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Topic: SIZE 30 or 31 TIRES ON STOCK RIMS? PLZ HELP

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SIZE 30 or 31 TIRES ON STOCK RIMS? PLZ HELP
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Hello everyone.

I have a 2 and 1/2 lift on my jeep - longer coils at the front and home-brewed AAL at the rear. Everything else is stock. Including the factory size 15 rims. I have been using the factory tires (225/75/15) despite the lift but i now want to upgrade to bigger tires.

However I am still wondering whether i should buy size 30 or size 31 tyres. I think at the front i should not have much problems coz i can do proper bump-stopping to avoid the front wheels rubbing on the front suspension components esp the lower control arms. The problem, as I see it, will be the rear tyres. I am looking at the gap between the factory tyres and the leaf springs and I am wondering whether it can accomodate size 31 tyres without the wheels rubbing against the leaf springs. I think size 30 would be no problem but as to whether I can fit size 31 without any problem I aint sure.

So please advise as to whether I can fit size 31 tires with the stock rims without any problems as i intend to use the stock rims for now. Any other necessary mods/advice will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Ed.

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aci4369
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You should be fine in the rear.  I wouldn't worry at all about hitting the leafs in the rear as long as you stick with a 10.5" wide tire.  If you go up to a 12" wide tire I am not sure.  I am sure that someone on here would be able to answer to the 12" though. 

On my old Jeep I have 10.5" wide MT's that were 31's and they didn't rub at all in the back.  They were mounted on Mustang rims which were the same backspacing as the stock rims, if not worse.... So I think that you would be fine.

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Perhaps I should clarify that what i meant by Size 30 is 30X9.5X15
and for Size 31 I meant to describe 31X10.5X15. Thx


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bmyohn
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you will be fine with those sizes. as long as you bumstoppped properly and everything in the front like you said

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It will vary greatly on the rim (aka what backspacing you have); as not all factory rims have the same backspacing.

You should be able to fit a 10.5" wide tire in the rear. I had a problem running a FACTORY rim with a 10.5" tire on the rear when I was using a factory rim for a spare back in my 31" days long long ago. The tire itself would rub on the leaf spring (I was sitting at 4.5" of lift). This was with a factory Gambler style rim.

On the other hand, we ran a 31x10.5" AT on Rebecca's XJ for about 6 months in the transition phase prior to getting her the new 33's. This was on a factory rim as well and we had no issues with rubbing in the rear on her 3.5" lift.

I think it's going to vary greatly on what factory rims you have; as stated prior not all factory rims are created equal. It will also vary on the tire itself, as an AT won't have "side lugs" like a MT will.

The biggest problem with running factory rims with the 10.5" tire is rubbing on the control arms at full lock. Since the factory rims sit further in, while turning you'll most likely rub on the control arms themselves. A good mod is to run the stronger WJ control arms that have a bend in them. However if you can't find (or afford) to go that route you can simply adjust your steering stops. This will cut down on your turning radias a bit, but it will prevent the rubbing.

Just simply "shim" it with a washer untill it stops rubbing.



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Thank you very much for your responses. I am hoping to fit 31X10.5Xx15 rather than 30X9.5 and will now have the confidence to go for the 31s. I have this type of stock rims (see attached picture). Adam, you are of course very familiar with the XJ whose photo is attached hereto biggrin and will be best placed to advise if these are the very same stock rims that you referred to. Would these rims give me any problem rubbing the rear leaf springs? Thanks in advance.

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No you should be ok with that set of rims. We ran that set of rims with 31x10.5's on Rebecca's XJ for several months while we waited for the 33's to show up. Never had an issue with the rear rubbing, the fronts would only rub at full lock as stated above.

Here is a pic. I painted the rims black as I thought it looked better on her rig.

Only thing I didn't like was at the height (3.5" Rubicon Express) I felt that the rig was very unstable. It felt like we were skating around on ice skates. Once we bumpted upto the 33's with a wider tire and better offset rim it felt so much better. At only 2" or so you'll probally not notice it like we did....



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Thank you for the input. I will deal as advised>>>>>>>> Mine is a DD thus size 31 tyres should be sufficient for my purposes at least for the time being. Will take photos once I put new shoes on her.

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ChevelleSSLS6
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what did you use for your homebrew 2.5" lift?

I'll probably do this and run 30" tires, or do the 3" lift and 31s.

PS- there's guys out there running 31s on a 2.0 inch lift.

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I've run 31's and now 265-75-15 which is taller than a 31. No problems at full stuff for either tire. I have 2.5" +- of homebrew lift.  BTW an xj main with the eyes removed and an extra leaf 1 will give 2.5", no sag and a great ride!

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asatxj wrote:

I've run 31's and now 265-75-15 which is taller than a 31. No problems at full stuff for either tire. I have 2.5" +- of homebrew lift.  BTW an xj main with the eyes removed and an extra leaf 1 will give 2.5", no sag and a great ride!


Actually i added 2 stock leafs though I did not use the main leaf. I used the 2 longer leafs and decided to preserve the main leaf. The added 2 leafs and a little tension to the leaf spring set gave me about 2.75"+  of lift. The xj can now carry much more load with minimal spring sag yet the spring gets back to its normal height after off-loading the cargo. and yes i cant complain about the ride quality either.

at the front I used longer coil springs. I have done home-brew modifications to factory track bar as well as steering linkage (drag link?). For the track bar i sawed off the part that attaches to the xj body, made appropriate threads on that side and attached a stock tie-rod-end using the stock adjuster for the drag link. So now i have an adjustable track bar! wink

For the drag link I was unhappy by the fact that the tie-rod-end on the part that mounts to the steering knuckle cannot be changed when it loosens or gets damaged after long use. That means one would have to replace the entire drag link. On this i similarly sawed off a portion of the side that mounts to the steering knuckle and attached a TRE with another stock adjuster. The only problem I experienced is that the rim rubs on the TRE on full turn coz the TRE is straight and does not have a curve like the stock drag link TRE. I overcame the rubbing by adjusting the bump-stop. Just as well coz i would have had to adjust the bumpstop with 10.5" tires.

Oh, i also home-brewed the links by using 2 stock links to form one longer link.....

All these modifications have been done with stock parts and as near as possible to the stock specs with the understanding that safety of the vehicle is paramount.....

 



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I have to see some pics of your fab work!!! Sounds mighty interesting. I've been thinking of doing that to a stock TB but didn't know if it would fit.....
I can carry about 400# of pellets before the back end starts to sag. I notice it in the braking performance before I see the rear end sagging.

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