15"x8" Rims on KK

NAMoulton1 · **Joined:** Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1054

Does anyone run these? I'm looking to do a 5 for 5 swap with a friend who has 31"x10.50" on 15"x8"s. I test fitted it to see if there was enough clearance on the steering knuckle. There's about 1-3mm of room in between the rim lip and bolt on the underside of the knuckle (lugs were on it and torqued). If anyone has 15" please post a pic of how much clearance you have or let me know how much clearance you have. Please and Thank You!

TIJKK1220 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 26, 2014 12:46 pm

I'd be interested to see your findings

lfhoward · **Posted:** Fri Sep 26, 2014 2:00 pm

1-3 mm isn't much of a margin for error, with hitting bumps on the highway. :shock:

How much clearance is there for the brake calipers, both front and back?

NAMoulton1 · **Joined:** Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1054

lfhoward wrote:

1-3 mm isn't much of a margin for error, with hitting bumps on the highway. :shock:

How much clearance is there for the brake calipers, both front and back?

I could slide my hand in between the rim and caliper for the front. Only put it on the driver's front so not sure on the rear.

Bmxer524 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 26, 2014 4:29 pm

Shouldn't have a problem in the rear. I'm pretty sure the brakes are smaller back there.

nFodzy · **Joined:** Sun Oct 06, 2013 1:30 pm **Posts:** 389

I would see if you can get ahold of 'Ted15' I know he's running that exact tire/wheel combo.

silverkk · **Joined:** Mon Feb 04, 2013 12:27 pm **Posts:** 637

15x8s with 32x11.5 tires

silverkk · **Joined:** Mon Feb 04, 2013 12:27 pm **Posts:** 637

What you describe sounds the same to me there isnt much room between the rim and bottom nut

Scar0 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 27, 2014 4:38 am

Personally I would not trust the combo.
Here is a test I did a while back. 2.5" lift and even the small size tires they rubbed.

Quote:

The tires/wheels are from my 85 Cherokee, 15 X 7 with 4" back space, 30 x 9.5 tires.

I had a close look at my 15" wheels in action.
Just for grins I had my wife push and pull on the top of the tire to see just how much a steel rim would flex. I was amazed that my small wife was able to get the rim to flex that much... This bolt closed 1/2 the distance to the rim with the little bit she was able to push and pull on it. If I were to be going fast around a tight corner, the combination of the weight of the Nitro and the side force of going around the corner could make that bolt hit the rim...

Now some Pics of the caliper clearance. Less than 1/4" at the closest point.

IT'S NOT WORTH THE RISK!

These are coming off as soon as I can get them off!

Now you may be able to make a 15"rim work if you ran less backspace. But then you would have to cut the heck out of things to be able to turn. You could also go up higher then a 2.5" lift to give you a little more room while driving normal roads. But you can forget about stuffing a tire during flex.

NAMoulton1 · **Joined:** Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1054

silverkk wrote:

15x8s with 32x11.5 tires

Can you take a pic of the clearance near that lower bolt? What's the backspacing on those wheels?

NAMoulton1 · **Joined:** Tue Aug 12, 2014 7:01 pm **Posts:** 1054

Scar0 wrote:

Personally I would not trust the combo.
Here is a test I did a while back. 2.5" lift and even the small size tires they rubbed.

Quote:

The tires/wheels are from my 85 Cherokee, 15 X 7 with 4" back space, 30 x 9.5 tires.

I had a close look at my 15" wheels in action.
Just for grins I had my wife push and pull on the top of the tire to see just how much a steel rim would flex. I was amazed that my small wife was able to get the rim to flex that much... This bolt closed 1/2 the distance to the rim with the little bit she was able to push and pull on it. If I were to be going fast around a tight corner, the combination of the weight of the Nitro and the side force of going around the corner could make that bolt hit the rim...

Now some Pics of the caliper clearance. Less than 1/4" at the closest point.

IT'S NOT WORTH THE RISK!

These are coming off as soon as I can get them off!

Now you may be able to make a 15"rim work if you ran less backspace. But then you would have to cut the heck out of things to be able to turn. You could also go up higher then a 2.5" lift to give you a little more room while driving normal roads. But you can forget about stuffing a tire during flex.

I currently have a 4" (well, closer to a 4.25"). I have the pinch welds pounded flat. And I only plan on 31×10.50s because you can find a lot more tires are available.

