Hey fellas, I'm sure its been asked a zillion times and answered many more, but I didn't have much luck while searching. Anyway, will a 12.5" wide tire on the stock 17" wheels clear the upper ball joints on a 4x4 half ton? I ask because I am selling a kid my 35x12.5x17's for his truck, but he's second guessing clearance around the upper ball joint area. He says the stock tires are already dang close. Anybody know for sure if they do or don't clear. Thanks in advance guys.

 

he is right they are very close, he may need wheel spacers to make factory wheels work.

 

for no rubbing at full turn he's gonna need a negative offset and around 4.5" of backspacing in a wheel. Not there on a factory wheel, but people have done it...

 

Are you saying he needs different wheels for fender clearance, or to clear the ball joints? When you say people have done it, do you mean a 12.5" wide tire on factory wheels does clear the upper ball joint? Sorry for the questions... just a little unclear.

He does have a 6" lift suspension lift.

Thanks for the quick replies fellas.

 

How wide are your grappler's? Do you have any spacers to push the stock wheels out?

 

Alrighty guys, I now know the answer. We had one of the tires mounted up to test fit them, and it was a big negative. They rubbed the upper control arm near the ball joint badly. We were guessing he would need at least a 1.5" spacer to clear them.

I will say though, he did not have the "stock" aluminum wheels, he had some black steel ones. He claimed they were stock, but I haven't seen any like that before. So anyway, they very well may have worked with the stock aluminum wheels, I'm not really sure.

Anywho, he still bought the tires and ordered new steelies that will have more backspacing.

Thanks again for the help guys.