Okay i've owned classic cars forever but have always wanted a jeep so i finally went out and got an '09 X with about 17 miles on it. Anyhow i like the stock rims that came with it, silver 5 spoke, my question is will i be able to go to the coveted 35 x 12.5 or would that not work with the 17 x 7.5 that came with it. Granted i know i would need wheel spacers to fit the rubber because of the 6.5 inch backspacing after the 2.5 bb. Also while on topic would wheel spacers in any way ruin my axles as rumored if they are say spidertec?

 

Lots of people on here run 35 x 12.5's on the stock rims so you should be fine to run that setup. The spacers won't ruin your axles, but they could ruin your day if you don't properly maintain them eg torque them up everytime you rotate. Also you might check with where you are going to get your tires balanced to make sure they will touch your jeep with the spacers. A lot of places won't touch them because people don't properly maintain their spacers and then blame the last person who touched them when something goes wrong 20,000 miles down the road.

 

Yes, 35x12.5 will work. (i happen to have 33x12.5's)

Pics of the Stock Moab's with 35's here: Project-JK lil' Nemo Stage 1 - OME Long Travel Kit & 35" MT/R's besides that example there are a ton of people are running a 12.5" wide tire on the stock 17's.

IMO no, running spacers wont hurt anything any more than adding a rim of sufficient backspacing will. Some people will go into the finer points of physics and beat up thier calculators to show there is some minute on paper difference, but the reality is Spidertrax sells a huge amount of spacers and i have never heard of one single failure of anything attributed to using them. My spacers have 37k on them without ever losening up or one single issue. no bearing or seal trouble, zip, zero, nada. I love my stock wheels and i would buy the Spidertrax spacers again without a hesitation.

 

Wow that is a great point i hadn't considered. I was reading on the spidertec website and it recommended that you get them checked after the first 3K miles and then every tire rotation which seems easy enough. If anything i can just get the tires balanced and mount them myself with a torque wrench, the installation seemed simple enough. Thanks for the help.

 

man after seeing those pics i don't know how people run anything less than 35's on the 4 doors. Just looks right. I have the 2 door and i'm sure it'll look just as good.

 

so did you have to re-gear your jeep at all? I'm not sure what mine has right now cause i bought it before i left for Iraq but i'm thinking probably the 3.73's like everyone else has, i mean it was the x with the off road package or something like that?

 

mine came with 4.10's, so i am not regearing unless i swap axles. buying gears for my axle combination would make little sense, and with my 33's it is fine. if/when i go to 35's for myself i plan on 5.13's.

much of this is also in the modified sections faq's. modified tech faq - answers to the questions every newbie has

specifically gearing questions here: axles, gears & drivetrain

 

Man this forum is such a great help. Thanks for the advice, i think i might just go with 33 x 12.5 to avoid having to worry about a gear swap and wait till i actually need to change them to go with the 35's.

 

I run 37 x 12.5 on the stock moabs with 1.5" Spydertrax spacers. Although not quite enough backspacing even with the spacers, it works fine for now.

 

did you loose a lot of power and fuel economy going to such a large tire size?