Hello, after tons of digging I'm just going to post a few pics and see if any articulation experts have an opinion.
98 Cherokee with about a one inch lift
I think the wheels are stock from an early 2000 wrangler. But stock jeep wheels nonetheless and I understand them to be 5-5.5 of back space...
my tires are 31x10.50

I'm getting more lca rub than I'd like. I don't want to change out my lca's. So I'm thinking I will get 15x7 with 4 inch backspace. With that, I'm hoping to cease rubbing and still be able to tuck inside at full flex. One pic here of it on the floor and two more with one tire up on a 6.5 inch oil change ramp. Let me know whatcha think! Thanks in advance.
On ramp
On ramp

 

I had close to the same setup on my red 99, 31s with a 2 inch lift and stock wheels, I ended up adding a half inch spacer to get rid of the LCA rubbing after 2 years, which really wasn't all that bad to begin with. I really like the look of the stock wheels with the 31s, as well as the price of buying a set of spacers from a friend, rather than a whole new set of wheels. Also, I didn't have any issues with rubbing in the front after, but I did in the rear on the flares. Both the front and the rear should tuck fine without the flares, assuming the rear has been rolled or cut & folded. Pictures were before the spacers and I don't have any pictures after they were installed. Hope this helps a little?

 

Very helpful. Thank you. Except now I'm considering spacers again.. .
Maybe I will go out and find a loading dock or something and see if I can get the tire up in there and take a measurement

 

Stock is 5.25" BS.


I have 15x7 w/4.25" BS & 235 75 R15 tires. 235mm width converts to 9.3". I have room to stuff, but not much extra. I'm not sure I could fit a 10.50" tire in there with my BS, so I'm skeptical about stuffing with 4" BS.

 

My buddy runs 31x10.5 on a 3" lift with 4.25 back spacing wheels. He has not done anything to the rear and they rub at full compression. Once he cuts, it will be fine. Same thing with the front. It rubbed when not trimmed down but after he cut the fenders a bit, no more rubbing and they tuck in nicely. They do not rub his control arms at full steering lock as well.

 

15x7 or 15x8 5-Speed?

 

15x8 I believe. I'll ask him to verify

 

A tire mounted on a 15x8 wheel with 4.25" backspace would protrude more from the wheelwell than a 15x7 w/4.25" BS.

 

100% agree with that.

 

 

 

Thanks for the replies everyone! And the breaking bad meme.
I suppose I will try to find out exactly how much space I need to clear the LCA and how much extra tuck space I have currently and go from there. I will update with my findings for more xj data points and future googlers

 

Good call. A little measuring can go a long way...