Hey all, first post here but long time lurker.
Part 1 : Picked up a set of 5 like-new JL wheels & tires (less than 500 miles on them) for $200 on marketplace last week.
It was finally time to swap these crusty “aftermarket” wheels (likely from a ford ranger) that came with my TJ.
After a few deep dives I knew I’d have to run adapters / spacers, and not “cheap out” on them. So I picked up a set of synergy manufacturing 5x4.5 to 5x5 1.5” spacers and headed off for a weekend trip.
I came to the realization that if I wanted to mount the spare I’d need another, so I bought a cheaper version on Amazon. Upon receiving the parts and returning from the trip I figured why not throw the spare on? See how it fit?
The “aftermarket” non-matching alloy wheel had fused to the rear carrier… Lugnuts came off just fine but the rear of the rim was corroded and fused.
I tried a few hits, kicks, and all that “percussive persuasion” and decided it was time to hit the Wally World for some liquid wrench. I am away from my main garage so I’m limited in tools and supplies unfortunately.
Sprayed it all down and a few kicks later the top sprung free - a few hours later and a few more blasts of the spray and the bottom finally came off when I put my foot on the bottom of the wheel and yanked from the top.
Sweet - a 5 minute job ended up taking a bit longer than anticipated - but what else is new with these vehicles?
Mounted up the spare adapter and the tire to find the 3rd brake light was now obscured - should have saw that coming… I researched some solutions, hoping to just use the stock carrier as this was supposed to be relatively “cheap” but let’s see - noticing the old tire wasn’t making contact with the bump stops and was much heavier than the new wheel, so hopefully we can just adjust there and send it.
Sprayed the remaining lugs with liquid wrench to prepare myself for mounting tomorrow.
I retired for the night and started typing this write-up, twice - losing my progress both times and decided it’ll be a project for the morning.
Part 2 - Woke up early and inspired - rifled through my toolbox and garage here and found a set of plastic TV mount spacers that may do the job for now. Removed the spare and brake light bracket and threaded these spacers in under the mount and behold - we had clearance.
Heading to the storage unit to grab the tires and then a local shop to get them balanced / mounted - considering I don’t have my stuff here, I would kill 2 birds with 1 stone and let someone hopefully knock it out in 45mins to an hour (what they quoted me time-wise)
I’m sure there will be more surprises? But let’s see - I’ll follow up with part 3!
Part 1 : Picked up a set of 5 like-new JL wheels & tires (less than 500 miles on them) for $200 on marketplace last week.
It was finally time to swap these crusty “aftermarket” wheels (likely from a ford ranger) that came with my TJ.
After a few deep dives I knew I’d have to run adapters / spacers, and not “cheap out” on them. So I picked up a set of synergy manufacturing 5x4.5 to 5x5 1.5” spacers and headed off for a weekend trip.
I came to the realization that if I wanted to mount the spare I’d need another, so I bought a cheaper version on Amazon. Upon receiving the parts and returning from the trip I figured why not throw the spare on? See how it fit?
The “aftermarket” non-matching alloy wheel had fused to the rear carrier… Lugnuts came off just fine but the rear of the rim was corroded and fused.
I tried a few hits, kicks, and all that “percussive persuasion” and decided it was time to hit the Wally World for some liquid wrench. I am away from my main garage so I’m limited in tools and supplies unfortunately.
Sprayed it all down and a few kicks later the top sprung free - a few hours later and a few more blasts of the spray and the bottom finally came off when I put my foot on the bottom of the wheel and yanked from the top.
Sweet - a 5 minute job ended up taking a bit longer than anticipated - but what else is new with these vehicles?
Mounted up the spare adapter and the tire to find the 3rd brake light was now obscured - should have saw that coming… I researched some solutions, hoping to just use the stock carrier as this was supposed to be relatively “cheap” but let’s see - noticing the old tire wasn’t making contact with the bump stops and was much heavier than the new wheel, so hopefully we can just adjust there and send it.
Sprayed the remaining lugs with liquid wrench to prepare myself for mounting tomorrow.
I retired for the night and started typing this write-up, twice - losing my progress both times and decided it’ll be a project for the morning.
Part 2 - Woke up early and inspired - rifled through my toolbox and garage here and found a set of plastic TV mount spacers that may do the job for now. Removed the spare and brake light bracket and threaded these spacers in under the mount and behold - we had clearance.
Heading to the storage unit to grab the tires and then a local shop to get them balanced / mounted - considering I don’t have my stuff here, I would kill 2 birds with 1 stone and let someone hopefully knock it out in 45mins to an hour (what they quoted me time-wise)
I’m sure there will be more surprises? But let’s see - I’ll follow up with part 3!
