So i just bought some rims online thinking they would fit after doing SOME research on offsets/backspacing. cant find S**T in stores for my WJ..

After i ordered the wheels i realized it may be a big mistake..

Im sitting on a stock WJ v8 the backspacing is 6 inches and the wheels i bought are backspacing of 4". that means theres a 2" lip right?

How bad will this effect my ride? my tires are 235? Is this just a bad mistake or can i trim my bumper if they rub? Thanks.

 

they shouldn't rub if you are not going with bigger tires, they will just move the wheel out farther from the body

handling might even improve with the wider stance

 

awesome, thanks for clearing this up for me. i think its gonna look madd nice like this.

 

Im sure you will like the new look, probably the only complaint you will have is the side of your Jeep getting more spray off the tires from rain or mud.

 

You are also putting more stress on your wheel bearings. If you are willing to accept this, more power to you.

 

Depends on the width. An 8" wheel with 4" of backspacing centers the wheel on the hub whereas the stock 7-8" with 5-6" of backspacing actually offsets it a bit. You really only hurt them with the crazy deep wheels like 10-12" wide with 2" offset and even then tire size has more to do with it than wheels.

 

It's not the hub you have to worry about. The bearings are about 3 inches farther back and THEY are what carry the load.

 

On a jeep front axle the hub and the bearing are one, as in unit bearing, and is barely 3" long total. That being said his 4" backspacing will be fine.

 

It is simple physics. The hub/bearing has two bearings in it. The load must be placed between the two bearings to properly displace the load. It maybe a compound bearing (one with two sets of *****) or two separate bearings, I'm not sure, but the major load MUST be placed on the centerline of the bearing pack or it will be subjected to torsional stress above what it was designed for. The rear axle is not as critical because it is supported inside the differential. The front axle stub is short and has very minimal lateral support.

You can do whatever you want. It's your vehicle. I'm just telling you the bearings will fail before they normally would.

 

No point in arguing, dave, you are right, but dont scare the op. They might fail quicker, but it isnt going to destroy them every 5k miles.

 

This is kinda Ironic, but today i took Jeepy into the stealership because of a unrelated issue and when i got the phone call they said i have a leaky axle seal or leaky bearing on my back passenger wheel *sigh* im still gonna put the wheels on, so i guess im going to have the learn how to replace this stuff anyway. Whats the difficuty rating for a job like this?

 

I'm not trying to scare anybody. I had an experience with a 57 Chevy with chrome reversed wheels on it. They was awesome. This was where you take the center section out, turn it around, and rivet it back in. They worked fine as a daily driver for over a summer, but we hit the road for Boston (360 miles away) and got about about 1/3 of the way before both front bearings destroyed themselves. This is my entire point. I am simply trying to show the loading problems.

I personally don't think he'll have a problem like mine, but I know 4 wheel and front wheel drive hub bearings are not very strong and need to be replaced often. My 00 WJ has had both hubs replaced at 125K miles of street driving. from the looks of the bottom, I seriously doubt it has ever been offroad.

Replacement is not that difficult. The rears will require opening the diff to pull the c-clips.

Go ahead and put them on. I think it'll look awesome, too!

 

His 4" backspacing is a lot different than reveresed wheels. His centers are going to be dead center vs having almost no backspacing. Just for reference I ran 10" wheels (got a deal on them and won't run one that wide again) with 3.5" of backspacing with 33s and later 35s for almost 5 years on the stock unit bearings and when I pulled the axle they were as tight as new. Buddy of mine is still running the axle with the same unit bearings with his 4" backspacing wheels.

 

Yeah im super excited, there taking forever to get here thou ugh.. Anybody know any good write ups for replacing axle seals and bearings?