Second set of Wheels?

[Guest]

I bought my JK a year ago and put 20" XD Wheels wrapped with 35" Nitto Trail Grapplers. Now I want to take it to CO and play in the mountains but I'm not very confident in those wheels. I'm looking at getting a second set of wheels for off road use and considering a set of Pro Comp Steel Rock Crawler Series 52. What size would be best for a JK? I was think 17" and what backspacing? 4.25?

Lastly, I am thinking about putting 37" tires on for off road. I think it should fit with the MetalCloak Fenders which would provide the clearance with my 3" lift.

Does anyone have any suggestions or comments on this setup?

[Guest]

You will be able to go ANY where on Colorado trails that are appropriate for being solo, on a 35" tire!

I have wheeled a few of the of 3-6 rated trail on a 32" tire several times. Baldwin, Tomichi, Chinaman's Gulch, Hancock, Tin Cup, Medano, Hayden, Mosquito, Mary Murphy among others over the years. Even then, your still going to be 10-20 miles out side of cell phone service on most of these trails in the event that you have an issue. Many of the towns way up in the mountains have Ham repeaters down the mountain. In other words be in good enough shape that you can walk 20-30 miles if necessary at 10000 feet if your going to go solo.



We ran into this M3 at the top of Tin Cup a few years ago. The story we heard, was that the couple had stayed up on top of the pass for 3 days waiting for help and finally started walking out. You could see where they were using wooden storage boxes to keep warm on one side of the car. There was no one there when we got to it, otherwise I would have towed it out for them.

If you have a Dana 30, 35" is about all the R&P are reliable for. If you truly want a road trip worthy vehicle on a 37" tire, need to consider a larger axle first.

Not trying to discourage a 37" tire, instead think about all thats involved with making a 37" tire reliable on a 4500+lb vehicle.

A 17" Rim will still give a decent amount of tire wall with a 35" tire.

A ProComp rim is a decent steel rim. I know several people that have had zero issues less when extremely abused.

The lower the Jeep is, the better it will handle on road, and more stable it will be off camber off road. Moving the fenders up, cutting the fenders out is IMO the way to go! Usually you can hide most of the cutting under the fender flare.

Wally

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice... I had been think about the axles actually. I want to upgrade to ARB Air Lockers and it might make sense for me to go with the tires after that and upgrading the axles. The only thing I don't like about my 35's are that they are on 20" wheels. I think I'll get the second set but just keep them at 35's for now until I can afford more structural stuff.

Thanks!

[jagular7]

Wheels will be fine. The tires provides the traction on the terrain. Best thing for that when trailriding is to air down to let the tire wrap and grab around the terrain.

For the JK, its still a new model, though several years old. There are JK specific forums out there which would help you with more the axles, tires, wheels, etc specific to the model. JKforum.com, jkowners.com, and JK discussion areas under wranglerforum.com, jeepsunlimited.com, jeepforum.com.

As for the wheel diameter, 20 vs 17, vs 16 or even 15s, JKs have a 5on5 bolt pattern (lug pattern). The center hole of the wheel does have to be big enough to clear the front axle unit bearing hub. Tire diameter is relative to the tire and not the wheel. There are vast tire sizes available for the different wheel diameters. Only issues you need to be concerned is the backspacing, lug pattern and caliper clearance for the wheel diameter. With enough backspacing the wheel may contact the caliper (tire brake line). If the wheel has a deep backspacing, it pushes it out away from it all.
Backspacing and offset are terms used to describe the wheel mounting face of the wheel (to the hub). Backspacing is relative to the depth from the outer lip of the wheel. Offset is relative to the centerline of the wheel itself. Offset can be positive or negative. Backspacing is not negative.