Offroad-Express

Howdy guys -

I have currently 15" rims with AT 235-75's but if I want to get bigger tyres and wheels what else needs adjusting to make the room. Do I have to run bigger rims or can I get away with just bigger tyres? what are the general tweaks required to upsize? something about 'offsets' and 'returns'??? could someone explain this also??

Cheers
AJ

Howdy there

Tyres are an interesting topic but my recommendations are

First of all you need to decide what tyre you want - All terrain, mud etc, I would only recommend the Mud tyre (or M/T's as they are referred to) as this way you will have the best tyre regardless of conditions (dry/wet etc)

Then you need to look inside the door of your vehicle and there should be a small sticker with the factory tyre size, write down this size and then compare this to your preferred new tyre size using the calculator here

Then you need to check that the tyre will fit inside your guards (I would think that a 31x10.5 x 15 should fit, but I would think that the 30 x 9.5 x 15 is a better fit for the Nissan, I can check as we have a few in the club.
When checking that the tyre will fit, have a good look around under the guards to make sure there isnt anything sharp that could cut the tyre.

Then rims! Go for the White spoked steel rims (or similar) these are pretty strong and can take the knocks better than alloy. By having a set of rims and mud tyres, you have the ability to change them over when not using it offroad.

Final piece of advice, whenever you are going offroad, ALWAYS have your best (Mud) tyres on, you never know when you may need them

I hope this helps

Zukin wrote:Howdy there

Tyres are an interesting topic but my recommendations are

First of all you need to decide what tyre you want - All terrain, mud etc, I would only recommend the Mud tyre (or M/T's as they are referred to) as this way you will have the best tyre regardless of conditions (dry/wet etc)

Then you need to look inside the door of your vehicle and there should be a small sticker with the factory tyre size, write down this size and then compare this to your preferred new tyre size using the calculator here

Then you need to check that the tyre will fit inside your guards (I would think that a 31x10.5 x 15 should fit, but I would think that the 30 x 9.5 x 15 is a better fit for the Nissan, I can check as we have a few in the club.
When checking that the tyre will fit, have a good look around under the guards to make sure there isnt anything sharp that could cut the tyre.

Then rims! Go for the White spoked steel rims (or similar) these are pretty strong and can take the knocks better than alloy. By having a set of rims and mud tyres, you have the ability to change them over when not using it offroad.

Final piece of advice, whenever you are going offroad, ALWAYS have your best (Mud) tyres on, you never know when you may need them

I hope this helps

Hey Zukin

Thanks for that, so I will be best just to stick to factory setting rim and tyre size and not try and get a bigger tyre footprint for offroading? Even if I have a lift? Also, i imagine u cant use different sizes for road and then mud as all the alignments etc will be thrown askew?

Rgds
AJ

what he said

i would imagine that 31x10.5x15's would fit sweet unter the terrano
bigger is better

wopass wrote:what he said

i would imagine that 31x10.5x15's would fit sweet unter the terrano
bigger is better

Thanks again Wopass!!

best way to see is find someone who has a set of 31x10.5x15's and try it on your truck. all toyota nissan stud patterns are the same so should be easy enough to find someone who will lend you a wheel fo 10mins.

pull one of your wheels off ,probably the front, bolt it on and go from lock to lock to see if anything will interfere with it, taking into consideration that you have suspension travel as well so look where it will be at compression at both locks. im sure one of the guys down there will lend you a wheel for 10mins..... as long as you give it back again

lot of guys down there have terrano wagons so should be a wealth of info for you to sift thru

wopass wrote:best way to see is find someone who has a set of 31x10.5x15's and try it on your truck. all toyota nissan stud patterns are the same so should be easy enough to find someone who will lend you a wheel fo 10mins.

pull one of your wheels off ,probably the front, bolt it on and go from lock to lock to see if anything will interfere with it, taking into consideration that you have suspension travel as well so look where it will be at compression at both locks. im sure one of the guys down there will lend you a wheel for 10mins..... as long as you give it back again

lot of guys down there have terrano wagons so should be a wealth of info for you to sift thru

Yeah sweet as, the bro in law has just put a new set of mt's on his surf and think they about the right size so will try that thanks!!
So, is tyre and rim size only limited by the room around the guard or what? Like if i got a lift and wanted kicka** tyres on for offroad, what are the limitations? and i take it its best to run the same size on and offroad? sounds stupid probably.........

the only real limitation to tyre and rim size is your wallet

if you lift your truck to fit big shit slingers under it,more's the better. have your wagon set up for road driving with your road wheels on it as when you put your mud slingers on it wont be for very many kms and probably wont make that much difference on the road anyway to be noticable,off road it wont matter at all. im guessing you do more road work than off road work. 265x75x15 is roughly the same as 31x10.5x15 so not that much bigger than the wheels you have now.
again, grab your bro's wheels and sling them on to see how they fit, should be sweet as

This looks like a great topic.

Tyre size. There are no limitations if you have the time and money.

Back about 8 yrs ago I got my first set of mud tyres. 31 inch firestones for my jackaroo. Don't tell anyone I used to own an izusu. The went to 32's. They were huge. The truck was chev powered and I started breaking the gerabox and diffs. Very quickly moved on.

Since then went to Toyota's. Started off with 32 inch and went to 33 and then 35. had to do suspension lifts and body lifts to avoid body rub. Wheels stuck outside the guards so you have WOF issue's. So we keep a small set of road tyres for WOF day twice a year. I hate flares, make the truck look silly.

