Yup, another tire question.

[chucknewell]

I've been looking through the forums for hours but didn't find the answer to my question. . . which is:
Will 31x10.5 BFG AT's on stock wheels fit under my stock 1998 XJ if I trim the fenders (maybe a lot) but no lift? I want to add ground clearance not tire clearance. ;)

Chuck

[xj92]

Yes. I've heard Ed Stevens has a write-up on it. You can probably do it with minimal or no trimming if you run longer bump stops too. I like the trimming method though.

[Eagle]

Ed does cover that on his personal web page. Unfortunately, I'm not on the computer where I have that bookmarked. In general, his research was conducted on the older body style. There is something different about the rear wheels or flares on the '97+ body style that makes it a bit more difficult. Either the flares are different or they moved the axle back a fraction of an inch relative to the wheel arch opening. There is a possibility that you'll get rubbing/interference between the tires are the bottom of the flares on the trailing edge of the rear wheel arches.

By all means, get the longest of the four factory bump stops and put them on. Then try it.

[Kejtar]

well... I'd say in general: no..... If all you did was leave it as a street rig, then maybe you can get away with it I have a 98 and about 3.5" in the front (now sagging but not before) and now 4.25" ~ 4.5" in the rear and well, I rub on the trail still..... And I have a very well trimmed out front and the rear end is pretty well trimmed as well..... so yeah, it depends.

In regards to doing just longer bumpstops with stock suspension, your travel is going to be kind of poor, cause you will need to limit your uptravel pretty much :(

My recommendation is if you're not planning to go taller for a while, stick with 30" tires: you are only sacrificing 1/2" of ground clearance over 31".....


Ed's site:
http://members.aol.com/Stvns/XJhelp1.html

[chucknewell]

Good Info!