 450 miles off-road, much of which was in shallow mud, due to the recent rain storms. We had rain/mud 8/10 days and I ran in 2Lo (TeraLo in my T-case) about 90% of the time and these tires didn't skip a beat. I was actually surprised at how well they hooked up in the slippery goo.

I run an XJ with 5.5" lift, 4:88 gears with 295/75/16's, which measure out at 33.3" tall and 11.5" wide and this tire size works well with BW flat flares that I run.
I also run Bilstein 5160 series shock (similar to 7100's) up front and also run 5100 series (discontinued) in the rear for several years and have been very impressed with their performance. Sorry, I don't recall the exact valving, but 255/70 comes to mind.

What part number are on the shocks? I can look from there.

 

[mjac22]

I've run KO2's for the past 3 years and have been very please with them. They perform well on all terrain and have great road manners, wet and dry. I recently spent 1000+ miles in my Jeep, exploring in the Swell and SE Utah and logged over 450 miles off-road, much of which was in shallow mud, due to the recent rain storms. We had rain/mud 8/10 days and I ran in 2Lo (TeraLo in my T-case) about 90% of the time and these tires didn't skip a beat. I was actually surprised at how well they hooked up in the slippery goo.

I run an XJ with 5.5" lift, 4:88 gears with 295/75/16's, which measure out at 33.3" tall and 11.5" wide and this tire size works well with BW flat flares that I run.
I also run Bilstein 5160 series shock (similar to 7100's) up front and also run 5100 series (discontinued) in the rear for several years and have been very impressed with their performance. Sorry, I don't recall the exact valving, but 255/70 comes to mind.

That is also a very looking nice XJ! What transfer case are you running?