35 x 11.5 - 17 on 55mm Offset Wheels

[HPNQ420]

Hello all,

My 2023 BD 4 door MT or is currently setup with the factory rear locker, Bilstein 5100's set at ~1.5" of lift, and 285/70-17 MT Baja Boss AT's. This summer, I plan on taking it up an notch, as I am running more difficult rails. The pan is an M210 ELD in 4.89 front, regear the rear to match, maybe an extra 0.5" for lift, some sort of sway bar disconnect, electric if I find one used) and two sets of tires, one for the trail season, one for everything else. I don't want to swap tires every time I want to do a trail ride.

For the everything else tires, I have settled on Nokian Outpost NAT's in 285/75 R17. This should be as good as I can find for the winter without adding a third set of dedicated winter tires.

My question is for the trail tires. I am down to between MT Baja AT's in 255/85 R17 and Falken Wildpeak RT's in 285/75 R17 or 35 x 11.5 R17. I would like to stick to 55mm offset wheels, probably the FP 17" x 8" offering (a great deal).

Question 1: Anyone have experience with pizza cutters vs the 11.5's? MT's vs Falken RT's (not the AT4)?
Question 2: After removing the crash bars, will 35" x 11.5" fit without rubbing? My truck gets flexed.

My wheeling is tight Midwest wooded trails with some rock crawling involved, occasional mud, and at times greasy trails a few days after rain.

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[lakesinai]

Hello all,

My 2023 BD 4 door MT or is currently setup with the factory rear locker, Bilstein 5100's set at ~1.5" of lift, and 285/70-17 MT Baja Boss AT's. This summer, I plan on taking it up an notch, as I am running more difficult rails. The pan is an M210 ELD in 4.89 front, regear the rear to match, maybe an extra 0.5" for lift, some sort of sway bar disconnect, electric if I find one used) and two sets of tires, one for the trail season, one for everything else. I don't want to swap tires every time I want to do a trail ride.

For the everything else tires, I have settled on Nokian Outpost NAT's in 285/75 R17. This should be as good as I can find for the winter without adding a third set of dedicated winter tires.

My question is for the trail tires. I am down to between MT Baja AT's in 255/85 R17 and Falken Wildpeak RT's in 285/75 R17 or 35 x 11.5 R17. I would like to stick to 55mm offset wheels, probably the FP 17" x 8" offering (a great deal).

Question 1: Anyone have experience with pizza cutters vs the 11.5's? MT's vs Falken RT's (not the AT4)?
Question 2: After removing the crash bars, will 35" x 11.5" fit without rubbing? My truck gets flexed.

My wheeling is tight Midwest wooded trails with some rock crawling involved, occasional mud, and at times greasy trails a few days after rain.

I'm still running Badlands Take-offs 285/70R17 on my non-SAS OBX, and am about to upsize again. Isn't it dangerous for you to stick with +55 offset wheels with 35" tires AND a lift? It would seem that to go higher, raising the COG, you should go wider, increasing the track, which is the point of the added inch of width of the +30 offset of the SAS wheels.

To pick your brain, how have you liked those MT 285 tires? I'm looking at putting a set if those on the Sas Heritage white rims for the beach season. My Nittos are worn out.

 

[HPNQ420]

I'm still running Badlands Take-offs 285/70R17 on my non-SAS OBX, and am about to upsize again. Isn't it dangerous for you to stick with +55 offset wheels with 35" tires AND a lift? It would seem that to go higher, raising the COG, you should go wider, increasing the track, which is the point of the added inch of width of the +30 offset of the SAS wheels.

To pick your brain, how have you liked those MT 285 tires? I'm looking at putting a set if those on the Sas Heritage white rims for the beach season. My Nittos are worn out.

To your first point, the purpose of the smaller offset wheels is to clear the control arms with tires wider than 285mm.

As to your question, the MT's are awesome. Great on dry roads. Great on wet roads. Good in the snow (but not nearly as good as the Hakkapeliitta's we run on our JKR). Excellent in the woods. They can handle some mud but you need to get some tire spin going to clear them. If MT made them in 285/75-17 my choice would be made. I don't want to go to 315mm wide.

 

[userdude]

You can try and report back, but I feel like you might contact the UCA with +55. You might also want to really do a good flex/turn test and see if you contact the wheel well liner with that amount of life. I'm guessing you're non-SAS, so it's possible you'll be real close at 1.5" and not sure how much clearance you need for those times you hit hard.

 

[TruckCamper]

Ko3 just released a 35x11.5R17 in Load C with 3 ply sidewall. Rather perfect tire for a Bronco.

