New rims, tires, and 2"BL/3"SL

[shanostyle]

So I am looking into what it will take to turn my black beauty Into a monster off-road. I am very interested in what kind of tire size I would be restricted to if I went to a 3"SL and a 2"BL. I like the nitro terra grapplers on a 15" or 16" wheel. Any thoughts or links to the 2002 XTERRA XE SC Body lift kit and suspension kit if I piece together or buy it all at once?
Any thoughts on the wheel size and spacing I should be aware of that would allow me to avoid having to cut and plastic or metal?

 

[robcarync]

4x4parts.com is a great place for suspension stuff

zoneoffroad.com or zoneoffroad on ebay sells body lift pucks individually. You need 3" diameter and 2" tall for a 2" body lift

allensfasteners.com sells all sorts of bolts...you need to buy the longer bolts to do the body lift. Get metric grade 10.9. The rest of the lift involves fabricating a few spacers here and there... I think there is a how-to on here...if not, clubxterra.org has a TON of tech info on there.

As for tires, 33" is really as big as you can go. A suspension lift raises your ride height by trading suspension travel (less down travel/droop, but more up travel). That means that even if you can clear 35"s driving around, once you flex your tires enough, they will hit the fenders and anything else they were going to hit if you didn't do the suspension lift.

If you want to do the extra trouble of a 3" body lift, you can do 35s I believe

 

[shanostyle]

4x4parts.com is a great place for suspension stuff zoneoffroad.com or zoneoffroad on ebay sells body lift pucks individually. You need 3" diameter and 2" tall for a 2" body lift allensfasteners.com sells all sorts of bolts...you need to buy the longer bolts to do the body lift. Get metric grade 10.9. The rest of the lift involves fabricating a few spacers here and there... I think there is a how-to on here...if not, clubxterra.org has a TON of tech info on there. As for tires, 33" is really as big as you can go. A suspension lift raises your ride height by trading suspension travel (less down travel/droop, but more up travel). That means that even if you can clear 35"s driving around, once you flex your tires enough, they will hit the fenders and anything else they were going to hit if you didn't do the suspension lift. If you want to do the extra trouble of a 3" body lift, you can do 35s I believe

Will 33s require any cutting? Thanks for TE thorough help

 

[lbishop]

*33x10.50s on stock wheels is gonna require mininal trimming, plastic trimming at the most.
*33x12.50s on stock wheels is gonna require some trimming of plastic and a little metal hammering depending on the tire. some tires are bigger or smaller depnding on the tire. even though there both listed as the same size

As for backspacing try to stay as close to as 5.5 as possible. ANything less is gonna be more cutting. Ive got 32s on 4.5 inch backspace, and it took plastic trimming, and some metal hammering to get them to fit. But that was on a body lift and t-bar crank.

16 inch wheels are gonna have more choices if your trying to stay away from steelies. 15 inch steelies is the route most go.

 

[TJTJ]

If you keep 5.5" BS, you have zero metal trimming for 33's....even 13.5" wide. If you go less than 5.5" of BS (4.5" etc...) then you ALSO need to trim/BFH metal.

To fit anything larger than ~ 31's, you need to trim plastic inside the front wells....even for 33's though, the rear fit as is.

As mentioned, ALL your working tire clearance is from the BL and trimming, etc....the SL is for frame clearance.


The SL is where you usually get your wheel travel/articulation improvements, but you can get almost ALL of that articulation w/o adding height, so it not the SL ITSELF that does that....

...It self, it only raises your ride height. when going over a bump, braking, cornering, etc, and the suspension compresses, the ride height tire room goes bye bye and the tire hits what ever it would have anyway.



Example:

2001 X with 3" SL + 2" BL and 33 x 13.5 LTB on OEM 16x7 rims

Zero metal trimming.

 

[shanostyle]

If you keep 5.5" BS, you have zero metal trimming for 33's....even 13.5" wide. If you go less than 5.5" of BS (4.5" etc...) then you ALSO need to trim/BFH metal. To fit anything larger than ~ 31's, you need to trim plastic inside the front wells....even for 33's though, the rear fit as is. As mentioned, ALL your working tire clearance is from the BL and trimming, etc....the SL is for frame clearance. The SL is where you usually get your wheel travel/articulation improvements, but you can get almost ALL of that articulation w/o adding height, so it not the SL ITSELF that does that.... ...It self, it only raises your ride height. when going over a bump, braking, cornering, etc, and the suspension compresses, the ride height tire room goes bye bye and the tire hits what ever it would have anyway. Example: 2001 X with 3" SL + 2" BL and 33 x 13.5 LTB on OEM 16x7 rims Zero metal trimming.

I found a guy that will sell his stock to 2004 16 inch rims for $180 I don't mind the look is that a decent price for them and should it be cheaper to buy those combined with tires that will fit it as opposed to trying to buy tires just for the stock 17 inch rims? I will do some due diligence on prices also to see, but that seems economical and I don't want to blow an extra 500 on rims when I can use that for my RLC front bumper.

 

[shyamrox]

Not to thread jack..but here's a curious question... If I got 33" tires before doing the BL....would it be OK for on-road use? Would on-road driving generally ever compress the suspension enough to make the 33's hit? I'm just trying to understand what sort of driving would cause the suspension to compress so much, are we talking about flexing/offroad driving?

I'm wanting both, but part of me is concerned I'll have a ton of issues after the BL..i keep readaing folks breaking heater core tubes, raditor tubes, squeaks and creaks...

If I went 32" with 4.75" backspace would I be all good without a BL and no metal trimming?

 

[Davcos]

How much lift do you have? I run 32x11.50 / 4.5" BS with only 3" SL

 

[shyamrox]

Just a PML at the moment.... Did you have to trim/hammer metal?

 

[Davcos]

I only removed the plastics behind the front tires. No trimming of metal but the front tires will slightly rub at full lock. I haven't had any rubbing issues off road yet but at some point I may trim/hammer the metal back a little bit.

 

[shyamrox]

Thanks!