Help with tire rubbing.

[uscgbazz]

Hello all,
I've been reading on here like crazy since I picked up my 2007 liberty sport this weekend. I bought it from one of the local jeep dealers in Fort Worth and they had put some new tires and wheels on it. It has a spacer lift I'm guessing to be 2 inches and 245/65/R17 on it. The problem I'm having is rubbing on the pinch weld and on the front inner fender/bumper areas. What can I do to fix this. I've read about pounding the pinch weld over and have read about the different lifts. My question is will a frankenlift fix this? Do I need wheel spacers to reduce back spacing? Should I get different tires and wheels? Thanks for the help and I appreciate all the great advice and knowledge that yall have been sharing!!! I want to add an arb bumper in the future as well if that changes any recommendations.

 

[tommudd]

Lots of ways you can go but if it was me I'd do a full spring lift and be done with it. With coils that have to be sagging and a spacer lift you'll have to before too long anyways
So you can go Frankenlift or just use OME springs plus OME or Bilstein shocks and a few more tricks and be done . Way better ride and handling
You may still need to pound over the pinch welds etc anyways
Also if you are getting an ARB bumper then you do want to go full spring lift

Oh and Welcome!

 

[Slava]

That is weird. I just installed new tires of the same size and have no rubbing issue without lift.

 

[tommudd]

well maybe you have a lot less miles and not as much sag ??:whip:
He has a spacer lift and unknown miles on the KJ and lift
I've seen spacer lifts sitting below and at stock height before
so there maybe the difference

 

[uscgbazz]

It has 61000 miles.

 

[tommudd]

61,000 springs are sagged for sure
and then with that spacer lift not helping much
quick solution is a good full spring lift and be done

 

[uscgbazz]

Thanks for the info Tom!!! Any reason to go with the OME coils and Bilstiens separately as opposed to getting them as the frankenlift? Just asking because it doesnt seem to be a whole lot of difference in price for the whole kit verses the individual parts. Thanks again!!

 

[tommudd]

Frankenlift comes already put together
so bolt it on and go
Buying the OME kit or buying springs and shocks is about 200-300 difference
You can get almost the same height out of springs with top plate and clevis so just depends on what you think is easier.
Installed both and just the extra time to compress the springs is all you save time wise

 

[uscgbazz]

Ok after much debate and driving around to off road shops, here is my dilemma. I think the aftermarket wheels the dealer installed are not backspaced properly therefore causing my tire rub.

I talked to one person on the phone at 4 wheel parts and they said don't do a lift on a KJ only use spacers, the lifts have issues. I called Mike's Off Road to get their input. The guy there looked up the frankenlift and said hey they are just using ARB parts so he was going to look up the parts from ARB and price them to me. I didn't get a call back for quite some time so I drove over there after work. Talked to two different guys there the first one told me that KJs basically suck and there's just not much you can do for them. The other guy which was the guy I talked to on the phone said that he talked to a tech rep at ARB and that he said not to use those parts or that lift on a KJ due to the rear springs coming unattached and popping out. They wouldn't even come outside to look at my jeep to offer advice on the rubbing. I thanked them for nothing and apologized for wasting their time I then drive over to a different 4 wheel parts and talked to a more helpful guy there.

While driving over I called the folks that make the frankenlift and they assured me that they haven't had any issues of springs coming out of the rear. I then called the tech guys at ARB and they said that it could happen using the long travel shock but I it looked like it might a limiting strap would correct the problem.

I arrived at the second 4 wheel parts and the guy there happily came outside and looked my jeep over and said that it looked like the wheels stuck out to wide and that was what was probably causing the tires to rub on the front if the fenders. He said that the height looked good to him, and that a different lift might help but probably not due to the width. I got his card and told him I would contact him with a list of parts for him to price for me to replace the spacers and stock suspension with the OME stuff.

So I know I know I need the OME HD front and rear springs, the OME shocks or Bilstiens but what other parts should I include to properly raise my jeep?

Also any suggestions on the wheel issue? I plan to call the dealer I bought it from tomorrow, but I'm not holding much hope for that

Thanks guys!!!

 

[tommudd]

What wheels do you have? width and backspacing
and 4 wheel drive shops
SUCK
well most of them do they only want to sell what they carry and know about/
the one in Toledo knows nothing more than how to bolt parts on Wranglers

 

[uscgbazz]

Seems to be the same situation here I'm not sure what the wheels are. They came on the jeep when I bought it this weekend. I will take a closer look tomorrow and see if I can ID them.

 

[uscgbazz]

They are JR Motorsports it looks like they are 17 inch by 9.5 inch as best I can tell with about 4.5 inches of backspace as I can tell.

 

[tommudd]

Sounds like you need an ad on Craigslist for those wheels
way too wide
Backspacing would be ok on a 7 inch wide wheel but not 9.5 inches

 

[uscgbazz]

What do I need to look for as a replacement for them? I think I might prefer a 16 inch rim as to the 17.

 

[tommudd]

Lifted a 16X7 with 4 inches of backspacing works well lifted

 

[Slava]

If you are going to switch rims I will also advise to look for 16" because there is much wider choice of good tires for KJ then in 17". Stock 17" rims have 7.5" width, as Tom said, in 16" rims look for 7" width with 4"-4.5" backspacing because your KJ is lifted.

 

[uscgbazz]

I've found some 2000 Cherokee rims on Craigslist that are 16 x 7 anyone know if these are backspaced properly. There are also a ton of JK rubicon wheels on there but they are 17 inch with 5 on 5 bolt patterns, can these be easily fit with an adapter?

 

[tommudd]

There are a ton of JK wheels out there for sale and they are cheap due to no one wants them. You'd have to buy spacers to get them to work, not a good plan in the long run
16X7 Cherokee wheels should fit, not sure of the backspacing right off though not at home right now