Ah, I see said the blind man.

 

Ya beat me to it !! I too, ran spacers with the stock wheels when I first went to 33s (about 2 weeks - with no problems) but decided to go with wider 33s and 15x10 wheels. mp

 

As we all plan on putting more stress on every part going off-road, it's not big issue. I think that the choice of wheel for the new bolt pattern will be narrow for a year or so, wheel spacer is a good way to put 5 on 5.5 wheels and have the choice of all the model that are readilly available.

 

Spidertrax has just released a set of wheel spacers and adapters for the Jeep JK Wrangler and you can read more about it here:

Spidertrax Jeep JK Wrangler Wheel Spacers & Adapters

 

The rims I am wanting to put on my Rubicon Unlimited are the Mickey Thompson Classic Beadlocks in the 17x9 size, with the 5-5.5 which has 4-1/2 inches of backspacing. Using a 1.375 inch spacer (according to my calculations) would place the wheel 4.875 inches FARTHER OUT than the stock wheel. Can anyone check my math??

If so, this wheel would definitely NOT work on my Jeep.

Tom
Bryson CIty, NC

 

In fact, according to my math, with such a large amount of stock backspacing, not many rims are going to fit these JKs unless they are made specifically for them. Spacers are only going to make the problem worse. You would need a rim with 7.625 inches of backspacing to properly fit in the stock location using a SpiderTrax 1.375" spacer.

Everyone agree?!

Tom
Bryson City, NC

 

Yes, your math is incorrect. With the addition of 1.375" wheel adapters, your new back spacing would be 3.125". However, you would be correct in assuming that your tires would stick out beyond the fender flares.

 

I think we're both correct. A 4.5 inch back spaced rim minus a 1.375 spacer would leave 3.125" of backspacing.

If the stock rim has 6.25" of backspacing, and this one would have 3.125" AFTER addition of a spacer, it would be 3.125" farther out on the INSIDE than a stock rim. If the stock rim is 7.5" wide, and the Classic Beadlock is 9" wide, this would add another 1.5" on the outside of the rim, or a total of 4.625" farther out than a stock Rubicon rim.

OK, so I was off A LITTLE!!

Tom
Bryson City, NC

 

I think we should all start bombarding the wheel manufacturers with calls and emails to get some nice wheels out there to fit the JK!

 

Actually, there are a few out there now. I should be posting an article on Project-JK.com in a couple of days that'll have about 18 different wheels that'll fit the JK.