3" or 5.5" I can't decide!!!!!!! Help

[AlaskanJack]

I can buy a duff lift for my Explorer. Here's my delimna. The guy has all the stuff for either a 3" lift or 5.5". Price is negligible. I can get everything including a dana 35 with new hubs, brake components and the long link radius arms are already mounted for $500. Oh and the lift came off Chad's explorer the axle is out of a Bronco 2.

1. Price seems good yes or no?

2. Don't need the axle and it may be geared different but I could put my third member in it. Beneficial or not?

3. What things might I not be seeing that I might also encounter if I go with the 5.5" vs 3". What else will I need to change if I go 5.5"?

4. He is including a tranny crossmember for 5.5" lift but are they universal and will work with manual as well as automatic?

5. The AAL are not duff but Black Diamond and would only work as SOA. Should be no big deal right I mean Black Diaqmond is sweet?

I know its a lot but let me know what your thoughts are on this.

 

[AlaskanJack]

Awwwwww come on guys, little help here!!!!!!

 

[Perry]

It really depends on what you are wanting to do with it.
If you plan on doing a lot of four wheeling then I would go with the 5.5", but if it's just a street ride then you might want to go with the 3" because it would be easier to get in and out of all the time.

I have the 5.5" and we do a lot of wheeling so it works well for us. If you go with the 5.5" then you have to get bigger tires because it will look funny, then you might have to get different gears since the bigger tires are harder to turn and it will snowball from there.

 

[AlaskanJack]

Okay now this is what I was looking for. 5.5" lift bigger tires which means new rims 15x10. Am I wrong in this assumption? The biggest wheels that I would like are 33's do they make a 33x10.5? New gears. I might have to run a search for gearing and see what gearing would work well with a daily driver and 4x4 use. Also whether the manual tranny and gearing is something I need to look at. Thanks now I have more questions.

 

[jimbo74]

33x10.5 is an oddball size... but i know bfg makes tires in that size, and i am pretty sure someone else does too

if you are going to get a 10 inch rim, get the 12.5 tire..... the 10.5 is best suited on a rim between 7-8 inches wide.... you can put them on a wider rim, but blowing beads when airing down may become an issue at lower psi

 

[Joe93]

Like perry said it depends on what you want to use it for. I would say 3 inch if it is driven alot on the road. They do make 33x10.50 tires. But I personaly would go with a 12.50. just looks better I think. With the 12.50 and 10.50 tires you could run either an 15x10 or 15x8 rim. With the 3 inch lift I wouldnt go any wider then a 8 inch rim anything bigger may rub. I had a 3inch lift and 33x12.50x15s on 15x8 rims and the setup was perfect for me. Pletty of clearence offroad and good on road manners. I ran 3.73 gears with my 33s and it was ok not great but not bad. I would of personaly gone with 4.10s since it was driven alot on the road. 1 other thing with my 3 inch lift I had to trim up my fenders to make sure the 33s didnt rub while offroad. With the 5.5 you have a better chance of not needing to trim the fenders. But then the type of backspacing you get on your rims also comes into play weather ornot your tires will rub. Sorry its kinda hard to read but I hope I answered some of you questions.

 

[AlaskanJack]

Thanks jimabena and Joe,

That really helped. What I want is to keep my Explorer rims 15x7. I have 31x10.5 now and didn't know if a 33x10.5 was made. I was worried about the 3" lift with 33's and needing to trim fenders for stuff when off roading.

I want to keep the 15x7 rims and go with the 5.5" lift, but am worried that with 31x10.5 the tires will look small. I was considering going with 33x10.5 with spacers to offset 1-1.5". I'm not sure but this may cause me to have to trim fenders since instead of going with 12.5 tire and new rim with backspacing I'm to 12.5" with spacers.

The reason for this is I will be adding tires later after the lift and want to widen the stance and figured this would do it.

 

[Alec]

If you're going with 33s, the do it all at once: lift, tires, rims. Don't get one set of tires now then new rims and tires later. It will end up more expensive in the longrun. If anything, buy the lift kit now and don't install it.

I'd say go to 32x11.5 tires with the 3" lift or 33x12.5 tires with the 5.5" lift. The 32s will fit on your stock rims, don't bother with spacers. Like I said above, if you want to go with the 5.5" lift, get new rims and the 12.50s, 15x8 rims 3.75" backspacing.

And you most likely will need to regear.

