Hi guys,

I just got my first Ram. It's a 1995 2500 4x4 regular cab long bed. It's got 147,000 miles on it. Trans has 20,000.
Front and rear axels were rebuilt 10,000 ago. It's got a 360 that has never been touched. My plans include a bull bar,
a nice roll bar, a modest 2-3" suspension lift, aftermarket rims, and a coat of fresh black paint. Unfortunatly due to the bald
tires that are currently on the truck tires will be my first purchase. Keeping the above in mind I've been reading all the
information I can find here on tire size and such. What I have come up with is the following.. In stock trim I can go with
a 33" or 285/75R16 and with a leveling kit I can go with a 315/75R16. Will the aftermarket running board/flair set up
on my truck get in the way? The truck will be lifted 2-3" next month but I need tires right now, so a week or 2 of rubbing
is all I would have to deal with.

Thanks for any info.

[IMG]local://upfiles/34584/25A96B64852644138A7F01D418A35863.jpg[/IMG]

 

well if you're going to lift it next month and going to buy new tires this month, to me it seems if you want some good tires and rims to do it the other way rather than having to buy two sets of tires and another set of rims, i'd put the lift on first unless you have to drive the truck a lot. put a penny in the treads of the tire with lincoln's head down towards the tire and if the tread doesn't go up to his head then get new tires NOW!!!!

if it covers his head you should be ok for a bit longer just don't do any burn outs. you can rotate the tires so they will last through the month or two to save some money.

take a tape measure and measure from the centerline of the axle to the flares and see how much room you've got. add on two inches and that should keep you from rubbing. that'll be how big you can go.

i think, if the rims are 16x8's like most of the stocks dodge came out with, the biggest tire the stock setup will allow without rubbing on the 2500 is a 275/75/R16

 

Thanks for the input. I checked the tread and Honest Abe said I would be good to go for afew more miles.. So my revised gameplan is to do a suspension lift of 3" then get the rims and tires. The cheapest I've found for the lift is the Tuff Country 3" at 525.00. The description says that it will not fit factory off road packages. A assume I do not have one though the presence of a factory transmision skid plate makes me wonder. Is there any way to tell for sure that I do not have a factory off road package?

I went outside and measured the running board to the ground in the front and the back.. in the front it measures 15 inches and in the back it measures 17 inches. When I install the 3" lift kit am I right in thinking the truck will end up 20 inches from running board to ground in the front and in the back? Or will it still sit lower in the front even with the 3" suspension lift?

Currently I have 30" tires on the truck. If I were to add 34" tires would that further increase my lift by 2 inches, making my running boards when I'm done measure 22 inches from the ground both in the front and in the back?

Thanks for answering my noob questions..

 

hey welcome to DF, there is always a big discussion on what size tires you can fit. most people say 33 will fit stock but rub alittle at full lock, some say you can fit 35's ( same thing as the 315/75's ) with a two inch spacer. as for me i tried putting 35's on my truck back when it was stock. they fit on the back no problem but rubbed on the bumper and the back of the wheel well. i also have a big offset so im sure that had something to do with it but i have also heard people say they wont fit on stock rims with 2in spacer either. if you wana run 2-3 inches of lift the optimal tire size is 33's, stock 31, 5 inches 35's, 7inch 38's.

 

remember that when you're going with a lift you're going to get what you pay for.

i remember someone on here had posted about the tuffcountry lift and how they replaced it with a skyjacker and it was a hell of a lot better.

another thing to consider is upgrades if you want to go higher or modify the lift. i know skyjacker is now doing grades of lifts where you can do it in stages rather than just all at once.

check out the different systems and see how they work. price is not the only thing to consider. hell if i wanted to i could make a lift system for under $500. it would probably be the worst design and probably fail offroad.

check procomp, skyjacker, fabtech, oh i know theres a few others but those seem to be the "big" names lately. also check for local dealers and see what they say about the systems.

ok so i might be captain obvious but those are some things worth thinking about.

me personally i would like to go with a procomp 3" lift with some procomp xterrains running 33x12.50.

also do you want to go rock crawling or speed runs is another thing to consider. this will also make the choice of lifts more difficult.

all lifts are not created equal.

 

I used to have 315/70/17's BFG All Terrains on mine and they did rub the inside front tire well with the stock height. I couldn't make sharp turns and I also got about 2 miles less per gallon. They handled rough on the road also and were a pain to keep balanced. If you plan on anything bigger than a 285 I would definately plan on a suspension lift.

 

i have skyjacker and love it. it also has a fully lifetime warrenty so your good. i actually saw a guy snap a control arm from tuff country on the trail. he was lucky because it was the stock arm size and i sold him one of mine i had with me

 

Well guys I spent more than I would have liked.. actually more than the wife would have liked... I ended up with Pro Comp AT 305/70R16 mounted on Pro Comp Series 8089 16x8 rims 4.5 offset. I also opted for the Daystar 2" leveling kit. The guy at 4wheelparts said the 2" leveling kit could be used in conjunction with a lift kit later if I decided to get one. Next step is to cut off the home brew roll bar and the plow frame. I tossed in a pic of my next project for good measure.. It's an unmodified 1946 CJ2A.. I'm told its a rare one in that it has the column shift.

Take care


[IMG]local://upfiles/34584/FE97A43A23E849039135F5478B9C1376.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/34584/3B526DA28B9940ABAED33B80AAB8436C.jpg[/IMG]