ahenderl

First, I would like to say how much I appreciate this forum. I have scoured thread after thread over the last couple of weeks and feel that I have benefitted much from all of the knowledge shared here.

I have a green '97 4.0L auto Sport my wife ordered new in '97. It is bone stock and has been my daily driver for a few years now. It is now in need of new tires. Since I have to buy rubber anyway, I figured...what the heck, I might as well go bigger and lift it.

I have decided on the following:
RE 3.5" superflex kit w/mono-tube shocks
RE SYE

I was thinking about Cooper STT 31" 10.50's on my stock aluminum 5-spoke 7" wide wheels, but was wondering if anyone had any advice of whether or not I would have any issues running 16x8 Rubicon wheels. They have the same 5 x 4.5" bolt pattern.

If I get the Rubicons, I figured that 265/70R16 would be a good fit. According to the Cooper website the 265's measure 30.86" compared to the 31's actual height of 30.75. Also, the width measures 10.94" compared to 10.85" on the 31 10.50's. The tire sizes are close enough that they alone should not be an issue.

Does anyone know of any scrub problems due to the 8" width or backspacing issues? I love the wheels!!

Sorry for such a long first post. I'll send up pics of my stock ride and post new ones as she progresses.

BlueXJ

We would need the backspacing specs unless someone here is familar with them. The short answer is that 3-4" of backspacing will get you away from rubbing any more ( numerically higher) and you will get scrubbing on the lower control arm.
I tried to run some 31s on stock 7" backspaced wheels and every left turn was an event. Had to bite the bullet and get some new wheels with 3.75" of backspacing. No further problems since. I have the same lift kit as you are proposing as well.

xjjeepthing

Rubi Wheels are 5.5" Backspacing, the factory XJ wheels are 5.25"

ahenderl

So...if the Rubicon wheels have 1/4" more backspacing, but are 1" wider, then the wheel will extend 3/4" further out? Is that correct? It sounds like they will work ok.

BTW. Here are a couple of stock pics. Bought new...175,600 miles and no problems except a waterpump at 165,000. It is driven daily but only gets 4-5k miles/year these days.

xjjeepthing

Dived that in half, they will only stick out 3/8" and will be 3/8" closer to your control arms.

BlueXJ

Sry xjjeepthing. wrong thread.

xjjeepthing

I'm confussed, LOL

BlueXJ

I was looking in another thread and got distracted and posted that in the wrong place and when I went back to check my post it was too late and I had already posted it. I go back and forth between several sites at the same time. Right now I have 5 up that I tab back and forth between.

ahenderl

Forgive me for being stupid, but is backspacing not backspacing regardless of width. If the Rubi wheel has 1/4" more backspacing, how does that translate into 3/8" closer to the control arm?

xjjeepthing

I need to correct myself, the Rubi wheels are 5" BS. So heres the best I can explain. a 15x8 wheel if the BS was 4" there would be 4" of wheel each direction. a 15x7 wheel with 5.25" BS would have 5.25" toward the arm and 1.75" towards the out side. A 15x8 wheel with 5" BS would have 5" towards the arms and 3" towards the out. Like I said I need to correct the earlier. Hope that helps

https://www.rsracing.com/tech-wheel.html

ahenderl

OK. Thanks for the clarification. I was getting confused. That means that the Rubi wheels have 1/4" more backspacing. Is that a problem clearing the control arms. Also, with the extra width, will there be a problem clearing the fenders. I do not want to cut them and would prefer to leave the stock flares in place. Most people have stated that the RE 3.5" lifts actualy give about 1-1.5" more lift than advertised.

muddeprived

Backspacing is the distance from the backside mounting surface to the backside edge of the wheel. The less backspacing, the more it sticks out.

xjjeepthing

I think you will be fine with 31" on the Rubi wheels. If they do hit on the arms it would at full turn lock, just adjust out the steering stops out a bit. As far as the fenders I dont think it would be an issue. My original set of wheels were 4.75 BS and 31" tires had no issues.

muddeprived

Why does that look REALLY good? Damn...

BlueXJ

I think I like yeller paint. Looks like when I was a kid and had Tonka toys. They were all yeller too.