New member, please school me!

[bingo]

I am in the process of getting ready for some new tires. I know this issue has been thoroughly discussed, but please bear with a newbie. My LJ has about 4-5" clearance from the top of the OEM tires to the bottom of the fender flare. Why is it necessary to have 3" lift to have 33" tires? The 33" tires only are 1.5" greater in radius than OEM. In other words the way i envision this is 1.5 inches of the 3" difference is between the axle and the ground, and the other 1.5" are between the axle and the fender. I plan on 33x10.5 tires so I can keep the factory rims, and won't have backspacing issues. I see where the increased diameter will require adjustment in the steering stops. I want to keep the center of gravity as low as possible. I am considering a 1.25" body lift, so I can later do a tummy tuck, and add a Kilby gas tank skid. I know you all have more knowledge than I in this area. But either I am flawed in my theory, or too cheap. Let me know if the body lift will be insufficient to clear these tires, and if not, why. My offroading is frequent but mild. Ground clearance is more important to me than articulation, thus the TT, etc. Thanks in advance for the responses, and forgive the length of this question- Bingo

[wilcav]

I am certainly no expert but I stuffed 33 x 12.5s under a 2" budget boost and a 1" BL. Great for the street and around town stuff. I looked tough and the high school kids were impressed. Had I disconnected the sway bar, I would have torn off the fenders and destroyed the tires while wheeling. Recently switched to 31 x 10.5s and I think I have a more capable off road vehicle then before.

[Belfast]

Your measurement of the space between the tire and fender are on a flat surface. Put the Jeep on an extreme off-camber surface and you will see that space shrink. Turn the steering wheel all the way to one end and you will see it shrink some more.

If you are just spending time on pavement, you can probably get away with 32" tires with just a body lift. You may rub on the occasional uneven road or driveway - its the risk you take when you don't lift more. If you go with a flat fender, you reduce the risk some.

The other thing is that it starts to look a little funny when the tire takes up the entire wheel well. Big tires look great on a lifted Jeep - small tires on a lifted Jeep look odd, big tires on a stock Jeep also look odd. But, to each his (or her) own.

I agree with wilcav - go with a 2" spacers and 1-1.25" body lift - it is the cheapest and easiest to way to get 33's under your rig without cutting too many corners.

[kb5xg]

I let the shop who did my lift advise me on what to do. I am currently at 33" MT Baja MTZ and have a Teraflex 3" suspension system from Samsoffroad www.sams4x4store.com/index.html . They are one of the better shops in the Tulsa Oklahoma area, (Sams Offroad, Cris Nichols Offroad (dealer affiliate) and Harmon's Offroad, I would let any of the three work on my rig. There recommenedation for the 33 inch tires was a 3 in suspension lift, the lift they sold me I was told would accomadate up to 35's with a 1 inch body lift and motor mount lift, which I have not done yet. I also went to 15X10 inch steel wheels for the 33X12.5X15 tires as of now am I completely happy with my choices. If I had had the money I would have went to a cast aluminum wheel but at $120 per wheel it was more than I wanted to spend, I sold my stock wheels for 300.00 and my almost new stock tires for $250 which helped to pay for the new tires and wheels to go with the lift. In my wheeling experience I have lightly rubbed on the front flair (5.25 inches of clearance on flat ground) with the front axle disconnected, I am not sure what the percentage of stuff was but the axle was canted some. I have yet to tear the flares or mark the tires from the rubbing. I dont think I have ever touched the rear flares (6 inches of clearance on flat ground). I did go to less backspacing (I think 3.75 in) with the steel wheels per their recommendation. There is almost 5 inches of tire past the outer edge of the flare. I am still a newby to jeeping but I am gradually increasing my knowledge and experience. I frequent this forum, ROF (with very few posts as I dont have a Rubi) and my favorite forum is www.links4jeeps.com the people there will listen and there are some pretty knowledgable folk there, very forgiving of noobs, I would probably attempt the install of the lift on my own now, but I would still worry a little, I have learned a lot in the 2.5 years of Jeep ownership that I now have, thanks to all here and the other forums.

[bingo]

Thanks guys for the responses so far. Two more questions- a)Wilcav, why did you go back to 31" tires? I rarely hear of people going smaller, they seem to always go bigger and bigger until ...... b) I have not put a measuring tape to it, but eyeballing it (we talk like that in Alabama-Roll Tide) it looks like 32x11.50's might just barely fit on stock rims without Spidertrax. Looks like the rear upper spring perch has about 1.5" clearance with the OEM 9.5 tires- and that looks to be the first critical point. Does anyone have 32x11.5" tires on standard backspacing w/o spacers? Thanks again for any insight.......Bingo

[wilcav]

Bingo,

I received my Procomp Xterrains from a neighbor for free b/c he hated them on his Durango and I gave him my old lawn mower. After rolling with those soft directional tires for about a year, I cam to despise them b/c:

1. They were too soft and wearing down much quicker than the 50K rating.

2. They were LOUD and had the ride of a an 1800's covered wagon.

3. They looked cool but this is also my dd. I think I lost 3-5 MPG when I put them on. Right now I drive about 5 miles round trip to work. I am moving to Montgomery, AL in June (Roll Tide - Hope Sabin can keep turning it around and the team finds some heart.), where I am going to be driving 30 miles round trip. Getting 190 mile per tank would kill me. Re-gearing would have helped but I didn't want to spend the money on it yet.