11.5 works great for nearly everything. Rock crawling narrower tires have better traction for climbing but more tendency to slide sideways off rocks. Everything is a trade off. But we've been enjoying the 11.5s for the past couple years. Keeping MPG is often overlooked for "looks" but seriously range is so crucial anytime driving past your neighborhood.

Our 11.5" tire have similar traction to a 12.5" tire at around ~5psi more pressure. This gives real ground clearance (for free / no downside). Essentially making our effective ground clearance similar to a one size larger tire but we don't have the extra stress on the steering, axles, bearings, transmission, etc... and better mpg. Super win.

 

[HPNQ420]

You can try and report back, but I feel like you might contact the UCA with +55. You might also want to really do a good flex/turn test and see if you contact the wheel well liner with that amount of life. I'm guessing you're non-SAS, so it's possible you'll be real close at 1.5" and not sure how much clearance you need for those times you hit hard.

I will take a look and see how much wiggle room I have with the UCA's with the 285/70's. If it looks like I don't have much margin then it's 285/75's or 35mm offset wheels. I'm not worried about the wheel well line as I'm right around Sasquatch suspension height right now and can "easily" bump the suspension up by changing the circlips on the 5100's. ("Easily" in spend four to six hours doing so and then getting the alignment checked ).

 

[HPNQ420]

Ko3 just released a 35x11.5R17 in Load C with 3 ply sidewall. Rather perfect tire for a Bronco.

11.5 works great for nearly everything. Rock crawling narrower tires have better traction for climbing but more tendency to slide sideways off rocks. Everything is a trade off. But we've been enjoying the 11.5s for the past couple years. Keeping MPG is often overlooked for "looks" but seriously range is so crucial anytime driving past your neighborhood.

Our 11.5" tire have similar traction to a 12.5" tire at around ~5psi more pressure. This gives real ground clearance (for free / no downside). Essentially making our effective ground clearance similar to a one size larger tire but we don't have the extra stress on the steering, axles, bearings, transmission, etc... and better mpg. Super win.

Thank you for this insight. I have crawled up inclines with only a rear locker and the 33" MT's without wheelspin where a Bronco Raptor needed to keep up more momentum. To be fair I was better at throttle modulation but I would bet the narrower tires helped there.

 

[lakesinai]

Thank you for this insight. I have crawled up inclines with only a rear locker and the 33" MT's without wheelspin where a Bronco Raptor needed to keep up more momentum. To be fair I was better at throttle modulation but I would bet the narrower tires helped there.

I'm amazed at how much more ability that rear locker provides. In 2021, I was able to add the rear locker, Auto 4wd Transfer Case and 4.27 axles to my non-SAS OBX. It's made it an incredible beach vehicle compared to my previous basic 4wd Ford's (no locker, no Auto).

 

[HPNQ420]

You can try and report back, but I feel like you might contact the UCA with +55. You might also want to really do a good flex/turn test and see if you contact the wheel well liner with that amount of life. I'm guessing you're non-SAS, so it's possible you'll be real close at 1.5" and not sure how much clearance you need for those times you hit hard.

With the 280/70-17 MT's it looks like I have about 3/4" of clearance to the UCA at full lock. These have a section width of 11.6" The Falken Wildpeak RT's have a section width of 11.5" in 285/75 and 11.7" in 35 x 11.5 so I think either should clear with wiggle room. Thinking is not knowing . Camber goes more positive as the wheel travels upward, but only about 70% of that inward motion is inwards towards the clearance point. Measured rims are different, etc.

 

[userdude]

With the 280/70-17 MT's it looks like I have about 3/4" of clearance to the UCA at full lock. These have a section width of 11.6" The Falken Wildpeak RT's have a section width of 11.5" in 285/75 and 11.7" in 35 x 11.5 so I think either should clear with wiggle room. Thinking is not knowing . Camber goes more positive as the wheel travels upward, but only about 70% of that inward motion is inwards towards the clearance point. Measured rims are different, etc.

Good to know!

 

[dgorsett]

My thoughts on gearing: If you have a non Sas BD you have a 4:46 locker in the rear, going to 4.89 would gain about 10%, so when running at what would now be 2000 rpm you'd be turning 2200 rpm, not worth the $$ to me. Just get a M210 in 4:46 from Ford Performance or a Badlands takeoff and save thousands.

 

[HPNQ420]

My thoughts on gearing: If you have a non Sas BD you have a 4:46 locker in the rear, going to 4.89 would gain about 10%, so when running at what would now be 2000 rpm you'd be turning 2200 rpm, not worth the $$ to me. Just get a M210 in 4:46 from Ford Performance or a Badlands takeoff and save thousands.

Any bigger than 33’s makes 1st too steep and 6th unusable below about 80 with 4.46 IMO. Mansquatch should have come with 4.89.

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