Wasn't today, but was over the weekend. We've had these reproduction hardrock wheels in our basement for 2 years awaiting new tires. 1 month ago we had a small set back in getting those tires. We ended up having to replace the Drag link, Tie rod, both sway links and the steering damper.
Now that we've worked past this small set back, we finally had a chance to mount a Nitto Ridge Grappler on 1 of these reproduction hardrock wheels. We're test fitting one 285/75/17 E tire on one reproduction hardrock wheel. The reason we're just doing one wheel and one tire, is because we've been given a chance to return these wheels if we're not completely satisfied. The issue however, is no tires can be mounted on these wheels for the refund. So we risked 1 wheel and 1 tire for this experiment.
Arriving early morning, we spoke with the tire shop's wheel guy and we're both on the same page. I couldn't believe how on target this wheel guy was. Here checked everything with a fine tooth comb. We went from 245/75/16 to 285/75/17
The spare tire was successfully mounted, balanced and test fitted on the rear of the 017 Wrangler as well as the front of the wrangler then checked for turning radius and if there was any issues with rubbing. We've had this lone wheel & tire in the basement awaiting the other 4 tires. But one thing is clear, this tire is big way bigger than we had expected.
Mind you most tend to go and say you should do 35'' Hell I can't even pick up these 34's without any help. Just another reason we're looking forward to installing a rear bumper that has a mechanical arm that will lower the spare if and when we need it.
That's one down, four more to go. Stay tuned...