narrow 33's on a 3" lift

I've read the pros and cons of stuffing 33's under a 3" lift, and I think it will suit for the type of wheeling I do and terrain I encounter. But where does the tire usually contact the fender? Would running 33x9.50's help?

I like the narrow tire anyway because we get alot of slush and wet pavement driving, so I don't want flotation, but I do want clearance.

Geoff

I had 33x9.50's for a year or so on a 4.5" lift with some trimming of the flares. It worked well in mud but it was awful on the street in any weather.

With 33x12.50's handling on the street was noticeably safer and only marginally poorer in the mud. I wouldn't recommend 33x9.50's to anyone.

If you already have a 3" lift, stick to a tire size that fits your current gearing and save up to do the next lift/gearing/tires in one go.

the rubbing is going to vary due to the rims and offset your running

I'm surprised to hear about the bad handling characteristics with 33x9.50's.... Really surprised. Thanks for that info. Can you elaborate any on it?

As for fitment, there are lots of guys around running 33's on a 3" lift. Yes, you have to trim liberally, but I'm OK with that. I want better under axle clearance on a low lift. I don't want to make the step to a 4.5" lift just to run 33's.

I'm running factory rims for now. I don't want to run an aftermarket rim yet, if possible, to keep cost down.

Geoff

I advise almost the opposite of vince. with the driving your talking about (same as mine in Ontario) I love my BFG AT's 33x10.5
I had 33x12.5 on 3.5" of lift for a while, with trimming and rims w/3.75"bs I never had any rubbing issues. But I never liked the wide tires from day one, which was a wet snowy day and me on a long drive. This year I went to the 10.5" tires and for road driving I will never go back. On the road they rock, no pull from slush on the side of the road, it cuts through nicely. Offroad they have performed really well too, I haven't gotten stuck (or felt close to) and thats even with breakin path in 2' of powder on an unkept trail. Floatation is great if your always moving, but if you stop your probably going to spin and have to hit bottom anyway. I like these cause if I come to a stop I can backup into broken path, not have to dig down and get stuck because there is packed snow there (that make sense?)

For me, if your doing more road driving than offroad, thinner is better, you don't want floatation on the road, and road manners mean more to me than offroad manners. I much prefer the drive and performance of the 10.5" wide over the 12.5"


edit;
you replied just before me, if you want to keep stock rims, do you have stock lower control arms? or wheel spacers?
I didn't have to trim too much (but am at 4.5" now), but with stock rims you'll want to look at clearancing the inner pinch seam in the wheel well, it may cause a problem when fully stuffed.

I was using the old style BFG MT 33x9.50 which was one of the few sizes that BFG dropped when the KM was introduced. The old 9.50 just didn't have enough tread width on the street, the block layout was very narrow. I think it was a combination of tread width, CofG and track width using stock alloy wheels that made it handle bad.

The BFG 33x10.50 AT has a lot more rubber in contact with the street and is in a different league altogether. If you are planning on using this tire I am sure it will perform well on the street in all conditions.

I found these old pictures that a friend took the day before I started trimming, these may be of use to you.

I remember now, that I had two sets of tires, one set on alloys and one set on steels. The steels were my spares and were on the day that the pictures were taken because I hadn't had the others mounted on the lattice alloys as there is a 235/75 in view in the back.

i run 33x12.5's on a 3.25" front, 4.25" rear (settled) and have bumpstopped and trimmed alot and im doing alright, i run 4-5" lift shocks though so i hvae some limiting straps on the way. it handles great on the road...and great off road with a lower COG.

Here's my rig:

~3" OME lift
33x10.5 BFG MTs
15x8" Alcoa wheels w/stock 5.25" BS
JKS Adj. LCAs

Yes, it rubs lightly on the LCAs at full lock--I've not yet adjusted the stops.
Yes, I have extended bump stops.

A few action pix:







A couple more, sort of head-on, so you can see how much the tires stick out:





I think this combination is great. I gave serious consideration to the 33x9.5s but went with the 10.5s. I think the 9.5s still would have stuck out in the front. I've not yet gotten hassled about them sticking out (against the law, here) but will probably add some flares at some point.

I'm running 33x10.5's on 15x7 with 4" of backspacing with 3" of lift and cut fenders and flares on my rusty DD.

Here's a pic



Here are some old pics of my '95 flexed with 33x10.5 with 3.5" of lift with cut and raised flares. I could steer from lock to lock when flexed without any rubbing.



Rear tire stuffed




Front tire stuffed


Filled gap on raised front flares



It still has a fender inner liners

I am running a RE 3.5" kit and I run BFG AT 33x10.50's on the factory wheels. The only rubbing I have is on the LCA's at full lock. They stuff really well. Mind you; I am not disconnected though.

I have the 33x10.50 BFG Muds on stock alloys with an RE 3.5 lift with no sway bars. I do get rubbing on the LCAs at full lock and when stuffed, it rubs on the upper coil bucket. The rear rubs on the inside of the wheel well, about dead center. It also catches the lip at the bottom edge of the wheel well. I need to roll that edge.

Motornoggin said:

I have the 33x10.50 BFG Muds on stock alloys with an RE 3.5 lift with no sway bars. I do get rubbing on the LCAs at full lock and when stuffed, it rubs on the upper coil bucket. The rear rubs on the inside of the wheel well, about dead center. It also catches the lip at the bottom edge of the wheel well. I need to roll that edge.

Click to expand...

My '95 was setup with 11" of travel front and rear. It took a bunch of work on the fenders to get it rub free. The extra droop causes the the other tire to stuff further. On my '94 I have 9" of travel so the fender trimming for clearance was much easier.

Gentlemen, THANK YOU!

I love the low lift big tire stance. I think this will work great for me. I need to start saving for tires AND gears. No more 30's or 31's....

TNT, you've pm'ed me in the past. Those are front flares you're using, all the way around, right? They look like they fit great. Were you able to open up the wheelwells much with them?

Mecompco, your set up would be the closest to my current lift of 2.5". Does your Jeep flex at all, or does it lift a tire pretty easily?

Again, thanks, and the pictures are very helpful.

Geoff

gcam said:

Mecompco, your set up would be the closest to my current lift of 2.5". Does your Jeep flex at all, or does it lift a tire pretty easily?

Again, thanks, and the pictures are very helpful.

Geoff

Click to expand...

Here's some crappy cell phone pix, flexing it on a fork lift--I didn't think it was too bad for 3":





These are with the front disco'd and all three tires touching ground.

WOW. This thread has just made me pretty happy. I was going to go with 31's. 33's it is!

hey guy's

do u think i can go flareless and stay legal as long as i stick with 10.5"s?

in pa we have a pretty strict law about tires protruding

Depends on the mood the cop is in...

That and rim backspacing, tire width is only half the equation.

bandit455 said:

hey guy's

do u think i can go flareless and stay legal as long as i stick with 10.5"s?

in pa we have a pretty strict law about tires protruding

Click to expand...

Look at my "head on" pic above--I think the rear is OK, but even on my stock BS wheels, the front will protrude. Whether it's enough to get hasseled over or not, in your area, I don't know.