Question for all of you out there. I have a 2001 1500 Off Road and am looking at new tires and wheels for it. It currently has the factory 17" alloys. I want to know if a 16" rim will clear everything ok? I know this is what most of the std. 1500's came with and I would like to convert mine to this for tire availability and cost reasons. There are tons of off road tires out there in many sizes for the 16" but very few in the 17". Give me your experiences. Thanks.

 

I am currently going the opposite direction as you. I have a '99 that I am taking off the stock 16" rims in place of 2001 Off-Road 17" rims. When I talked with my local Dodge dealer, and a tire/wheel shop about it, they said the only issue usually is if you have rear disk brakes.
Basically, wheels are interchangable between all years 94-01, but if you have rear disk brakes, you can not take a older wheel from a rear drum truck, and put it on a newer rear disk truck. You can go the opposite direction though (rim from newer rear disk truck to older rear drum truck). Hope that makes sense. I'm not sure how accurate it is though, because it seems to me the drum setup takes up more space then a disk set up. I recommend you call a tire and wheel shop and ask them too.

By the way, do you have your 16" wheels yet? Since I am going from 16" to 17", I will have a set of stock '99 16" for sale. You can see what they look like if you click the link in my signature. I'll make you a good deal. They are in really good condition. I also have a neighbor who is in the military, and is being stationed to Florida. He just put the 3rd gen ram 20" on his 2nd gen Ram, and has the 16"wheels that he is trying to sell. They are in nice conditions, and he is getting rid of them super cheap because he doesn't want to have to haul them to Florida. His look like this: (I found this pic on autotrader, just using it to show you what his look like, but these are not actually his):

[IMG]local://upfiles/9095/E306D97CB7DC4568B14565059981632E.jpg[/IMG]

 

thanks for the input. That is kainda what I was thinking as far as fittment goes but was just looking for a little reassurance before plunging in. I appreciate the offer on your 16" wheels, they look good, but I have already selected an aftermarket style just wanted to make sure I could go 16" before ordering.

 

If you still have them PM me and let me know what you'll take for the 16"s. I have a 97 and the front rims are starting to look real bad. Thanks a lot!

 

I have some Eagle Alloy 16" wheels on my 01 Offroad. They seem to clear fine and I don't think they previous owner ground down the calipers or anything atleast it doesn't look like it.