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Does a lift require a wider stance because of higher center of gravity?

steffen707

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I read on another forum that if you lift your JL you should get wheels that will give you a wider stance due to the raised center of gravity.

Any truth to this?
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planman

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I read on another forum that if you lift your JL you should get wheels that will give you a wider stance due to the raised center of gravity.

Any truth to this?

With a short wheelbase, narrow vehicle, like a Suzuki Samari, that might matter.

With a 2' lift on 37s, on a vehicle with such a long wheelbase as a Gladiator, the reason to get wheels with less backspacing is more so that the tires don't rub on the front lower control arms on a full lock turn, and not for center of gravity stability.
 

jeepguy225

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You want just the right amount of backspacing/offset. Enough for larger tire clearance for control arms and flexing, but not so much that it adds unneeded stress on your components and throws you scrub radius out too much (and sticks out way past the fenders - state vehicle inspection issues)
Mopar has their wheels at: 17 x 8" Beadlock-Capable Wheel provides a backspacing of 4.4" (12mm offset).
AEV has theirs wheels at 17x8.5 with 5.77 inch backspace (+25mm offset) with a recommended tire size of 37's

I will eventually be looking for wheels that are JT specific to run 37's (possible the satin black AEV Borah beadlocks).
 

Ole Cowboy

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I read on another forum that if you lift your JL you should get wheels that will give you a wider stance due to the raised center of gravity.

Any truth to this?
YES!!!

Here is it by the numbers: Every 1 inch you go up, you have to go out on each side 1 1/2 inches. to equalize the CoG.

That said I do NOT recommend doing an offset wheel. You can gain additional width with wider tires. Offset affect the bearing life on your axle bearings.

You can also go with wider axles if you get that deep into offroading.

When I ordered my axles I extended them IIRC I did full 60 in axles, I did that to keep the load off of the axle bearings to prevent premature failure. The tires on there are Gy MTR's, I went to BFG KM2's which I got better performance out of them over the MTR's. I think the sidewalls were more flexible than the MTRs and I ran them at around 5 lbs.

The over all result was that I could lean my rig over at 55 degrees, you are not going to do that in stock form with big lift. FYI there is no need for any lift to go higher than 3 in IMO.

Hood vents 2.jpeg
 
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steffen707

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YES!!!

Here is it by the numbers: Every 1 inch you go up, you have to go out on each side 1 1/2 inches. to equalize the CoG.

That said I do NOT recommend doing an offset wheel. You can gain additional width with wider tires. Offset affect the bearing life on your axle bearings.

You can also go with wider axles if you get that deep into offroading.

When I ordered my axles I extended them IIRC I did full 60 in axles, I did that to keep the load off of the axle bearings to prevent premature failure. The tires on there are Gy MTR's, I went to BFG KM2's which I got better performance out of them over the MTR's. I think the sidewalls were more flexible than the MTRs and I ran them at around 5 lbs.

The over all result was that I could lean my rig over at 55 degrees, you are not going to do that in stock form with big lift. FYI there is no need for any lift to go higher than 3 in IMO.

Hood vents 2.jpeg
so just like with anything the decisions you make effect other things in tandem.

Go with a lift and bigger tires, need wheels to push the tires out (maybe) for CoG and so things don't rub, but do all this and your track is wider so might be harder to get through a trail, but easier to go over obstacles. lol All of this to haul plywood. :surprised: j/k

I know i won't be doing extreme offroading soon, but i kind of like the idea of not having to buy new wheels/tires if I ever do get serious about crawling. Thanks for the advice Cowboy.:captain:
 

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Ole Cowboy

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so just like with anything the decisions you make effect other things in tandem.

Go with a lift and bigger tires, need wheels to push the tires out (maybe) for CoG and so things don't rub, but do all this and your track is wider so might be harder to get through a trail, but easier to go over obstacles. lol All of this to haul plywood. :surprised: j/k

I know i won't be doing extreme offroading soon, but i kind of like the idea of not having to buy new wheels/tires if I ever do get serious about crawling. Thanks for the advice Cowboy.:captain:
It's the old thigh bone is connected to the hip bone etc etc. I pushed out my tires about 2 1/2 in per side and never had issues with anything on the trail so narrow I could not get thru.

When used to lead runs in Moab I often ended up with a passenger due to their breakage (usually less than a 100 yds beyond the trailhead). A lot of stuff in Moab is extreme off camber, I almost always lost my passenger, they found another ride because I could lean my Jeep over so far.
 
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steffen707

steffen707

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and never had issues with anything on the trail so narrow I could not get thru.
But your vehicle was also much shorter than the JT, right? so manuvering around obstacles might not have been an issue, where now with a JT it might be with same width, because of extra length....

anyways, I know the JT isn't meant to be a dedicated crawler, if somebody is into that they should get a JL.

Good food for thought though Cowboy. I'm waiting to see how some of these LEs with 35" and aftermarket wheels look. Then I can compare number of inches the tires stick out.

I want optimum width on a 2" lift, but no more, as I don't like the "my tires stick out completely past my fenders" look.
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Everyone has their own opinion on these type of things, and not one of them alone is mandatory. That's the beauty of Jeeps- you can customize it how YOU like. I like the track (width) to increase about half of what the overall height increases, but it's not mandatory by any means. The only thing you would have to do is increase your track or adjust your steering stops to prevent larger tires (37's on a JT/JL Rubicon) from rubbing the control arms. I plan to do a 2.5" lift and am looking at the AEV +25 offset Borahs. I agree that negative offset doesn't look right on the wider Rubicon/Max Tow axles.
 

Ole Cowboy

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But your vehicle was also much shorter than the JT, right? so manuvering around obstacles might not have been an issue, where now with a JT it might be with same width, because of extra length....

anyways, I know the JT isn't meant to be a dedicated crawler, if somebody is into that they should get a JL.

Good food for thought though Cowboy. I'm waiting to see how some of these LEs with 35" and aftermarket wheels look. Then I can compare number of inches the tires stick out.

I want optimum width on a 2" lift, but no more, as I don't like the "my tires stick out completely past my fenders" look.
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You are correct length of vehicle plays a big park when you are playing in the rocks. Even little short Tj's could struggle, so what did I do to mitigate. I fabbed up from a piece of 4 in Sch 40 Pipe, with at 90-degree bend on each end. I ran it full length between my wheels on my TJ and I used to to make tight turns...pull hard to the left or right to hook up with the rock, turn off the rear locker or front locker and use the front or rear wheels to push or pull you around the tight corner. No damage done to piece of Sch 40 pipe!
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