The new J-2 had rounded-off wing tips, a similarly "rounded" fin and rudder framed up and fabric-covered separately from the fuselage structure, enclosed cabin and wider Goodyear "airwheel" tires, a special low-pressure variety of aircraft landing gear tire pioneered by Alvin Musselmann U.S. patent 1,877,360 in 1929 that resembled a later tundra tire in general appearance and proportions.

Powered by a 37 hp Continental A-40-3 piston engine the aircraft appeared in October 1935 and the type certificate was issued on 14 February 1936.

In 1935 Clarence Gilbert Taylor left the company to start another aircraft manufacturer which would become Taylorcraft.

In 1937 the original Piper factory, a renovated former silk mill in Bradford, PA, was destroyed by fire and the company moved to Lock Haven, PA and production restarted in May 1937 and the company was renamed the Piper Aircraft Corporation in November 1937.

Numbers of J-2 Cubs were exported to Europe including to the United Kingdom.