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Bigger tires or suspension lift?

Kripplek5

Kripplek5

1 ton status
 Premium
Joined
Mar 4, 2020
Posts
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Location
Hildale, Utah
Good morning everyone, I'm trying to decide what route I should take and I'm looking for some advice. I'm putting one tons under the 91' and I'm trying to decide if I should run 35" tires and a 2" lift or if I should just purchase 37" tires. My wheelchair lift and transfer seat limits how high I can make the truck. I want to strike a good balance between ground clearance and articulation of the suspension while still being able to get in the vehicle.
Thanks for your feedback!

I'm also trying to decide between a 10.5" wide tire or 8.5" American Racing rims. I like the idea of the wider tire. Recommendations? Ideas?
 
Would the 37's also been on 2" of lift? What about body trimming - yay or nay? Imo, trimming will be a huge factor in the tire & wheel size.

Keep in mind a more stock like wheel (narrow with factory like offset) will allow more tire on the same lift than a wider / deeper offset wheel.
 
Kripplek5 said:
Good morning everyone, I'm trying to decide what route I should take and I'm looking for some advice. I'm putting one tons under the 91' and I'm trying to decide if I should run 35" tires and a 2" lift or if I should just purchase 37" tires. My wheelchair lift and transfer seat limits how high I can make the truck. I want to strike a good balance between ground clearance and articulation of the suspension while still being able to get in the vehicle.
Thanks for your feedback!

I'm also trying to decide between a 10.5" wide tire or 8.5" American Racing rims. I like the idea of the wider tire. Recommendations? Ideas?
Click to expand...

if you actually plan on taking the K5 offroad a narrower rim will keep the tire on the bead better at lower pressures
 
nvrenuf said:
Would the 37's also been on 2" of lift? What about body trimming - yay or nay? Imo, trimming will be a huge factor in the tire & wheel size.

Keep in mind a more stock like wheel (narrow with factory like offset) will allow more tire on the same lift than a wider / deeper offset wheel.
Click to expand...

The 37's wold be without the 2" suspension lift. I'm trying to increase the overall ground clearance of the vehicle. With my disability I can only raise the truck a maximum of 4" maybe 5" before I need to get some sort of booster to get onto my transfer seat. My original thought was that 35's and the 2" suspension lift would be the best option whereas 37s would give the ground clearance but not provide the articulation of the lift.
I'm not against trimming, the body can always be modified to accommodate the build imo. I just have to rely on others for the hand work.
I was unsure just how much the difference in wheel width would affect the tire. I will stay with the 8.5s. @nvrenuf do you have an opinion on American Racing rims?
 
37" and 4.56 for average wheeling would be fine. Not sure 37's and 4.56 will work well on hard trials like the Rubicon or Moab. maybe with a good low range or doubler. If only 2 to 1. 5.13 would be my choice for those trails. 5.13, 37's a 700r4 in od 65 mph is 2065 rpm. 4.56 37's a700r4 65 is 1884rpm, maybe below bottom of torque rpm range. 4.56 35's and 700r4 at 65mph 1990 rpm. 4.56 33's 700r4 at 65 is 2111rpm. The 700r4 has a nice lower gear of 3.0 to 1 best I know for an easy to use auto trans.

Now I have no real life experience on these trials. Maybe the northern cali guys can speak to tire size and how feasible the smaller tires will be on the Rubicon or Fordice.
 
@Kripplek5 I’ve never owned American Racing wheels but when I worked at a tire store we sold TONS with no quality complaints. They’re a good wheel, good quality and have been around forever.
 
Wes Harden said:
37" and 4.56 for average wheeling would be fine. Not sure 37's and 4.56 will work well on hard trials like the Rubicon or Moab. maybe with a good low range or doubler. If only 2 to 1. 5.13 would be my choice for those trails. 5.13, 37's a 700r4 in od 65 mph is 2065 rpm. 4.56 37's a700r4 65 is 1884rpm, maybe below bottom of torque rpm range. 4.56 35's and 700r4 at 65mph 1990 rpm. 4.56 33's 700r4 at 65 is 2111rpm. The 700r4 has a nice lower gear of 3.0 to 1 best I know for an easy to use auto trans.

Now I have no real life experience on these trials. Maybe the northern cali guys can speak to tire size and how feasible the smaller tires will be on the Rubicon or Fordice.
Click to expand...

I'm purchasing a np205 and Magnum doubler from ORD. Will be utilizing their 3stick gear selector and modified shifting rails. Which calculator did you use for those numbers? I got slightly different ones.
 
With the Magnum you will be in good shape if you have 4:56 gears and 37s.
The 37s will help get clearance under those big differentials, but will it be too difficult to keep the height of the truck down without limiting flex a bunch? I don't really know. Mine has about 5" of lift, 4 in the suspension, 1" body pucks, and 37s and I still had to trim a fair amount because of how far they will travel upwards. My front axle is moved forward one inch. My old wheels had lots of back spacing which hurt at the rear of the fender, the new ones are 17×9 with less backspace don't have the as much problem at the rear of the fender, but the left tire gets closer to the hydraulic assist fitting on the box.
From my limited experience, you will want to move the front axle forward to keep from running into the bottom of the floor. But I believe that I heard of 2" forward being the limit without having lots of problems with the steering if you go crossover, and 1" forward with stock push-pull steering. The stock steering will kill drag link ends quickly even at just 1" forward when it gets flexed a lot. So I think that will be a consideration when picking the suspension height.

Part621.jpg
 
6872xtc said:
With the Magnum you will be in good shape if you have 4:56 gears and 37s.
The 37s will help get clearance under those big differentials, but will it be too difficult to keep the height of the truck down without limiting flex a bunch? I don't really know. Mine has about 5" of lift, 4 in the suspension, 1" body pucks, and 37s and I still had to trim a fair amount because of how far they will travel upwards. My front axle is moved forward one inch. My old wheels had lots of back spacing which hurt at the rear of the fender, the new ones are 17×9 with less backspace don't have the as much problem at the rear of the fender, but the left tire gets closer to the hydraulic assist fitting on the box.
From my limited experience, you will want to move the front axle forward to keep from running into the bottom of the floor. But I believe that I heard of 2" forward being the limit without having lots of problems with the steering if you go crossover, and 1" forward with stock push-pull steering. The stock steering will kill drag link ends quickly even at just 1" forward when it gets flexed a lot. So I think that will be a consideration when picking the suspension height.

View attachment 362173
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. I'm planning on moving t he axle fwd one inch. I'm not doing cross-over steering at the moment.
Where did you get your bumper from?
 
I have a 91 with one tons, 37" on 10" wide wheels and 4" lift, 456 gears,
Even with moving the front axle forward 1" i will have to do some serious trimming or go to 35's if i want to do rough trails
upload_2020-12-6_10-19-4.jpeg
 
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