c5_nc

I bought a cherokee recently that previous owner did not want to fix, just rebuild transmission, put in new rear main seal, replaced most gaskets, seals, fluids, etc.





It looks "level" to me in stance but I just measured center to wheel to bottom of fender and it was 20" in rear and 21.5" in front. This seems to indicate there is a 3" lift in rear and 4.5" lift in front (?). I have no use for the mud tires that are on it, I'm planning to sell them and go a different route and looking for direction. It has 31" mud tires now, spec are actual 31" tall mounted, where most 32" ATs I have been looking at are typically ~31.5" mounted, 31" ATs ~30.5" mounted. I had 30" BFG ATs on my first car back in the day, a 86 Cherokee.... the tires look to small for the lift to me, it seems silly to have 3-4.5" of lift and use a tire that is .5" closer to fender that what was on my stock cherokee. I pretty much only drive it for commute to work, it may go in sand at the beach once a year, so looking at AT and just Highway tires. Lift is a skyjacker.

1- Does the 31" max on a 3" lift rule apply here? ... the front is actually raised 4.5" and when I turn wheels to be close to fender they do not appear to be anywhere close to touching. I have seen where some people have installed a RE3.5 kit and got 22" distance.. 5" lift. So not sure which rule of thumb to follow.

2- Are there metric tires sizes that that are larger but not wider than 31x10.5.... all 32"s appear to be 11.5"?

3- 32x11.5 would probably require wheel spacers or more offset wheels?

4- If I go with 15x8-10 or 16x8-10 Rock Crushers what back spacing do I need? The 5" blackspace ones are only $24 other sizes are more. If I factory wheel is 5" backspace and I buy a wheel that is 1" wider (.5" wider on each side), I need 4.5" backspacing to put inside of tire in same place as with a 5" backspace?

5- If I dump the wheels that are on it, what do they typically sell for ($)?


6- Can you buy replacement stickers/emblems?

I'm somewhat concerned about my wheel size vs tire width... if you put a wide tire on a narrow rim you generally shouuld have to underinflate the tire to get even wear. Since I'm mostly driving on the highway it may make since for me to go with a 8" or even 10" wheel, even if I stick with 10.5" wide tires.

c5_nc

bump

NH_Jeep_XJ

It appears as if you have sagged in the rear. Especially if your front is at 4.5" and the rear is exactly an 1.5" lower. IT's pretty apparent to me that you're lower in the rear.

It's most likely an Add a Leaf kit on older/original springs that tend to do this.
Take a look at your springs front and rear and look to see if they look old or not. And if there is a newer spring stuck in the old spring pack.
I'd get the Jeep even first before looking at newer tires and wheels.
You'll also have equal clearance front and rear.

As far as the 31" rule, It has much to do with what you are going to do with your Jeep. But also at full lock the 31's do tend to rub the Lower Control Arms. But this can be corrected with simple washers.

If you aren't offroading and flexing at all then you can stuff a much larger tire in a 3" Lift. There's a guy with a Blue XJ ,with a 3" lift and 33's, but he only streets his XJ for example. I am certain that he had to trim the front flares somewhat to turn his wheels though.

Take some masking tape, mark/measure out an inch or two, stick it on your tire tread, as well as on the inside an outside of your tires and see what you have for clearance when turning the wheels with your existing setup. Then at least you know what you have for space.

Speaking of 33's, they do make a 10.5 wide tire in that diameter.

Go to Tirerack.com and you can get the stock diameters of various tire sizes as well.

Another good place to start with the metric diameters is Rocky Road Outfitters has a calculator that you can plug in the metric tire size and they give you the overall diameter.

http://www.rocky-road.com/calculator.html

You are mis calculating backspacing. THink of where the lug nuts bolt to the drum face, the distance from there to the BACK is your back spacing.
There is only so much room they have to move the wheel inwards.
THe wider the wheel the smaller the backspacing so the balance of the wheel is sticking out. So an 8" wheel with 3.75" of backspacing means the remaining 4.25" of the 8" width is on the outside.
How much room do you have between your tire corner and the fender flare and on your control arms/springs on the inside ?
This is what you are going to have to work out.

Try a search on some previous posts that might answer more of your questions.

Oh, and on the Grizzly wheels, they being only the same sized as the stock steelies @15x7 are usually not as in demand as the Canyon wheels which are 7" wide or the newer wheels which are 8" wide. So they aren't going to command as high a price.

Do a search on used Grizzly wheels to get an idea of what they're going for.

Nice Jeep by the way !

knoxville

Im kinda interested in the tires, if the price is right! How much shipped to 60160?

c5_nc

Thanks for the help. So I took some pics... I guess they used add a leafs on this. So to fix this is the cheapo way would be to add 1.5" lift shackles.... or the better way would be to buy new 4.5" leaf lift packs?

gpXJ

Stock Cherokee wheels have 5.25" of backspacing.

If you put shackles on there, and they are already getting flat, it's just going to send those springs into negative arch territory. Either buy a 4.5" pack, or go to the junkyard and get some XJ springs and s-10 or dodge dakota springs and make a bastard pack.

c5_nc

Are most leaf kits "as advertised"? I have noticed other posted that 3" kits gave them 4.5", etc. I don't want the back jacked up if I order a 4.5" and it turns out to be 6".

gpXJ

It seems Rubicon Express lifts tend to give more than advertised. I would imagine if you had heavy bumpers (winch in front, tire carrier in back) then once they settled out, you would probably come close to advertised. If you have stock bumpers and no winch, then it's going to give you more lift than that.