Time for some muddies! (and some other upgrades)

[Hanna]

Hey all,

After putting about 60,000km on my secondhand Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors (245/75R17 off a JK Wrangler) they are just about toast. I recently managed to pick up a set of 265/70R17 Nitto Trail Grapplers for a steal, so it's time to think about how to make them fit on my Commander.

I know I have to do the pinch weld mod and a set of JBA UCA's are also on order, but is it going to be possible/practical to run these tyres on my standard Commander wheels without issues? I have been searching for ages to find a nice aftermarket wheel with a practical offset (that didn't cost a small fortune), but there's not much around. I did find a cheap set of JK Wrangler wheels in a 17x8, but with a 0 offset they were a bit on the extreme side. The outer rim was just outside the lip of the rear guard, plus they were not hub centric. The other option of course is wheel spacers, but I would prefer not to use them of course.

So should the pinch weld mod and JBA UCA's suffice until I find a decent solution for my wheels, or am I going to run into trouble? I will do a test fit of course, but keen to hear from others who have fitted a 265/70R17 to standard rims and got them to work.

Oh, I am running the OME 2" HD lift.

Cheers,
Hanna

[Clarky]

265 70 17's muddy's on command rims.

[Hanna]

Fixed it for ya!

Originally Posted by Clarky

265 70 17's muddy's on command rims.

Are you running JBA UCA's in that photo or did you trim the upper BJ shank bolt at all?

One consideration is that Commander rims on a WH provide 7mm more clearance to the suspension, whereas if I stick with my Commander rims, I don't get any additional clearance...

I have always wondered if the suspension/steering geometry on the Commander and WH are exactly the same and the reduced offset was just to widen the track for the larger Commander, or that the reduced offset was to cater for a slight difference between the two? i.e. Side-by-side with standard wheels, do they both have the same inner clearance to the BJ shank and upright? And if you put WH wheels on a Commander, do they provide enough clearance to work with standard tyres?

So many questions!

[Clarky]

All the suspension components and front sub frame are exactly the same, stock WH wheels would fit. I've seen WK2 wheels on a Commander and they sit at least 5mm closer then WH would.

I am still running original top arms with 265/70/17s and 2" lift without issue, Had a wheel alignment 2 days ago and they said they are good, I always ask them to check hoping they are stuffed

Ball joints didn't need trimming with the Big Horn's but we're worryingly close.

Sorry for the typo's I'm sitting on the beach at Forster trying to type on my phone with fat fingers and sunscreen in my eyes

[ren0vator]

Originally Posted by Clarky

Sorry for the typo's I'm sitting on the beach at Forster trying to type on my phone with fat fingers and sunscreen in my eyes

Lucky Buggah
Myall & Wallis Lake are a beautiful part of the country
Many happy camping/boating trips in my youth

[Hanna]

Thanks for that - hopefully the sunscreen isn't burning your eyes too much whilst I sit here at work crying at the mountain of crap in front of me....

Cool, so it sounds like the reduced offset wheels on the standard Commander were just to provide some additional track width for the larger body of the Commander. If the geometry is the same on both then I assume that the front guard-to-guard width of the Commander is also slightly more than the WH, which means theoretically you you should be able to run 7mm less offset without protruding past the guards.

Not sure that the 0mm offset 17x8 JK wheels that I found are quite going to work though.... If they were +10 offset I would consider them, but that is a bit much.

[07commander]

265/70/17 at's on wrangler wheels (same as commander wheels) I have stucrd lift and jba uppers but they don't really give you any more tyre Clarence. They slightly rub on the chassis rail at full lock i have not done the pinch weld mod or anything as it wasn't needed.