Bought another landcruiser and bought a set of 36 inch simex tyres and had some beadlock rims made up too. This is definitely doing it the hard way. 2 inch body lift, spring lift. Had the front guards cut and reshaped to fit the tyres in. Lots of money on panel beating, ouch.

Now the 80 series i got already had 35 inch tyres on it. That was done purely through suspension mods. 6 inch lift I think. But still has guard rub.

So really you can run anything you like. Just gotta keep it road legal for WOF time. And expect to have other failures in the vehicle due to bugger tyres. ie wheel bearings, CV's, that idler arm that is incredibly weak on the nissan.

Happy shopping.

Jungle wrote:This looks like a great topic.

Tyre size. There are no limitations if you have the time and money.

Back about 8 yrs ago I got my first set of mud tyres. 31 inch firestones for my jackaroo. Don't tell anyone I used to own an izusu. The went to 32's. They were huge. The truck was chev powered and I started breaking the gerabox and diffs. Very quickly moved on.

Since then went to Toyota's. Started off with 32 inch and went to 33 and then 35. had to do suspension lifts and body lifts to avoid body rub. Wheels stuck outside the guards so you have WOF issue's. So we keep a small set of road tyres for WOF day twice a year. I hate flares, make the truck look silly.

Bought another landcruiser and bought a set of 36 inch simex tyres and had some beadlock rims made up too. This is definitely doing it the hard way. 2 inch body lift, spring lift. Had the front guards cut and reshaped to fit the tyres in. Lots of money on panel beating, ouch.

Now the 80 series i got already had 35 inch tyres on it. That was done purely through suspension mods. 6 inch lift I think. But still has guard rub.

So really you can run anything you like. Just gotta keep it road legal for WOF time. And expect to have other failures in the vehicle due to bugger tyres. ie wheel bearings, CV's, that idler arm that is incredibly weak on the nissan.

Happy shopping.

Cheers Jungle, so now youve opened the can i was trying to open - the weak idler arm, what can be done bout that, is there any strengthening that needs done under the terrano for offroading? ie what about the axle strength and the associated joints? great to get this feedback from all u fella's!!
So looks like a lift will be the first thing on the list - so what r the pros and cons of susp. lift vs body lift?

Cheers
AJ

Neighbour has a Terrano and he runs 31 x 12.5 x 15 Hankook's with no rubbing. It's stock standard, no lift . . . . yet.

This is also a good site for comparing Tyre sizes.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

munster wrote:Neighbour has a Terrano and he runs 31 x 12.5 x 15 Hankook's with no rubbing. It's stock standard, no lift . . . . yet.

This is also a good site for comparing Tyre sizes.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Cheers Munster!! :instagib:

Yes, 31 X10.5 R15 will fit your Terrano. Some modles come out with that size as standard.
You can squeeze 32 X 11.5's under there with very very slight rubbing.

Thanks Dieselboy!!

A few guy's down here have 31's and don't have too much trouble, IF you have indipendit front then you just have to screw up your torsion bars, just a little at a time untill the a arm just touches the top bump stop, no point going any higher unless you want to loose travel. Thats all the guys i know have done, not sure on the rear though.

IF you have indipendit front then you just have to screw up your torsion bars, just a little at a time untill the a arm just touches the top bump stop

Only problem is that you lose downward travel, but some people will trim their bumpstops, and on Isuzu's you can do the ball joint flip which also seems to help.


Dave

That idler arm tends to bend just as it leaves the chassis. When I was working for an ARB fitter in Vegas i was replacing the idler every 2-3 months on the same Terrano. Front and rear lockers, lifted, with the V6 petrol. He used to land the front wheels with his foot hard up it and the steering links would push the idler backwards. It was a while ago, but the winding up of the torsion bars made it worse because the steering link angle increased making it easier to bend the idler. Anyhow, in the end I just took a new idler to an engineering shop and got them to build a bracket that used the same mounting holes as the idler and supported the bottom end of the pivot point.

So basically you are securing both ends of the idler shaft, rather than just one.

Hope that helps.

G

Unless the set-up is way different to the mu's then you won't loose any downward travel. I have cut the top and bottom stops in half and i get the full range of travel from stop to stop. As long as it still touches the top stop you can't loose travel. I have done the ball joint flip and added a 6mm spacer as well. Hope this may help

Sorry, should have explained what I meant.
Dont wind the torsion bars up so much that your arms are on the bumpstops, as this is when you lose downward travel, ie the wheel cant drop into holes as it is already at its fully extended limit.


Dave

Couldn't agree more with you there. It took me a week and a forklift to set my front end, Just 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn a day. A dum ass in the southland landrover club didn't relise that it may take a while for the arms to move, he screwed his right up and by the time he got to the run the nose was a foot in the air and sitting hard on the bottom stops. Easy does it!!!

mumad wrote:A few guy's down here have 31's and don't have too much trouble, IF you have indipendit front then you just have to screw up your torsion bars, just a little at a time untill the a arm just touches the top bump stop, no point going any higher unless you want to loose travel. Thats all the guys i know have done, not sure on the rear though.

ok thanx mumad!

man - at the risk of sounding really green, you guys lost me there a while back!! but i guess taking ur comments to someone who can show me what u mean would help!!

You'll get it sorted, usually a good idea to join a club and find someone who has been there and done it, can save you alot of time, and as jungle said, see if you can stenghten that ider arm. May be worth talking to dieselboy about it. Happy 4wheeling