Question regarding wheel offset effect on wheel bearings

[Iawrangler]

I'm a first time Wrangler owner and find this forum very helpful. I have a '24 2 door Sport and I've replaced the stock steel wheels with aluminum wheels of the same size (Wrangler takeoffs). Driving mostly involves roads as there aren't trails nearby. Never the less I'm curious about the look of a slightly wider wheelbase and I see all sorts of wheel/tire combinations discussed here.

In my past experience with non stock wheels there was usually an emphasis on staying with a stock wheel offset. The reason for this was usually related to wheel bearing failure if wheel offset exceeded certain limits. I've looked around here and most of the wheel offset discussion related to body clearance and handling.

Is there a resource that discusses wheel offset as it relates to potential wheel bearing failure specific to Wranglers?

Thanks!

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[jadmt]

I don't have the answer you are looking for but people have been running less offset and backspacing on wranglers since the beginning of time and while you hear the argument a lot that it will cause excessive wear you don't read about a lot of wheel bearing failures....Me personally I don't like the poked out look so I run offset just enough to ensure proper clearance at full stuff. I run AEV wheels on one set of tires and a 1" BORA wheel adaptor with stock wheels and another set of tires.

 

[JesseT]

I'm a first time Wrangler owner and find this forum very helpful. I have a '24 2 door Sport and I've replaced the stock steel wheels with aluminum wheels of the same size (Wrangler takeoffs). Driving mostly involves roads as there aren't trails nearby. Never the less I'm curious about the look of a slightly wider wheelbase and I see all sorts of wheel/tire combinations discussed here.

In my past experience with non stock wheels there was usually an emphasis on staying with a stock wheel offset. The reason for this was usually related to wheel bearing failure if wheel offset exceeded certain limits. I've looked around here and most of the wheel offset discussion related to body clearance and handling.

Is there a resource that discusses wheel offset as it relates to potential wheel bearing failure specific to Wranglers?

Thanks!

I don't have the answer you're looking for either but just FYI, "wheelbase" refers to the distance between the front and rear axles. "Track width" is what you're talking about.

 

[MauiSteve]

Around here we see some pretty big offsets with tires sticking way out. There doesn't seem to be any enforcement of tire protrusion. The thing I see is the effect on the front suspension, more leverage can affect pressure on the knuckles. In your case I don't think that's an issue.

 

[Old Dogger]

You would be adding more wear and stress on the hub bearings, and Ball joints. When one goes too far with it, then you can also have scrub Radius issues. A 9" rim width, with a 5.2 Back spacing, should work just fine. Plus, it will give one the extra width stance, without going overboard.
Also, you will need the correct tire size for the 9" Rim width.

 

[XtremeRetard]

100% as above. I live near Sand Hollow and there are loads of guys breaking wheel studs, wearing out ball joints, bearings etc with offset wheels. They wheel hard, so accelerate the natural imbalance of such a setup.

You want near OEM offset ideally. Scrub radius means minimal wheel turning effort and of course also less load on the bearings/joints/studs etc.

The solution if you need more offset for wheel size is of course... a new wider axle. As evidenced by anyone who does any serious offroading. 72" width etc.

Is this expensive, yes. Is it necessary... for serious offroading, yes, you wont want to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a broken ball joint.

Can you get away with it on a mall crawler, certainly. But eventually even they will see excess wear. Maybe not the catastrophic failures seen offroad hitting the 9 rated trails, but they are just wearing at a slower pace.

 

[Upnarms]

I wouldn't lose sleep over it. I've always run Jeeps with non factory offset, however it's been 1.75" or less difference than factory. Never had an issue. I'm sure it could be I've just never experienced any problems related to that.

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