4. The J-E-E-P disease got to me when I put them on and only started to come to realize the real depths of that disease. Seems like adding one thing to the rig means you have to add three other things to accomdate it. I still needed a spare tire (which I didn't want to spend $280 for another of those crappy tires). That also would have meant a new swing away tire carrier to support the weight. and a new rear bumper. and a new sexy wheel. Plus I was coming up on needing to replace a worn tire. It was getting out of control. They should really run PSAs for people that get their first Jeep. Show a big fat wallet, "This is your bank account before your Jeep", than bang the crap out of it with a frying pan and set all the money on fire, "This is your bank account with a new Jeep, any questions?"

5. As tough as it looked, I didn't have the room to articulate. In order to get that capability, I would have had to add a bigger lift which goes back to #4. When I first got the rig, I had big dreams of climbing hills and being the hero of MOAB. Didn't quite pan out that way. When I do get more time in AL, I realized I am going to be able to tackle harder stuff with the smaller tires b/c now I can FLEX while saving money for the day to day travel.

6. I got 3.75 backspacing on my wheels. Never used spidertrax. Not sure 'bout 11.5 on stock rims. I know I needed that back spacing with the 12.5 or it would have taken a full mile for me to flip a u-turn. I though it would look funky with the 10.5s but there isn't too much of a change.

Sorry for the long response. Killing time until I have to go to another meeting. If you hear of any good wheeling clubs or places in LA, let me know.

Chris

[Belfast]

I think you will not have much luck with the stock wheels w/11.5" wide tires and no spacers. I am sure you can find people who have done it and say its fine, but its just plain physics - you add the width, you need to push the wheel out a bit.

I personally have 11.5" wide tires w/Spidertrax and have no problems.

[bingo]

Again, thank you all for your insights. I totally agree with what Wilcav said re: one thing leads to another. That is really what I want to avoid if possible. I do realize that some of this is impossible to avoid, but I hate to get involved with "can't finish that unless I do something else", or "now this is a problem because I changed something down the line". I hate frustration. ie..bigger tires needs bigger offset, needs bigger lift, needs new tire carrier, needs sye, needs bigger lift, etc...whew... Looks like the Jeep people are in cahoots w/ the aftermarket people. So much is available, but you almost can't do one thing. Again thanks alot.

Wilcav-drove through Montgomery yesterday, don't know many people there, but can ask around for places to go or clubs etc.. RTR

[surfnsnow]

I know you said that clearance is more important than articulation but what are your overall plans for your rig? Is it going to be more a dd and a weekend trail rig or more trail than dd rig? the reason I ask is that there's been some good info already posted on just getting a budget boost, 32's and be done with it. but if you're going to wheel your rig hard you may want to get an appropriate suspension lift. I'm running 33" X-Terrains with a 4" pro-comp short arm lift and that combo has really served me well (I did a lot of the trails in Moab, but I've also got lockers too ) but I wish, and now planning for, a long arm lift to fit 35's and get more articulation to go on harder trails. You just have to decide what is the overall purpose of your rig and take it from there

[bingo]

Mine is daily driver, but I go offroad somewhat frequently especially in hunting season. Most of the offroading I do is on well established trails, some are a little rough, but nothing that I think you all would consider difficult. It gets muddy here sometimes, and the big trucks make deep ruts, that it one of the considerations for the ground clearance. I was considering 33" tires because of teh fact yo can get them in 10.5" width, and I was hoping to eliminate the need for spacers or offset wheels. I really have always thought that with 3.73 gearing 32" is really the most you can go without your trans constantly seeming to be in the wrong gear. I still have a little time before a decision has to be made, just trying to decide which direction to go. I want the center of gravity to be as low as it can be without causing rubbing issues, yet have ground clearance, those two may not exist on the same vehicle. It guess life is a series of compromises!

[surfnsnow]

Yeah I didn't like the 3:73 gearing with the 33's so I went to 4:56 gears when I had the lockers installed and that was a huge improvement. For you needs you really might be just fine with 32" MT's and a 2" budget boost. You could go for traction like lockers but it doesn't sound like you'd really need them though