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You may be asking, 33x10.5" mt's on the stock steelies? How did you ever arrive at that setup? Okay,
you probably weren't...but listen up anyways. When I decided to go with an Old Man Emu lift I thought I would run 31x10.5" tires (what was recommended with that lift). I then thought to myself, "Hey, that's what
every white-collar jeeper and his mother runs! I oughtta go bigger." So I figured I could squeeze some 32x11.5"
tires under there. Of course that would require a wheel with less backspacing, something around 4.75" (my stock
steelies are about 5.25-5.5"). So an el-cheapo set of black wheels (ar-767/cragar/rockcrawler/etc.) would have to suffice
even though I've never liked the look of black wheels. Now, if it weren't for the fact that i'm a "poor-man" I would
have gone with this setup. THANK LAWD I'M PO! After a little more researching, I discovered that it's possible
to run 33's with an OME lift when combined with a body lift. Knowing that tire size is the only way to add clearance under the differentials, I was now sure I wanted to go
with 33's. In the end, I actually ended up spending much less money on a body and motor mount lift than I would have spent on those horrid black wheels. The beauty is, BFG makes a 33x10.5" tire which doesn't have the
backspacing issues of the 32x11.5" tire. This allowed me to keep my stock steelies which i've always liked! Not only
would the 33x10.5/stock steelie setup keep my tires inside my fender flares (law in PA), they would tuck up inside the
flare when flexing.
One thing I was sure of all along was that I wanted BF Goodrich tires. They're the cream of the crop and
seem to be preferred by many jeepers. It didn't take me long to decide on the Mud Terrains. They're superior to
the All Terrains when on the trails and they wear well on the street. Truthfully, I like the the "skinny" look my tires
have as opposed to the the more common 33x12.5" version. Would I have gone with 33x12.5" tires? Sure.
If I had the cash for new (decent looking) wheels AND new (wider) flares. That being said, I couldn't be happier
with these tires.
I only ran into 2 snags with my new tires.
-My front/right tire rubbed the lower control arm at full turn because of the front axle being slightly
off-center (due to the lift). The best solution for this is installing an adjustable front track bar. Until
I have the funds for that I've temporarily fixed this by adding 3 washers to the opposite wheel's steering stop (front/left).
-The full-size spare would not clear the 3rd brake light. In order to raise the brake light (about 1.5") I
bought 4 longer bolts and stuffed 20 washers onto each bolt (between the brake light assembly and the tire
carrier). I should mention the spare wouldn't have cleared the rear bumper either if it wasn't for the body lift.
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| adding washers to the steering stop |
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| the raised 3rd brake light |
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