wheel backspacing

Hi, I am looking to buy new wheels for my bronco. It has a 76 dana 44 and I was wondering what the backspacing should be before I order.I measured one of my broncos and it has 4.25", and another bronco has 4.5". Just wondering which is right, the 4.5" is pretty close to the tie rod ends.

Thanks, Justin

I believe stock is around 3.75..

You want 4" BS or less when ordering wheels

Standard backspacing for a 15" wheel is around 3 1/2 to 3 3/4. Are you sure you measured correctly? 4.5" is pretty excessive for 15" rims and will put the tire way in. It's about normal for a 17" rim though.

(less backspacing = tires stick further out, more backspacing = tires set further in)

Ok, so you lift your Bronco with a suspension lift and a body lift against some people recomendations and you want the least back spacing as possible. What wheels, not caring about diameter, 15,16, 17, or 18, will give me the best rollover protection? I know it it won't help that much...I still want some wheels that are slim on backspacing and still have 10" of width. Is this the 10 million dollar question? Ideas? Oh, wheel spacer are not happening!

gearida said:

Ok, so you lift your Bronco with a suspension lift and a body lift against some people recomendations and you want the least back spacing as possible. What wheels, not caring about diameter, 15,16, 17, or 18, will give me the best rollover protection? I know it it won't help that much...I still want some wheels that are slim on backspacing and still have 10" of width. Is this the 10 million dollar question? Ideas? Oh, wheel spacer are not happening!

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The wider your stance the better (For side to side stability). 2" or so of backspacing would give you the best rollover protection. The cost though is that they will be very hard on ball joints and wheel bearings. I have 2 1/2" on mine currently and my balljoints have been changed an average of once a year since they were installed. Keep in mind that there are a lot of other variables involved and this is only one piece in the overall picture. I.E. If you have a really soft suspension then it will allow more weight to shift in corners requiring a wider stance to equalize, firmer suspensions will have less body roll so the weight doesn't shift as much so it doesn't need to be as wide to provide the same stability. Then you can always toss full width axles into the equation and get by with more backspacing than the stock axles. For instance full width axles with around 4 1/2" or even 5" of backspacing on 17" rims is still going to have a wider stance than the standard backspacing on 15" rims.

I do all my own work so Ball joints every year would not bother me. Full size axles I am not ready for. I also like old school look in wheels better than the newer wheels, although I am getting that Black/Chrome thing.

I love my chrome 17x10 with 4" BS wheels. Its hard to find chrome 17"+ wheels in less BS than 4.5. If you dont mind polished wheels they are easier to find.

Check out ION ALLOY wheels. They are cheap and come in some odd sizes that fit broncos.
http://www.ionalloy.com/

If you want an AWESOME tough polished wheel check out Walker Evans.

http://www.walkerevansracing.com/street.wheels/

If you want reall

Don't go overboard with your backspacing. On a '76-77 front axle you don't want to go over 3.5" with a 15" wheel as they have clearance issues stock.

Personally, I loathe the idea of overly backspaced rims. If you run 2" backspacing (with a 10" or wider rim) the only way to center your tire within the scrub radius is with a 38+ inch tire. Too much of the tire ouside of the scrub radius = high strain on the upper ball joints and TREs combined with difficult steering. You also get excessive front tire wear as the outside of the tire physically "scrubs" the outside of its axis. On a wheeler it isn't too big of an issue, but on a street queen you're going to chew up tires quickly.