Wheel Size vs Articulation for rocks/jeep trails

In my own first-hand experience, 295/70r17 is the sweet spot of tire size on these trucks. Of course, wheel specs play a large role, but I removed my coilover to cycle my suspension and I had full clearance throughout the entire range of travel. It didn't take much more than fitting 285s (I had to hammer the firewall back a little bit, trim cab mount and trim back fenders) and these are almost a full inch taller. As far as regearing, being a manual AND a 4 cylinder, you're going to want to regear.






I have since switched to 35s but I tubbed the firewall so I still clear through the full range of motion.

 

If 33 is the

33" may well be my limit. And that is already pretty huge, compared to stock.
Some trimming and tubbing to get there sound reasonable to me.

But I already decided I am not going SAS it, so 35" may also not make sense.
35 is just a number. I am not married to it. I am going to be looking more closely at builds that have done it, as suggested.
Basically, I am willing do what it takes to do it right, or forget it.
OTOH too much $$ : performance gain, or loss of DD'ability are bridges too far.

But eventually the rubber hits the road and a size has to be chosen.
Bigger is alway better, until it isn't.
Just tryna gauge what will work best for me.

 

33s don’t require much cutting and you don’t have to tub to make them fit. That’s why you see them more often than anything else.

@EatSleepTacos fit 35s the proper way. Give his build thread a look over to see what went into it. I would imagine he put pictures in there. Might be hard to sift through though.......

 

lol good luck finding anything in there.

 

Dude your rig is rad!

I realize regearing would likely have to happen with the bigger wheels.
I'm planning to get wheels, gears and lockers in 1 go. Calling it pha$e iii.


BTW, 17" seems like a lot of rim. Is that to counter excessive tire bulge at low pressure on that big of a tire?
And how much backspacing/offset are you going with?
Yeah seems like removing the coilovers/leafs is the best way to be sure things are going to play nice together.

 

LOL, just like 40 billion pages!
I just saw the pictures in this thread tho, thanks!

So in that 1st pic, is there is that small lower hole.
Is that where the cab mount was chopped and is that a structural/load bearing piece welded back in there?

It looks like inside the large opening there is a welded-in plate capping the end of the frame. Is that structural?
I'm figuring the large opening itself just needs to be sealed up against water/dirt intrusion

And/or is the large hole where the firewall is getting pushed back?