Who's right?

I'm looking to put a lift on my 73 CJ5. How much lift do I need to accomadate 33s? I've done a little research and found conflicting information. Apparently, I would need a 2 inch lift for 31s but the info on 33s varies from 2 to 4 inches required. I just got the jeep and plan on doing some off roading but nothing that would have the suspension fully compress such as rock crawling.
Thanks for helping a newbie out.

 

I run 33's with a 2.5 lift lift.

Do a search, lot's of info on lifts.

High5

 

High 5

Any other modifications like a body lift or bigger shackles? Any rubbing issues?
Thanks.

 

I run 31's with stock lift on my 74

View attachment 14897

 

Could be wrong, but I don't think you need any lift to run 33s. 34s you may, since the tire diameter is larger than the rear wheelwell cutout. You may be able to run 34s with trimming.

 

Depends some on the lift as well. I run a Skyjacker lift 4" lift, and still had to trim the back to fit 33s without tearing them up. Combination of a couple things - someone once ah... rearranged - the shape of the back with a tree, and the rear springs on my lift are very soft.

 

Two of the guys I run with have 33's on their Jeeps.. One is a 73 the other a 72. Only minor rubbing occurs.. One guy made some spacers and lifted the body 1". I run 31's on my Jeep no problem..

 

I run 33's w/a 4" lift. But another thing to consider is the ride. I put a pro comp lift on because it was cheaper and my buddy put the skyjacker on his, A huge difference in the ride. His ride is so much better than mine. Just a thought

 

i have 33 s on mine dont rub at all.

 

I have 33x12.50x15's on mine with 2.5" BDS lift and a ~1/2" body lift. The only rubbing I have is on the rear Inside fender wells at full flex

 

I ran 31's on my '72 CJ5 with no rubbing stock. I ran 33's with a little rub on a '72 CJ6 on 2.5" BDS springs.

Just to confuse the issue, I installed a 4" trailmaster kit on my neighbor's '71 CJ5 and then reused the two year old BDS 2.5" springs on my '72 CJ5. The BDS 2.5" kit is taller than the trailmaster 4" kit. I'm still a little irritated about that. I didn't really want to lift it, but the stock springs were shot and I was sitting on the bump stops. I had the bds springs in the shed so I put them on for the cost of the u-bolts, but now I'm too tall and have some driveline vibration.

J-ust E-mpty E-very P-ocket

 

A clarification,

The rubbing I had with 33's was because I wsa too lazy to extend the bump stops in front. If I had ever gotten around to doing that, then it would have kept me off of everything except the front springs when turning. As it was, the rubbing I had was front tires getting into the fenders at full copmression.

 

Right now, we have 31x11.50's on the '73 with no lift and there is a little rubbing because they are too wide. The 31x10.50's work great on it though. I ran 33x21.50 TSL's on my '78 with 2.5" lift and the only thing I ever did was bend the bottom corner of the rear wheel opening a little bit, but that was with it extremely flexed out, and gassing on it a little to much going through a creek bed.

 

You can run 33” without a lift but it comes with a bit of rubbing, a 2 ½ lift would be the way to go IMO.