backspacing and tire stuffing

William Waddy · **Joined:** Mon May 09, 2011 4:16 pm **Posts:** 56

After reading every thread I could find I am still left with a question.

There seems to be two opposing things going on when it comes to how far tires/wheels are moved out (either through spacers or greater-than-stock backspaced wheels). On one hand, keeping the tires well into the wheel wells appears to provide a little extra room for the tires to stuff up into the wheel wells. I like the idea of as much articulation as possible.

However, on the other hand, I also really like a little wider stance, which puts the tires/wheels out closer to the edge of the fender and outside the wheel well. Thus, I am curious as to whether or not the trim and/or wheel wells can be modified to allow tires/wheels that stick out further, while still allowing maximum articulation (i.e., up-movement).

Am I understanding this conundrum correctly, or can I have my cake and eat it too.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue May 31, 2011 7:22 pm

Can't be trimmed very much
7 inch wide wheel with 4 inch backspacing
tons of the same answers here regarding the above

irollgen4s · **Posted:** Thu Jun 02, 2011 5:51 pm

Tom i know you always say 7 inch wide with 4 inch backspacing, but what if i went with a 16x8 with 5 inch backspacing? Same thing in my mind. I run 265-70-16's too.

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Jun 03, 2011 8:02 am

IF...you are running a wider tire like the 265-70 then its OK, but when some want to run a narrow tire, 7 inch works way better than an 8 inch, plus I'd say even a 265-70 would do great on a 7 inch wheel.
I actually wish the Moabs were 7 inches wide, with less back spacing. I like the looks of the Moabs but 7s would be better

irollgen4s · **Posted:** Fri Jun 03, 2011 3:11 pm

Okay just wanted to make sure. I do plan on getting dwindows eventually and j-al has them in 16x8 and has the best price i can find. Thanks

William Waddy · **Joined:** Mon May 09, 2011 4:16 pm **Posts:** 56

I got brave this weekend and found one answer to my question. I removed all the plastic/rubber wheel well stuff, pounded down everything that stuck out, bent the rear fender up about 2 inches, cut away the lower half of the front bumper, painted everything in the wheel wells with black undercoat, then trimmed the fender flares by 2 to 4 inches. There are now 4 large openings where my tires go and there is no clearance differential inside vs outside the fender flares. My hope is to be able to go with 33x15x10.5 BFG KM2 tires. I ordered cragar 15x7 wheels 4.5bs yesterday. Before the tires i will install a 4 inch JBA lift. Gears will also be changed to 4:56 with lockers. I hope it all works.

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:26 pm

So what do you have that you can install 4.56s in?
Front you can't in a D30a
even with 4 inch lift and pounding its going to be tight with not much flex room unless you bumpstop it really good

ridenby · **Posted:** Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:36 pm

William Waddy wrote:

I got brave this weekend and found one answer to my question. I removed all the plastic/rubber wheel well stuff, pounded down everything that stuck out, bent the rear fender up about 2 inches, cut away the lower half of the front bumper, painted everything in the wheel wells with black undercoat, then trimmed the fender flares by 2 to 4 inches. There are now 4 large openings where my tires go and there is no clearance differential inside vs outside the fender flares. My hope is to be able to go with 33x15x10.5 BFG KM2 tires. I ordered cragar 15x7 wheels 4.5bs yesterday. Before the tires i will install a 4 inch JBA lift. Gears will also be changed to 4:56 with lockers. I hope it all works.

Pics? Learn me something.

William Waddy · **Joined:** Mon May 09, 2011 4:16 pm **Posts:** 56

Will be putting the JBA Dana 30 Steel IFS for the front differential - specs say it will accept 4:56.

As I continue to consider the clearance issue, I am pretty confident in 32" tires, but 33" I know are going to be a stretch, or perhaps I should say a sledge hammer. I want to go with the bfg km2 33x10.5x15 and i've heard they run .5 to 1 inch smaller diameter (32-32.5) so I have some hope.

The rear clearances are looking good with the pounding I did (not to mention the tires do not have to turn), but the front looks like the critical spot will be at the back (floor board area). I think I'm going to have to figure out something creative in that area.
Since the Liberty is still stock right now, it is still a little difficult to imagine how the clearances will turn out with the 4 inch lift.

Here are photos of the front and rear wheel wells. The rear looks kind of rough because I have not yet reinstalled the plastic flares (trimmed up about 2 inches). You can see the front flares are trimmed back to where they turn down. You can also see all the black paint inside the wells. This was with a flash - in reality the blackness of the wheel wells hides things much better than appears in the photos.

http://www.dixiedesperados.com/pics/KJfront.JPG
http://www.dixiedesperados.com/pics/KJback.JPG

RED_KJ_666 · **Posted:** Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:53 pm

Bumpstop it Hardcore, I did this with 33x12.5R15's The fronts touch the rear part of the front wheel well under full compression. If you turn all the way and articulate it hard the tire will jam in there pretty tight. I bent the body above the rear wheel well opening tho so as long as you get a smallish 33 you'll be ok. Question is why go through all the work of the diff/gear swap only too still have IFS? I look forward too seeing pics of your Rig.

KJWildman · **Posted:** Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:39 am

Just keep cutting till they fit!! :twisted:

!!!! see here! :twisted:

William Waddy · **Joined:** Mon May 09, 2011 4:16 pm **Posts:** 56

For the money it's probably a toss up between the steel diff IFS route I chose or going with a SFA. My Jeep and daily driver is a built JK. It gets me to work and back, makes an occasional road trip, and is still quite capable for rock crawling some pretty hard-core stuff. The Liberty has to remain my wife's daily driver and our road trip vehicle. I installed the GDE hot tune and with the power and fuel economy it's actually a very nice highway traveler. Therefore, I'm trying to walk a fine line between capability and comfort. Right or wrong, I'm thinking the IFS will make for a better daily driver and road-trip vehicle than going with the SFA, even though the SFA would probably make it more capable off-road.

KJWildman - I really enjoyed reading about your fab job opening up the wheel wells. I think I got about the same clearance gain in the back by just hammering the crap out of things. I also ended up trimming off about an inch or so of short sections at the bottom and top of the rear doors since I was able to open up the wheel wells a little beyond the edge of the rear doors in those two areas. I'm really glad to see how you cut away the back/bottom of the front wells - I was wondering what kind of trouble I might get in if I opened that up. Now that I have the benefit of your experience I'm getting the cut-off wheel warmed up.

William Waddy · **Joined:** Mon May 09, 2011 4:16 pm **Posts:** 56

I did same thing as KJWildman and cut into floor panel at rear of front wheel wells. Between that and other trimming i now have 33x10.5x15 BFG KM2 tires mounted and can turn stop-to-stop with no rubbing. This is with no lift, pure stock. I have not checked clearance under articulation. It does not really matter since next week it gets 4 inch JBA lift, steel front diff, 4.56 gears, etc. Will postup pics soon showing progress and completion.

BTW, there are wire bundles behind floor board panels on both driver and passenger side, so you need to be careful cutting. I got lucky and did not cut or melt any wires, at least none that i know of

long_tall_texan · **Posted:** Wed Jul 06, 2011 7:47 pm

Pics???

KJWildman · **Posted:** Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:02 pm

William Waddy wrote:

I did same thing as KJWildman and cut into floor panel at rear of front wheel wells.

Heyyyy now! Don't go blaming mee!!!!!!! :ROTFL:

But I'm with LTT ...... Pics or it didn't happen!!!!!!!! :goink:

William Waddy · **Joined:** Mon May 09, 2011 4:16 pm **Posts:** 56

started new post with pics to show progress.

backspacing and tire stuffing

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