Running 35/12.5/R17 on Sahara with Rubi Wheels ...

[nerp]

Hi there all,



tl;dr: Can I get wheels for my Sahara JLU with no spacers required with 35/12.5/R17's?

I bought KO2s from a local mechanic that does lifts and intended to have them mounted on my stock Sahara wheels. The mechanic convinced me to "upgrade" to the Rubicon wheels because - as he said - 18" tires are harder to find. Honestly, Ijust wanted stock so I didn't argue and he was giving me the rims for free. (Nothing is EVER free... I'm pretty sure this just saved him time mounting the tires because he had some that were already on Rubi wheels... It turned out they were never even balanced so WTF on that.)

Anyway, after I got my lift and new tires, the mech let me know that the Rubi Wheels needed 1 1/2" spacers. Does the tire geometry I purchased mean that I must have wheels that require spacers or are there some lightweight wheel options for 35x12.5xR17 tires which work on the Sahara JLU without spacers?? I saw the thread on "hubcentric" wheels .... is this what that means? Since there is apparently a difference between the Sahara and Rubicon JL, how would I know which require spacers and which dont?

Thank you for any help.

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[Token]

Most aftermarket wheels will work for you.

The issue is the backspacing.

This is how close (or far) the wheel sits from the suspension.

For clearance, the wheel is moved outboard.

You'll have to run spacers on a stock Rubi wheel and 35"s so they don't rub, or purchase new wheels entirely with the correct backspacing.

The "hubcentric" term related to the wheel's mounting.
It means the inner diameter of the wheel's hub opening is the same as the outer diameter of your actual wheel hub.

This is by far the best situation, and what comes OEM.

Mounting an aftermarket wheel that has a larger hub opening, then relying on hub rings, or just letting the lugs center the wheel is far from ideal.

 

[nerp]

Thanks for the response and good information... How do I know what the correct backspacing is? I'm sort of committed to buying new wheels at this point but I just don't want to end up in a situation where I have to add spacers again.

 

[nerp]

So I have done more research and ....

I did a chalk test and I'm running the tires at 27 as a result - Still ... 7.5" is way too narrow for the KO2s so, I'm looking for a better wheel solution.

Since the tires currently don't rub with the spacers on and they are 1.5" (according to the lift installer).

• The JL Rubicon wheels are 7.5in wide with a 44mm offset.
• The outer width of the stock Rubicon wheel is 8.75" (7.5" inner)
• Zero offset is at 4.375".
• The backspace of the stock wheel is 6.125".
• 6.125" - 4.375" = 1.75" or 44.45 mm offset.

Given that there is no rubbing with 1.5" spacers, I need to add 1.5" to 1.75" to get 3.25" or 76.2mm offset. So, I'm looking for a wheel with greater than 76.2mm offset right??

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