Hi guys,

First post on the forum, I was wondering if anybody else out there has went from the 20" stock wheels to the 17" stock wheels?

I'm wanting to step down from the 20's so I can have a little bit more tire and a little bit less wheel, plus I like the looks of the 17's way more than I do the 20's.

I was first wondering if anybody has any before and after pics just so I could have an idea of what it was going to look like. Also is there anything else I'm not thinking about when downsizing my wheel size?

Second when stepping down what size tire did you go with? From what I have read her on the forums, the biggest tire I can go with on the stock 17" wheels is a 285/70/R17 which is actually slightly smaller in diameter than the tires that I currently have on the truck, which doesn't excite me that much.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

Good boy!!! Especially if your truck is a 4x4. You'll get better performance, especially off-road from a 17" wheel, towing will be better and you'll save a boatload of cash on both the wheel and the tires. I'd have 15's if they'd clear the damn calipers!

As far as tire size, need some specs - 4x2 or 4x4? Year (yeah it makes a difference since the torsion fronts have more room than the coil fronts), and what you plan on doing with this truck. Although you will be limited in either case if using 17" stockers, the backspacing sucks ***** for tire clearance as opposed to a lot of after-market wheels.

As far as pics go, don't got none. My stock 20s made it less than a week off the lot and I went BIGGER on the tires, so my pics won't help you, LOL...

 

Just filled out some "Garage Info" but it's a 2007 Quad Cab 4x4. What's annoying is that less than 6 months ago I went ahead and put new shocks on the truck. I had it done at 4 Wheel Parts and when I called and ordered the shocks they told me that it had 4 shocks and that is what they ordered.

Once they started working on the truck they realized that it has struts on the front so they ordered those instead. If I would have known that it was struts from the beginning I would have probably had them install the Rancho Quicklift and leveled out the front.

As far as the wheels go, I purchased the stock 17's from a guy on Craigslist and paid $300 for the set of 4 so I could probably sell them and make most of my money back if I really wanted to, or need to in order to be able to put what I want on. I use the truck on a pretty regular basis as a daily driver but want to put on some good all-terrains as I speed some time off-road as well.

Thanks for the help.

 

Yeah, problem with 4 Wheel Parts is you usually get a college kid who drives a Honda at the front/sales desk. Their prices are high (but will price match if you make 'em) but they usually employ good mechanics or at least ones who are used to working on 4x4s and ORVs.
The Rancho Quick-Lifts are nice on the coil-over trucks, I put a set on for a buddy with an '06 Ram 1500 4x4.

You could have bought you a nice set of Cragar Soft 8s NIB for that and those have been the Jeep guy's off-road staple wheels for years. They would have had the backspacing to let you get away with around a 12.5" wide tire without the need for spacers or fender/bumper trimming. But it's up to you, you'll be able to go about 11.5" wide with those stockers.

Although 90% of my experience is with either SFA (solid front axle) trucks or IFS - torsion bar trucks, I believe the biggest you can get away with a 34" x 11.5" on a stock, coil-over 4x4.

DirtyDog did a good tire-fitment write up:
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...dodge-ram.html

and I have one in the FAQ section as well.


But I think the 34" x 11.5" limit with stock wheels would put you at a 295/70/17 tire which would be about 33.5" x 11.5".

As far as brands go, a LOT of guys run the Nitto Terra Grappler for an A/T. I have them on my Grand Cherokee which has 2" of lift and is my daily driver/camping and sometimes fishing vehicle.

I'm a Mickey Thompson/Dick Cepek tire nut! Have been for years on my trucks, but they COST and based on what guys have found, I saved me $75 a tire and went with the Terra Grapps on the Jeep as opposed to Mickey ATZs. So far I'm very pleased with this tire. Wearing very well, quiet on pavement, very good on trails, ok in mud (long as it ain't too deep) and probably the best wet pavement tire I've ever owned. I paid well under $150 a tire in 265/70/17 flavor where the Mickey's would have been well over $200 in that size.

Well anyway, you got some stuff here to chew on. I'm sure others will chime in too. Good luck...

 

I have 285/70s on mine. I think I could have gone bigger, but those have knocked my diff ratio down to about 3.33, which is 'bout as long-legged as I want it to be. I do have a 2 1/2" level kit on it.

 

What did you have on it to begin with, when I bought mine from the dealer it had 275/60/R20's on it.

Comparing that to a 295/70/R17 I would only be increasing the diameter of the tire by a 1/4 of an inch but would be able to gain about 2 inches of sidewall and an inch in width.

So if I just step up to a 295 I don't think that should affect my gearing much.

 

I go to 17's every winter from Oct - april. I love my 17's but I also only use them in the fall and winter to save tread on them. In the summer I have the 20's but don't like them much.