New wheels or wheel spacers?

[Red Motley]

Hello everyone .... newbie to Jeeps and the forum. All my rowdy friends had Wranglers when in college and for a few years after so needless to say always been a gear throb for me. Bought a 99 TJ just to kick around in and use for huntin etc. It needed tires bad so thought if 33X10.5 which were on it with a 4" skyjack lift .. well 33X12.5 would be better .... ugh tire rub on back spring mounts and front sway bar at full turn. So ..... look s like 3.75 BS on new wheels or wheel spacers ..... whatchya think Wrangler Nation?

Oh yeh ... I'm an old gearhead who glad to finally have my Jeep ...

 

[Chris]

Hello everyone .... newbie to Jeeps and the forum. All my rowdy friends had Wranglers when in college and for a few years after so needless to say always been a gear throb for me. Bought a 99 TJ just to kick around in and use for huntin etc. It needed tires bad so thought if 33X10.5 which were on it with a 4" skyjack lift .. well 33X12.5 would be better .... ugh tire rub on back spring mounts and front sway bar at full turn. So ..... look s like 3.75 BS on new wheels or wheel spacers ..... whatchya think Wrangler Nation?

Oh yeh ... I'm an old gearhead who glad to finally have my Jeep ...

Welcome!

If it were me I would go with new wheels with the correct amount of backspacing.

 

[derekmac]

A good used set of steel wheels with the correct backspacing will be similar in price to good wheel spacers (at least where I live). Unless you really love the rims you have now, I agree with Chris in getting new wheels.

 

[Stinger]

3.75 back space works just fine on Stinger with 315s. However, before I put my MT wheels on I ran Spidertrax spacers with zero problems. So it just depends on what you like and what you want to spend.
I just looked at 4wheelparts.com and saw the spacers are $99 an axle.
Let us know which way you go and how you like your choice.

 

[Red Motley]

Thanx for the advice guys. I agree that an additional connection point X5 per wheel introduces a higher level of risk; Cantilevered force on studs etc. Not sure which way I'm going yet mainly due to remote location, time and yep $ too. I bought the TJ just to drive around on my property and a run to town occasionally, so didn't want to spend a lot on it. However, I am really enjoying it.

In any case thanx for the feedback.

 

[UPJOHN]

I have the same wheels on my Jeep with 31x10.50 that rubbed on the front lower control arms. My son got me a set of spacers for Christmas. I've put about 2000 miles on them since I installed them with no problems. It sounds like we use our TJs for the same purpose.

 

[Ahoragi]

If you like your wheels then get spacers. If you don't care for em then get some new wheels.

Just be sure to mount the spacers properly if you go that route.

 

[Red Motley]

ahhh a logical decision process ..... 10-4 thanx

 

[billiebob]

I wish LOCATION was mandatory

 

[penk]

This thread is relevant to my interests! My 00 TJ (just acquired last Sunday) is having tire rub. When I go shopping for replacement rims hoe do I determine the back offset is "more" so I won't rub?

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[Red Motley]

A good tire and wheel shop will be able to measure your existing backspacing and then recommend the clearance you need. All the posts I have seen are saying for the TJ it should be 3.75" for . A trip to a good shop should give ya the info you need.

 

[derekmac]

I think 3.75"-4.25" is the range to look at. It'll depend on how far you want the tires to stick out past the flare.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

This thread is relevant to my interests! My 00 TJ (just acquired last Sunday) is having tire rub. When I go shopping for replacement rims how do I determine the back offset is "more" so I won't rub?

Where Jeep and truck wheels are concerned, forget you ever heard the term 'offset' which is not a useful measurement where our Jeeps are concerned. Offset is more useful for cars and gives where the center of the tire would be positioned relative to the wheel's mounting surface.

The measurement that is most useful for our Jeeps is 'backspace' which is the distance from the back edge of the wheel to the wheel's mounting flange That distance allows us to know how much the tire's inside sidewall will have away from the suspension. The more backspacing the wheel has, the more into the wheel well the wheel will be positioned and the less clearance the tire will have away from the suspension. Typically, 3.75" to 4" of backspacing is optimal for tires that are wider than smaller factory size tires. And typically you want an 8" wide wheel for most sizes of tires, that width works well in most offroad and street uses.

This shows how the exact backspace dimension would be measured. This wheel has roughly 4.75" of backspacing.

 

[Ahoragi]

This thread is relevant to my interests! My 00 TJ (just acquired last Sunday) is having tire rub. When I go shopping for replacement rims hoe do I determine the back offset is "more" so I won't rub?

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

What size tire?

 

[penk]

What size tire?

31 X 10.5 on 15s.

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[penk]

Hey folks so the saga continues. I picked up a set of cheap half inch spacers and installed them tonight. Front wheels, fine. Rear wheels , nope. Studs are not long enough. The good news is with the new front spacers I no longer have any rubbing. Lock to lock I can turn as tight as I want. Hooray! The studs allowed 4-5 turns on the lug nuts with the spacers. No wobble or shimmy while at 70mph on the road so I think I'm good yes? Here's the spacer on the front.

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[Ahoragi]

"Cheap spacers" kinda scares me when it comes to wheel spacers. Those studs do appear to be kinda short. You getting enough thread engagement with the lug nuts?

 

[derekmac]

It looks like you're also now lug centric instead of hub centric. Personally, I'd sell those and get proper spacers ASAP.

 

[penk]

It looks like you're also now lug centric instead of hub centric. Personally, I'd sell those and get proper spacers ASAP.

With full tightening there's just a shin layer now right? My issue is proper spacers don't go down this thin, and I don't want to outrig too far which put more strain on my axles. The proper solution I know is to get rims with appropriate offsets, but that's expensive and I'm working my way through repairs and updates so I'll pass inspection and not be testing the vehicle apart while driving it. .

geek. berlin, ma. 2000 TJ. http://planet-geek.com

 

[Jerry Bransford]

It looks like you're also now lug centric instead of hub centric. Personally, I'd sell those and get proper spacers ASAP.

That's ok for a simple spacer like that. Due to my 15" wheels, I had to add a similar 1/4" thick spacer once I installed my Big Brake kit from Black Magic Brakes. Pretty much any aftermarket wheel is going to be lug centric which works fine. Take a look at the lug nuts, they pull the wheel into position so the lug is centered in the hole. The only wheels I've ever seen that were hub centric are factory wheels, though undoubtedly somewhere you could find hub centric if you looked extra hard.