You asked about what effect wheels have on off road use Clown addressed about all of them very well, and the important one IMHO is the width. That being the ability to air down to 12-15 psi (and hold the bead) for a better ride and a lot more traction.

There are many you will run into out wheeling that are running full psi in their tires that become stuck or unable to make it up a small hill for lack of traction. Sidewalls are an important part of your tires if you air down, depending on the areas you wheel at.

 

Also airing-down will make those miles and miles on a grated, washboard road slightly less awful.

 

To add to this, if you're running a metric size, the same is not true. For instance, if you're running a 245/70r15, it will be an inch shorter in overall diameter from a 245/70r16

 

^^^ Good call! Definitely worth mentioning.

 

Agreed. Thanks, bud

 

Would 15x7 rims fit on 31x10.5x15 tires? I know that's what most people run on their's I just wanted to be sure.

 

Yep
Just make sure they have the correct bolt pattern for your axle and the right backspacing for your application

 

Hi, Im new here and pretty new to Cherokees. I have a question regarding Lift size and Tire back spacing. First off on for the lift, what is the smallest height increase you can go while upgrading to longarms? My rig sees a lot of highway and is used in an overlanding type scenario most often. Id like to keep it a reasonable height for on road handling, I dont plan on running too much of a bigger tire and have no problem trimming fenders to fit, But id like the added benefit of longarm travel/ride quality when its needed. Its not used in hardcore wheeling but id like to get rid of the stock shortarms and their mounts seem a little weak. Would i be better off reinforcing the stock mounts and going to tubular arms?(im reinforcing the unibody too) or is there a longarm kit that is around 2-3" of lift? Or would it have to be pieced together.
My next question on the Backspacing. Im upgrading my steering with a solution kit that requires 4.5" maximum backspacing what size spacers would i need to run to acheive that? Im running stock steel wheels on my 1994 Jeep Cherokee 2 door 5 Speed.
Thanks!

 

The lowest I've seen long arm kits advertised for is 3.5" of lift or more. If you have the fab skills, you could fab yourself a mid-arm setup. At 2 to 3" angles aren't that bad. Upgraded short arms and proper caster and alignment should be sufficient for a decent ride.

In regards to backspacing and spacers, I think the smallest you can go with spacers is 1.25". I could be wrong but I don't think you can go any smaller than that because of the lugs that hold on the spacers need to sit a little below the wheel mating surface. If that all makes sense.

 

There used to be a mid arm kit available. I was looking into it for a while, but I know of 2 3 link kits that both have said 3" will work. Cav fab came out with an awesome high clearance one that has an option for 3", also a cheaper kit that will also work at 3" and b lee which said would work at 3" when I was still planning on staying at 3" but went to 4.5". I'm not 100% certain, but I believe stock backspacing is 5.5, so in theory 1" spacers would be enough. I personally just went with new rims instead of having one more maintenance item to worry about.

 

Thanks guys, Definitely cleared up most of my questions. I appreciate it.

 

 

This is true, but keep in mind that those kits mentioned will also give you a stretch out front. Not that this is a bad thing, but I think it's worth mentioning. I'm gonna be right around 4 to 4.5" when I'm done, and will have CavFab's 3-link under mine.

 

Will it give stretch? I figure there would've been enough adjustment In the arms to not have that issue

 

tire balancing question - has anyone used water or BB's in their tires to keep them balanced? I hear the bigger the tire the more difficult it is to keep balanced.