Arizona Rock Crawler

jjvw said:
The Racelines have been a very good looking wheel for a long time.
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Staying true to my inspiration Jeep!
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starkey480 said:
Well, since you asked I’ll take you down the rabbit hole lol.

I’ve been going back and forth for a while now on wheels. First I knew I needed beadlocks. Non negotiable at this point.

The hub kit makes things tough as you know since it adds 7/8” width on either side and I don’t want a shit scrub radius. I want to aim for about 4” net backspace with that. That essentially ruled out 15” wheels altogether right there since they all come in around 3.5-3.75” backspace. Plus the difficulty in fitting weights and plus the fact that 15” wheels are getting phased out. So I decided 17” wheels for sure.

I debated between traditional beadlocks and doing some internal coyotes. I couldn’t really find any traditional wheels I liked to pair with the coyotes with tolerable backspacing. They all have fake beadlocks nowadays. I really like the JK wheels Josh did. They looks sweet but my Jeep looks like such a trail rig at this point, I just didn’t really want the look of stock wheels on it to be honest. So I decided aesthetically I would like a traditional beadlock wheel. Plus beadlock wheels have more variety in backspacing.

I also picked traditional beadlocks for the mounting and install. It seems like a pick your poison type deal here and I decided I would rather deal with mounting traditional beadlocks than doing the coyotes and having to mount tires myself without a tire machine.

I’ve been looking for a while and found a couple I liked with tolerable backspacing. I really liked Battle Born Wheels but they were more expensive and 9” wide and I’d rather do 8.5” wide. I liked dirty life wheels but they were also 9”. Raceline Monsters look good and have tolerable backspacing. Trail ready wheels were seeming like an optimal choice because I could pick any backspace I want but damn they were expensive.

I’m going back and forth between all these options and I remember that 5 years ago I coached a good pole vaulter who’s family owns allied wheels who owns Raceline. I shot the dad a message and he said he would hook me up big time. That made the decision easy. The wheels haven’t gotten here yet but we ordered some raceline monsters in 17”X8.5” in 4.75” backspacing. That puts me at a net 3.875” of backspacing which is close enough to 4” for me. Plus my current 5” BS wheels are rubbing my anti rock and shocks about as hard as I’m comfortable with, so a smidge more room will be welcome.
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That’s what I run. @JMT as well. Great set of wheels.

Be sure to check that all of the threaded inserts are properly seated prior to install. I’ve had several of them set crooked by Raceline and you can’t get the bead bolt in there when you try to mount the ring. Blaine has mentioned that this has happenned to him as well.

You’ll have to make a simple tool to sit flat on the face of the rim, as there is a ridge (you’ll see what I mean when you see the wheels in person) which is why Raceline sometimes screws up the install.
 
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NashvilleTJ said:
That’s what I run. @JMT as well. Great set of wheels.

Be sure to check that all of the threaded inserts are properly seated prior to install. I’ve had several of them set crooked by Raceline and you can’t get the bead bolt in there when you try to mount the ring. Blaine has mentioned that this has happenned to him as well.

You’ll have to make a simple tool to sit flat on the face of the rim, as there is a ridge (you’ll see what I mean when you see the wheels in person) which is why Raceline sometimes screws up the install.
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Awesome thanks for the advice! I’ll take anything I can get as this will be my first set of beadlocks I’ve installed. I know Blaine posted a bunch in JMTs thread with some advice as well that I need to go check out.
 
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starkey480 said:
Awesome thanks for the advice! I’ll take anything I can get as this will be my first set of beadlocks I’ve installed. I know Blaine posted a bunch in JMTs thread with some advice as well that I need to go check out.
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Fortunately all my PEM’s were seated correctly, but it’s good to check. Here’s Blaine’s post on beadlocks in my thread.

Post in thread '05 Flame Red TJ Build'
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/05-flame-red-tj-build.3998/post-1512056
 
Working on my steering and getting the drag link straightened out. Passenger side knuckle TRE was loose. So here’s your PSA to go check those bolts especially if you have hydro.
Here’s what I’m trying to fix
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Drag link is all kinds of messed up.

