R.M.THOMPSON

Does anyone have first hand experiance with 37's on our trucks. Just wondering what the reeal story is in regards to where the rubbing occurs and what needs to be done to correct it. I'm looking for diff. clearance without so much chassis lift.
Mark T.

cquestad

They will not fit with a 4.5" lift. I have the Tuff Country Suspension and 17x9 steel rims with 4.5" backspacing (since we don't have that many choices...). The greater offset to the outside makes a clearance issue with the edge of the fender front and rear under suspension travel. They may fit with greater backspacking. The truck looked amazing sitting with the 37's on it...but it still looks amazing with 35's.

Berak

That's odd because the guys at T-Rex engineering were running 37" tires on their trucks which only have a 2" lift in front and they had no clearance issues in the front. They did do some fender trimming in the rear apparently, but they didn't add ANY lift back there. They were using stock rims and 37" Goodyear MT/Rs.

I think the problem comes from trying to use aftermarket wheels with incorrect backspacing. Use the 37" tires on the stock rims and you'll be fine I bet.

This is exactly what I plan to do when I get new rubber.

cquestad

It is really close. I don't know how much suspension travel and twisting it would allow. I did not feel like trimming my fenders either. The back would be easy to nip a little on the front edge where the tire is closest, but the front rear has no room for nipping. The plastic fender liner makes a 90 degree corner with the fender. If you trimed the fender, it would not longer allow the plastic fender liner to meet and close. UGLY. With the stock backspacing, 37's would definatley rub on the control arms at full steering lock as well. Some people have had 315's rub a little...

I will post a pic of my truck soon.

R.M.THOMPSON

T-REX is where I may have read somethig ! cquestad , did you have 37's on a truck, where can I find a picture ?

cquestad

I mocked up the truck after lifting it with BFG Mud 37's. The would work never turning or flexing the suspension, but how often does that happen ....

I do not have photos of the 37's mock up. I do have a photo of the 35's though. The size is too big to post. I will email it to you if you give me an address.

cquestad

I just updated my gallery...sorry.

BigNutt

37s should fit fine w/ 4.5"+ lift. I'm gonna fit 40s on 6" Long Arm lift, if they don't fit I'll add a spacer and aal to it and/or trim some.

What sucks is there are ZERO good lift manufacturers for our trucks. I sure hope http://www.rubiconexpress.com come out w/ something soon.

I own a Jeep and the only brand I trust for offroad/onroad is RE.

Superlift, RoughCountry both suck bad, their suspensions ride rough and are poor quality.

SkyJacker is o.k., but there heim joints wear out fast and they are over priced.

Fabtech, Whiplash, etc. are for looks only. I wouldn't trust my life offroad w/ these kits.

So I am going custom built for my lift. I am getting National spring packs, custom made coils, me made LAs, and I can buy the rest of the stuff.

cquestad

Strong opinions...I have run Tough Country on 2 Fords and 2 Dodges. Never one complaint, problem or issue with durability, ride, customer service, or craftmanship. My trucks get the crap beat out of them and I have not even needed a single realignment. It is hard to believe that the 4.5" lift for the 3rd gens could make the ride worse than stock. It uses the factory springs and controls arms that are far better constructed than the oem with far superior bushings in each end.

37's will not work on a 4.5" lift and 40's won't work on a 6", unless your truck never leaves the pavement. IMHO

R.M.THOMPSON

Thanks cquetad , I think you gave me enough to go on. 35's look like the best bet !
Mark T.

Berak

I guess the guys at T-Rex engineering who jump their trucks in the air several feet to showcase their Baja quality off road suspension ($3500 and utilizes King racing shocks) that uses stock arms and 2" taller springs don't really take their trucks off road and don't know what their talking about.

I don't see how you can profess to know what will fit since you are using aftermarket wheels that are 1" wider and have an incorrect backspace. You should be saying they don't fit on *your* truck using *your* aftermarket wheels.

cquestad

It is just a picture...you can jump any truck "feet in the air" if you desire. I did explain what tire and rim combo I was running on my truck...backspacing and all...

I spent many hours under the truck while installing the lift. I really wanted the 37's to work. I measured clearances with the tires straight ahead and at full steering lock with the suspension at ride height and at max compression/droop. I then added and subracted from those measurements to simulate various wheel widths and backspacings to see if it would work. This was assuming I could find a rim with these special requirements. If the tire was to clear the outside fender lip, the rim backspacing would have to be stock with no wider than 8" wheel, but it then would rub on the inside. If I offset the rim enough for it to not rub on the inside, it would hit the fender lip. It only gets worse with a wider rim. That is another pinch. A 12.5" wide tire does not really sit flat (or look/perform good) on a 8" wide rim. A 315 is pushing it. If you add it all up...the answer is crystal clear.

Or you could find a 17" x 7" wide rim with stock backspacing so that you could wear you 37's bald in the middle?

I only responded with my best opinion to save others the money,time, effort, and frustration of "trying" to make 37's work like did...believe me I wanted the 37's to work.

Berak

You apparently have no idea about who T-Rex is or the product they produce. You should do some research before you infer their product is all "show" and no "go". They make probably the only real suspension oriented system made for Dodge trucks. They are all about performance off road and results and never refer to their system as a "lift" kit. It is a performance suspension system tested in Baja and getting rave reviews by anyone who has actually been in a T-rex equipped truck.

They were using the 37" Goodyear MT/Rs on stock rims (17x8) with no serious rubbing issues on their 2500 truck. Goodyear recommends a minimum of an 8.5" rim width for that tire so I doubt that going 0.5" under that is going to seriously compromise the tires characteristics. I don't think that is really "pushing it" much at all. If those guys didn't have any problems with that combo, no one here is going to be pushing their suspensions any harder than they do on a regular and long lasting basis.

Now they did have some clearance issues on the rear (WITH NO LIFT AT ALL) that they solved by fender trimming.

cquestad

I don't disagree that T-Rex makes a excellent and expensive product. To me, fender trimming is not an option on a $45k truck to run that tire. Nor do I consider a 7,500 lb diesel truck a baja racer. Just difference of opinions. Like I said before, I only posted to me best personal hands on experience. Please do run 37's and trim all you want...

Berak

Fender trimming is not an option for me either, but you miss the point.

If they can run a 2" higher coil in front and not do any trimming, certainly a 4.5" lifted coil would clear with no trimming in front. If they did some "very minor" fender trimming in the rear to clear (WITH THE OEM SUSPENSION), it stands to reason a lift block or add-a-leaf would result in no trimming being required. They were going to send me a special small lift block just for this purpose had I purchased their system.