WJ brakes and aluminum 15" wheels?

I have had my Y2K XJ riding on a WJ D30 for 2 years now. I love the better brakes and steering but hate the 16" wheels. My Jeep came with 16's and I thought I was lucky at the time. Now that I want slightly bigger tires I'm not feeling the love as far as selection and of course ride. I realize there are clearance issue especialy with Akebono calipers. I also know that for any given size, aluminum wheels are thicker than steel. Has anyone mounted a set of 15x8 aluminums before and how much grinding or wheel spacers were neccesary. I have my heart set on Micky Thompson Classic II 15x8's with 3 5/16 back space. Anyone?

Thanks, Angus

do you have 2 different lug patterns, or did you change the rear too

From my experience any 15" aluminum wheel will not fit. I know you must run a 15" steel wheel with a minimum of 3.75" BS to clear the calipers.

Angus said:

I have had my Y2K XJ riding on a WJ D30 for 2 years now. I love the better brakes and steering but hate the 16" wheels. My Jeep came with 16's and I thought I was lucky at the time. Now that I want slightly bigger tires I'm not feeling the love as far as selection and of course ride. I realize there are clearance issue especialy with Akebono calipers. I also know that for any given size, aluminum wheels are thicker than steel. Has anyone mounted a set of 15x8 aluminums before and how much grinding or wheel spacers were neccesary. I have my heart set on Micky Thompson Classic II 15x8's with 3 5/16 back space. Anyone?

Thanks, Angus

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I run the Akebono WJ calipers with 15x8 alloy wheels with 4 5/8 backspacing. I had to do some grinding on the calipers, but not too much. I run heim joints so the drag link arm clearance isn't an issue with the deep backspacing on my wheels. You might run into problems with the clearance on the tie-rod end, but again I run heim joints on top of the knuckle and I don't have any problems.



Kind of a crappy pic, but you can see the spots where the calipers were ground down almost flush with the caliper body.


Bottom line, it should work just fine with those wheels as long as you aren't using really large tie-rod ends.

Just to clear up a few questions. I am running stock 5x4 1/2 bolt pattern, that alone shouldn't matter. I am also using stock WJ tie rod ends mounted above the knuckle.

Thanks for the answers, but I now am hearing two different things. Although pictures are worth a thousand words.

Angus

My 15" aluminum wheels clear the Akebono dual piston calipers easily.
http://www.colorado4x4.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=71442&highlight=front

Thanks Frank! What wheels are you using and do you have any pics?

Angus

Eagle Alloy's, Series 57, 3.25" backspacing.

Frank Z said:

Eagle Alloy's, Series 57, 3.25" backspacing.

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Good info to know Frank. I really thought there was not enough room. I have like 1/8th of an inch with my 15x8 steel wheels with 3.75" BS. I figured the thickness of the aluminum wheel would not give you enough clearance.

Thanks for the info

I'm sure there are some wheels out there, Steel or Alloy that simply won't fit. I guess a trial fit with a hub, rotor and caliper would be a wise move. Small enough to toss in a car and drive around to check out different wheel options.

Thank you! I just called about eagle wheels. The 057 are no longer in production, but the 058's are and I think I am going to buy those. The holes are smaller, but the price is better. Next question, I noticed you have bushwackers. Are they for legality or does the tire/wheel stick out too far?

Angus

Yes to both, and the wife said "Buy 'Em!"

We both like the look.

What´s wrong with 16" wheels?

Less sidewall than a 15" tire. 15's are more common, less expensive. Better bulge for creeping and crawling over rocks.

I ran 15" AE059's with 3 5/8" backspacing with no grinding on the akebunko's. I also had 1-ton TRE's with no clearance problems. I know more backspacing would be fine with caliper clearance on those wheels, unsure about TRE clearance though.

Just bought the AE058 wheels and they fit with no problems!!!!
Thanks guys.

I spoke with Angus via PM a few days ago and I'll post my setup in this thread for future searchers.

I have the Akebono calipers. My Mickey Thompson Classic II's in a 16x8 with a 3.75 BS fit just fine (as expected).

My neighbor and I briefly put on one of my American Racing AR767's in a 15x7 with 4.5" BS (AR discontinued this BS size, only 4.0" BS is available in this lug pattern/rim width).

I didn't think we would be able to get it on, but we did. We didn't go crazy torquing down the lug nuts and verifying that the wheel was fully seated. But it sure seemed to be.

When spinning it there was a slight dragging noise, which was hard to discern where it was coming from. Sounded mostly like the pads normally dragging on the rotors. When we popped the wheel off we could see a couple of thin wear spots where the shoulder of the rim was rubbing the calipers. This wear line wasn't anymore than say an 1/8th of an inch wide.

I'm pretty confident with just a small amount of grinding in two different spots on the caliper that the rubbing will cease. As far as my 1-ton TRE's, they were clearing the inside rim lip.

My best guess is that if I had the same rim in the more common 4.0" BS that the inside shoulder of the wheel would be just shy of rubbing the Akebono caliper.

When the weather gets better here in Illinois I'll try to work on the grinding and verify my previous claims. I'll try to remember to post an update here.