Bent threaded end
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Good as new
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A couple more bends to go…
 
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Gonna need to come up with a new build thread title…
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Picked this up a few days ago. Been looking for a cheap beater truck I can use for Home Depot runs, drive when the Jeep is down for projects, and tow the jeep if I ever want to rent a trailer for a big trip or something. Found this 1997 F250HD Long bed 5.8l v8 with 127k miles. She runs and shifts really good. Just need to get rid of those stupid wheels and tires and drop the 2” level kit from up front. I’ll be going back to oem wheels and tire size on it. She needs some TLC but overall solid bones for what it is.

It was so nice today to be able to tear down my Jeep and not feel like I’m racing the clock to button it back up for work. I was able to leave the Jeep torn apart a little and can finish it when I feel like. Having another vehicle was essential for me to get the next build phase done on the Jeep which will be stretching it.
 
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starkey480 said:
It was so nice today to be able to tear down my Jeep and not feel like I’m racing the clock to button it back up for work.
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Just don't get into the groove of letting projects sit idle too long. My jeep hasn't been driven in 6 months and hasn't had sliders in much much longer.

But yes, if you don't suck like me - it's excellent to have a DD (especially when we like rock crawling).
 
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starkey480 said:
Gonna need to come up with a new build thread title…
View attachment 522047
Picked this up a few days ago. Been looking for a cheap beater truck I can use for Home Depot runs, drive when the Jeep is down for projects, and tow the jeep if I ever want to rent a trailer for a big trip or something. Found this 1997 F250HD Long bed 5.8l v8 with 127k miles. She runs and shifts really good. Just need to get rid of those stupid wheels and tires and drop the 2” level kit from up front. I’ll be going back to oem wheels and tire size on it. She needs some TLC but overall solid bones for what it is.

It was so nice today to be able to tear down my Jeep and not feel like I’m racing the clock to button it back up for work. I was able to leave the Jeep torn apart a little and can finish it when I feel like. Having another vehicle was essential for me to get the next build phase done on the Jeep which will be stretching it.
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I did the same thing with my truck. Bought it bone stock and leaving it bone stock. It keeps maintenance simple and it’s enjoyable to drive. Nice find!
 
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starkey480 said:
Gonna need to come up with a new build thread title…
View attachment 522047
Picked this up a few days ago. Been looking for a cheap beater truck I can use for Home Depot runs, drive when the Jeep is down for projects, and tow the jeep if I ever want to rent a trailer for a big trip or something. Found this 1997 F250HD Long bed 5.8l v8 with 127k miles. She runs and shifts really good. Just need to get rid of those stupid wheels and tires and drop the 2” level kit from up front. I’ll be going back to oem wheels and tire size on it. She needs some TLC but overall solid bones for what it is.

It was so nice today to be able to tear down my Jeep and not feel like I’m racing the clock to button it back up for work. I was able to leave the Jeep torn apart a little and can finish it when I feel like. Having another vehicle was essential for me to get the next build phase done on the Jeep which will be stretching it.
Click to expand...

You weren’t kidding! Cool truck!
 
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starkey480 said:
Gonna need to come up with a new build thread title…
View attachment 522047
Picked this up a few days ago. Been looking for a cheap beater truck I can use for Home Depot runs, drive when the Jeep is down for projects, and tow the jeep if I ever want to rent a trailer for a big trip or something. Found this 1997 F250HD Long bed 5.8l v8 with 127k miles. She runs and shifts really good. Just need to get rid of those stupid wheels and tires and drop the 2” level kit from up front. I’ll be going back to oem wheels and tire size on it. She needs some TLC but overall solid bones for what it is.

It was so nice today to be able to tear down my Jeep and not feel like I’m racing the clock to button it back up for work. I was able to leave the Jeep torn apart a little and can finish it when I feel like. Having another vehicle was essential for me to get the next build phase done on the Jeep which will be stretching it.
Click to expand...

Perfect for towing to Moab in June…
 
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