I measured a bit more percisly and it appears there's about exactly 31.9" of room front the panhard bar to the back of the hitch. So it looks like a lt265/75R16 should fit with a bit to spare. I'll update with more specifics as this tire upgrade unfolds next week.

 

keep a can of fix a flat and leave your spare at home. just bring your spare when you offroad

 

as per t4r.org, yes, a 265/75/16 will fit in the spare location.

 

I'm really back and forth on this...

What's the bad side of rubbing the panhard bar with a semi-deflated spare? Will it impeed it's operation? or is it just that after wearing away the paint it will rust leading to eventual break and rusty metal rubbing against the spare?

I'm leaning toward the 265/75R16's but really want the 285/75R16's. The hitch mounted tire carrier is nice but would even be a pia for me when fishing, camping and generally off-road. I'm just trying to figure out how bad it would be to rub to the panhard bar.

 

i would think you wouldn't want the tire rubbing on the panhard bar ... or there being any chance of it getting in the way of its movement ...

 

Lance, do you have any rubbing with the ome lift, triming, and 285/75R16's? e.g. at full tilt taking a turn. Just curious.

I'm leaning toward the 265/75R16's, but realy want the width of 285's for running the beach and other such offroad adventures.

 

Marshall:

I don't have the OME lift so I can't comment. with 3" of lift I rubbed quite a bit while offroading. Anything you do a full locking turn it'll rub the front bumper and flaps. The inner will rub slightly but that's ever so slightly. The rear will be ok onroad but offroading, it'll RIP your rear flaps (so that'll have to go right away).

That's about it from what I can remember. I now have the 1.5" BL so it's not that bad anymore (along w/ no front or rear stock bumper). O yeah another thing, the inner fender liner got torn out on a trail for me (I completely neglected to trim the affected areas - no clue where though).

285's can be done w/ the 16x8 4.5BS 0offset but do expect plenty and I mean PLENTY of rubbing while you offroad (deflated tires). Onroad is not that bad except for the usual full lock full compression rub when you go into driveways (think supermarkets, parking, etc etc).

Hope that helps. I would say 285's all the way no matter what but then again some people don't like trimming where they rub. If you're concerned about the spare, just throw it in the cabin or just bring a fix a flat. It's too heavy to do a tire change when needed so why bring the spare (then again you never know). I'd say for local drives, just keep the spare at home and bring a can of fixaflat. whereas when you go offroading, bring your spare. Trim trim trim .. it's your friend.

It can be done.

Good luck!

 

285/75R16 Goodyear MT/R's on the way. I'll update when they're mounted and on.

Went to tires.com great deal, free shipping.

 

and finally... Pics of the beast.




16x8 wheels 4.5 backspacing 0 offset, ahhhh just right!



Edit: Still have the stock spare in the back. Plan to get a "real" spare soon, will update on possibility to mod to wedge a 33" tire in the there w/o panhard bar rubbing.

 

Looks mean man, good to see another 4th gen with black wheels. Good job.

 

Marsall,
That looks great! The whole black thing looks tuff.

 

Thanks guys.

I went back to justtires for an alignment (from lift) and had them rebalence the front tires. The mojave's can have clamp weights on the front so to dynamically balence them the option is sticky weights. Which on 16" wheels get grooved by the calipers, throwing off the balence. So justtires too 3.5 hrs. and stayed 1.5hrs. late to mount balence them. They did a great job and I ended up comparing trail pics with their store manager.

Highly recommend the shop here in Frazer, Pa if anyone is local.