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat Sep 27, 2014 11:43 am

ScarO's post was spot on and what many do not want to hear, with little room in there any thing can cause an issue.
As I've stated before used to manage tire shops and always had " my brothers cousins inlaw's grandfather ran that size "
finally gave up one day on one customer and said fine you want those wheels I'll sell them to you but they will not work
Guy bought them took them home, installed them then cam in to show me I was a dumba**
2 weeks later he installed new brake pads on the front, guess what the thickness of the new pads pushed the caliper out far enough that the wheel wouldn't turn.
He bought the wheels I recommended in the first place

Scar0 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 27, 2014 3:33 pm

tommudd wrote:

ScarO's post was spot on and what many do not want to hear, with little room in there any thing can cause an issue.
As I've stated before used to manage tire shops and always had " my brothers cousins inlaw's grandfather ran that size "
finally gave up one day on one customer and said fine you want those wheels I'll sell them to you but they will not work
Guy bought them took them home, installed them then cam in to show me I was a dumba**
2 weeks later he installed new brake pads on the front, guess what the thickness of the new pads pushed the caliper out far enough that the wheel wouldn't turn.
He bought the wheels I recommended in the first place

Thank you kind sir.
Imagine if he had a rock get lodged in there @ 60 Mph. :dead:

NAMoulton1 wrote:

I currently have a 4" (well, closer to a 4.25"). I have the pinch welds pounded flat. And I only plan on 31×10.50s because you can find a lot more tires are available.

I too was hoping they would work, as I had just purchased 2 complete bran new sets of these tires/rims for my Cherokee. One set I had for 6 months, and the second set I had just bought 6 weeks before I got my new ride. Lucky for me my daughter now drives a Cherokee and is using a set on her ride. And as it turns out, my son is planning on fixing up my old Cherokee for his first ride... :BINGO:

I'm not going to say +/- one way or the other. My post is what it is. My opinion and recommendation. At least now you can make an informed decision.

silverkk · **Joined:** Mon Feb 04, 2013 12:27 pm **Posts:** 637

NAMoulton1 wrote:

silverkk wrote:

15x8s with 32x11.5 tires

Can you take a pic of the clearance near that lower bolt? What's the backspacing on those wheels?

i will tomrrow and idk backspacing

silverkk · **Joined:** Mon Feb 04, 2013 12:27 pm **Posts:** 637

NAMoulton1 wrote:

Scar0 wrote:

Personally I would not trust the combo.
Here is a test I did a while back. 2.5" lift and even the small size tires they rubbed.

Quote:

The tires/wheels are from my 85 Cherokee, 15 X 7 with 4" back space, 30 x 9.5 tires.

I had a close look at my 15" wheels in action.
Just for grins I had my wife push and pull on the top of the tire to see just how much a steel rim would flex. I was amazed that my small wife was able to get the rim to flex that much... This bolt closed 1/2 the distance to the rim with the little bit she was able to push and pull on it. If I were to be going fast around a tight corner, the combination of the weight of the Nitro and the side force of going around the corner could make that bolt hit the rim...

Now some Pics of the caliper clearance. Less than 1/4" at the closest point.

IT'S NOT WORTH THE RISK!

These are coming off as soon as I can get them off!

Now you may be able to make a 15"rim work if you ran less backspace. But then you would have to cut the heck out of things to be able to turn. You could also go up higher then a 2.5" lift to give you a little more room while driving normal roads. But you can forget about stuffing a tire during flex.

I currently have a 4" (well, closer to a 4.25"). I have the pinch welds pounded flat. And I only plan on 31×10.50s because you can find a lot more tires are available.

. Min pinch welds are pounded flat also no problems with my 32s and my 4.5 lift

Texasrugby911 · **Joined:** Thu Feb 04, 2010 3:18 pm **Posts:** 196

silverkk wrote:

Min pinch welds are pounded flat also no problems with my 32s and my 4.5 lift

As long as you keep that sucker on the roads you will have no problems with 32's. As soon as you try any actual wheeling whatsoever, you will rip off your fender flares with that combo.

silverkk · **Joined:** Mon Feb 04, 2013 12:27 pm **Posts:** 637

Texasrugby911 wrote:

silverkk wrote:

Min pinch welds are pounded flat also no problems with my 32s and my 4.5 lift

As long as you keep that sucker on the roads you will have no problems with 32's. As soon as you try any actual wheeling whatsoever, you will rip off your fender flares with that combo.

i haven't had a problem yet but with that said I don't wheel it to hard to often but when I did it was with a 2.5 lift and the 32s only had to realign the rear flared after that day

Ted15 · **Posted:** Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:58 am

I've been running 31x10.5-15's with 3 3/4" backspace for most of the summer. I only went wheeling once but didn't have any significant issues. Be prepared to take care of some rubbing because you'll have some. The pinch welds and the front fascia rubbed on mine. The backspace puts the tire out further so while the size is very close to the 245/75-16 the new scrub radius brings the tire into contact with the welds.

TIJKK1220 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 28, 2014 7:37 pm

That was my big question. 31 x 10.5 and 245's are almost exactly the same size. Is the back spacing that much different between the 15 and 16 inch steel rims?

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Oct 28, 2014 7:47 pm

TIJKK1220 wrote:

That was my big question. 31 x 10.5 and 245's are almost exactly the same size. Is the back spacing that much different between the 15 and 16 inch steel rims?

Backspacing and the wheel diameter is two completely different things when discussing what fits and what doesn't
What gets you on a 15 inch wheel unless you go to like 3.75 or so backspacing is the fact it will hit the rotor in front.
Then of course you are sitting the wheel/tire combo out more so more of a chance of it hitting flares/ bumper etc

15"x8" Rims on KK

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