A question on stock wheels and leveling kits

[blackburb]

I've done quite a bit of reading here and have found tons of great info. Thanks!

My first question is the offset and backspacing on the stock aluminum wheel on my '94 4x4. I'm in the market for new tires/wheels and am trying to find a combo that retains stock diameter but is both a wider tire and a rim that moves the tire outboard. I'm thinking a 265/70 as opposed to the stock 245/75 is the tire I want. Then I'd want a rim that sticks out 1 - 1.5 inches further than stock to fill the flares.

My next question is just to satisfy my curiosity. I see all these references to leveling kits that raise the front 1-3". Every stock '92-'99 4x4 Burb that I've seen already sits higher in the front and sags at the rear. And that's when they're empty. Add a load, some people in the 3rd seat or hook up a trailer and they sag worse. When I got mine, I added Monroe load-leveler coil-over shocks in the rear which brought it up to level with the front - about 1" (and increased load carrying about 1000lbs.) I've never seen a case where you'd want to raise only the front of one of these things! What gives?

[2wheelmudder]

well usually stock rims have almost no backspacing, so any wheel will bring them out, if you want to, measure the inside where the bolts are and measure to the end of the rim thats your backspace on reg. then your new one will tell you how much backspacing so the less you have the more the tires will stick out. the tires sound like a good size to me.

leveling kits are usually used on 2wd cuz they are really low on the front, or when the springs are old and want to just bring it bac up to keep level, most guys do this for muddin trucks instead of towing, if i ever went into towing id get air bags on the back.. so hopefully that answers your question... nice vehicle by the way..

[99'HEARTBEAT]

To the site,From Calif. Nice looking Ride you have!!!.It looks like you have 16in Rims?.Are you looking at going to a larger Rim Size.

[blackburb]

Thanks for the compliments. I was very fortunate to find this one as it spent it's first 10 years of life being stored every winter while the (retired) owner took his RV and Harley to Florida. It's not my daily driver so the only time I use it in winter is to pull my snowmobile trailer (or if we get a big enough snowfall I don't think my car will get me to work.) I added all the cosmetics as well as removing the running boards/flares to have them repainted (rock chips) and put POR-15 under the entire area they cover before putting them back on.

As far as wheels, I plan to stay with 16". I had considered 15" but didn't find suitable tire sizes. Being old-school, I really like the look of small wheel/big sidewall on a 4x4.

[adampaul1964]

The popularity of the torsion key leveling kits is, I think, due to the nose heavy stance of the '99 and newer trucks. I used new keys to make my truck sit level, raised the front 2.5" and in my opinion it just looks better than it did when it looked like it was taking a nose dive, in your case the 'burbs sit fairly level to begin with so with keys and rear blocks/add-a-leafs you end up with an inexpensive 2-3" lift kit. As far as wheels go, your stock wheels have 31mm of positive offset, so if you get wheels with 0mm offset they will stick out about an inch and a quarter, but then you would have to worry about tire rub when you cut the wheels and compress the suspension.

[blackburb]

Thanks for the info! I plan to stick to stock diameter so I shouldn't have to worry about rub. If it is an issue, I'd have no problem trimming the flares.