What is the best Suspension Lift to run 37x12.5 r 16.5?

[alexr88]

Hello Gentlemen,

I am intrested in hearing what is your opinion regarding the best suspension lift recomended to run 37 inch tires and if a combination of body lift is need it.

Has anybody out there has a similar set up that is working good on/off road?

Any recomendations wold be greatly appriciated since this is my first Early Bronco. I do like to lern from others peoples mistakes.;D

Thanks

Alex R.

P.S. 72 Bronco (Explorer)

 

[bronko69er]

Welcome to the site...
You will got a variety of answers on this topic.
A few on here are really big on cutting/beating sheetmeal and staying with a small lift to keep the center of gravity low. This is good when in off camber situations where rollover is a concern. One thing to remember if you're going to stay low is that you will need to adequatley protect the underside of you rig with skid plates, diff gards, etc to make up for not having much lift.
I would guess that the majority of folks on here would tell you to do a 3.5" suspension and 2" body lift for 37's.

Gummi will tell you that you dont need any lift at all to run 38's. He's big on staying low.

I guess is just boils down to how much you are willing to cut sheet metal for clearance.

 

[Apogee]

There's a good thread on running 37's right now...check out the rigs in that thread and you'll get a pretty good idea of how different people choose to fit that size tire. (http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110104)

If you're serious about going to a 16.5" wheel, are we to assume that you're going to be running 3/4 or 1 ton axles and an 8-lug pattern?

 

[Socal Tom]

16.5 inch rims are a very bad choice for off-roading. Most off roading requires that you lower tire pressures to less than 15 psi. 16.5 inch rims don't have a bump in them that helps hold the tires on a lower pressures. 15, 16 and 17 inch rims are ok, but 16.5 is bad.
Tom

 

[scsm76]

16.5 inch rims are a very bad choice for off-roading. Most off roading requires that you lower tire pressures to less than 15 psi. 16.5 inch rims don't have a bump in them that helps hold the tires on a lower pressures. 15, 16 and 17 inch rims are ok, but 16.5 is bad.
Tom

If you run double beadlocks (hummer wheels) this isn't an issue, but finding tires for 16.5" wheels is getting really tough unless you want something from Intereco (Super Swamper).

 

[Madgyver]

Start first with a sawzall.............................

 

[t.lay]

A guy down the road from me has a nice rig with 37s. kenwhitehorse - not sure if he's still registered here. Looks like a 5 1/2" with a duff's twin shock front end. 2" bl (I think) and some fender trimming - like mad sez - starts with a sawzall. He's on 15" rims

 

[Gummi Bear]

bronko69er - you got that right ;D

If tall rigs were the way to go, you'd see XXL buggies in the comps, rather than moon buggies. Definitely keep it low.

Good skid plating is key, UHMW or 6061 Al or something like that is good for you (I'll probably wind up using mild steel until I can afford some 6061)

H1 wheels rock, but they do come with a huge weight penalty, so be aware of that. Remember, the lower your rotational mass is, the faster you can accelerate, and the less load it will put on your axles (the same theory applies to race cars, and why they'll run such lightweight wheels) for us, finding that compromise between light and strong is a challenge. There are several cool options for runflats, you can cut down the magnesium ones, pay out for Dean's cool ladder type, score some PVC, or do some digging to find the same rubber ones that Hutchinson's use. If you don't cut down the stock magnesium runflats, you'll cut tires at such a low air pressure, a lesson learned from watching my buddies do it.

I'm using 3.5" BC coils in front, with the buckets moved up to lower it back down, and some TJ rear coils in the back with custom buckets I'm fabbing up based on an idea I saw somewhere else. I'm adding about 8" to the radius arms, I need to get my templates cut out, and build a jig to get them welded up. I haven't finalized how I'm mounting my shocks, most likely some home made hoops in the front, off of the engine cage, and in the back, cut holes in the inner fenders and mount them to a spreader on the cage that I'll gusset to take the load.

It's running 36x13.5x16 Iroks on some aluminum wheels, they're as tall as my 38" TSL's were, but half the weight mounted on the wheel. I'm hoping it'll work out, since I'm keeping the 170 until it poops out (then it'll be a 300 ;D )