x2 SeaRubi! Those 255's look huge on your truck. 2" or 3" lift? Are you part of the NCLR?
thanks fellas. they felt huge, too! That truck, named Gatsby, is long gone. I think the pic is about 5 years old, now. that was the final incarnation before I parted it out after buying an 06 rubicon.
It was sitting on an 1st generation RTE 3" lift, which netted close to 4" on the front. Absolutely hated those springs. I'll save it for another thread. Bilstein 7100's in 10" travel, 24" stainless braided brake lines finished up the suspension. Detroit / Truetrack combo, Rovertracks rear axles, stock rear shaft (no vibes!) . The front end was a curious mix of ex-MOD and other stuff. Ashcroft 23/24 spline chromo inners, and from the swivel-ball out was all 1-ton 110 MOD stuff. AEU2522 CV's, HD hubs, and the thick drive flanges. At the time the choices for HD cv's were extremely limited, and the race for aftermarket stuff was hot. I decided not to wait, and just run the 110 CV's. They're not perfect, but they're a lot better than the wimpy ABS spec CV's that came in my '91.
The wheels were standard NATO with BFG 255/85. I ran a DII front drive-shaft and never had any vibes. I also ran a DII LT230 that I had to convert the rear-output back to D1 to get the VSS to hook up.
I had originally sourced offset 15" steelies and 35x12.50 Goodyear MT/R's. I figured the front axle would hold with the AEU2522 CV joints if I used a truetrack and didn't lock it all the way with an ARB. After several weeks of rolling those 35's up next to the truck while it was on jackstands, I lost my nerve. They were going to take hacking ... and a lot of it. Explaining my situation to a fella in PCRC turned up a set of 255's on NATO's, ready to go. Made it an easy decision.
All in all it was quite a monster, when it ran ... the heads were in a bad need of a rebuild, and I never could get it to pass smog, even after replacing every sensor on the thing with new genuine stuff from britpac. It died one day while idling - I'm pretty sure it was the ignition amp, which I had a GM 4-prong replacement for but had never fitted. After 6 years of hacking, wheeling, and modding I got pissed at it and bought a Rubi about a month later. I was ready to focus on taking trips and forget about being in the shop all the time. This was all while I was in Seattle. Suffice it to say, I've moved cross country twice, and gone through two jeeps to arrive here in San Francisco without a rig.
When I get another RRC here in the next few months, I'd love to hook up with you folks in NCLR for some trips. I'm pretty active still with folks in the Pacific NW, through Northwest Overland Society. I've haunted LRO and the Mendo list for nearly 10 years and know
of the usual suspects but haven't been able to meet very many of them.
Now that I have this choice to make again, I'm going to be sourcing either 215/85's or 235/85's for another set of NATO's. If you're at a cross-roads I'd suggest sticking to 235's. That extra inch of tire just isn't worth all the headaches unless you're prepared to spend a lot of money sorting everything out.
cheers
-ike