 

[AlaskanJack]

Originally posted by Alec
I'd say go to 32x11.5 tires with the 3" lift or 33x12.5 tires with the 5.5" lift. The 32s will fit on your stock rims, don't bother with spacers. Like I said above, if you want to go with the 5.5" lift, get new rims and the 12.50s, 15x8 rims 3.75" backspacing.

And you most likely will need to regear.

Well I want to keep my stock rims, I'm a fool but I like them. If I can go as wide as 11.5" and keep my stock rims then maybe I would go with 33x11.5. Would I need rims with backspacing then if I go with the 5.5" lift and 31x11.5 tires?

I don't plan on buying new tires until this summer when I take my studded tires off. I will hopefully have the lift on this month and will be sticking with my 31x10.5 workhorse studded tires. So I was going to add 1-1.5" spacers to widen the stance until the summer when I buy new tires. Make any sense?

 

[Alec]

Concentrate on what you type as you're mistyping numbers.

There aren't 33x11.50 tires. There may be a few out there but it is a very uncommon size. Don't add wheel spacers unless you really need them, depending on the spacer they can be bad for your truck.

Based on what you've said, I advise on doing the 3" lift and getting 32x11.5 tires on your stock rims. If they rub a lot then use high quality spacers. I would not do to the lift until you're ready to put the tires on.

 

[AlaskanJack]

Originally posted by Alec
Concentrate on what you type as you're mistyping numbers.

There aren't 33x11.50 tires. There may be a few out there but it is a very uncommon size. Don't add wheel spacers unless you really need them, depending on the spacer they can be bad for your truck.

Based on what you've said, I advise on doing the 3" lift and getting 32x11.5 tires on your stock rims. If they rub a lot then use high quality spacers. I would not do to the lift until you're ready to put the tires on.

Sorry about the mistyping!!!! These two fingers just get going and there's no stopping them.

Thanks, I understand now.

 

[Byrd91]

Just some more input here. 33x10.5s will fit with 3" and stock rims. So you can decide whether you want the extra clearance or extra width.

 

[Blaine122300]

Just go all out and get the 5.5 and 33x12.50's. It will look a whole lot sweeter. Just my 2 cents.

Andy

 

[KEbert]

To be a little redundant (if that is how you spell it), do everything at once. Wait until you can afford, and have the time, to do everything at once. Lift, tires, wheels, gears, lockers, everything.

 

[AlaskanJack]

Originally posted by KEbert
To be a little redundant (if that is how you spell it), do everything at once. Wait until you can afford, and have the time, to do everything at once. Lift, tires, wheels, gears, lockers, everything.

You have to know how hard it is to waitttttttttt!!!!!!!

I am going ahead and buying everything from a guy. So I will have the additional stuff to do the 5.5" lift later. Since I can't wait I figured that this would be the way for me to go. That way before I blew the money on larger tires I would be sure that it was worth it. I can get some wheelin in and see just how much I would benefit from a larger lift and tires.

So for now I will go with the Duff 3" lift w/black diamond AAL and Warrior shackles w/ my 31x10.5 Tires and factory rims. Then I will have sitting in the garage the long link radius arms, drop bracketsn tranny corssmember and a spare Dana35 axle w/new hubs brakes and regeared.

 

[jeremy white]

You can run 33x12.5's on the stock 15x7 rims. They look better on wider rims but it can be done. Thats how I am running mine right now.

 

[AlaskanJack]

Originally posted by jeremy white
You can run 33x12.5's on the stock 15x7 rims. They look better on wider rims but it can be done. Thats how I am running mine right now.

can you post a pic or email it to me

 

[Alec]

There are some drawbacks to running tires on too skinny rims. It may work well for some people but....IMO you run more risk of a blowout, especially offroad, can get funky treadwear, and it could affect handling and ride.

 

[DesertSpive]

To run a 12.5" wide tire on a 7" rim is not reccomended by the manufacturer, because of handling and treadwear issues (liability). However, it can be done and doesn't pose any safety problem. Many of here in California run a wide tire on a skinny rim because it helps to keep the bead from popping off at low pressures and better protects the rim. You can see that many desert race teams run their tires this way. I have it that way on my daily driver and don't have any handling problems, but then again, I drive my truck like a truck, and not like a sports car. Also, if you are runing a skinny rim, you need to be religious about rotating.

--Sean

 

[jeremy white]

Here are some pictures of 33's on 7" wide rims.