Wild Coast
Member
Wanted to run some snow chains, but was worried that I would have some clearance issues, so decided to do a little test; figured others might find this useful:
---- My truck:
My Xterra is a 2004. Have a 2" body lift as well as a ~2+ suspension lift. For the suspension lift, I'm running stock leafs with AC adjustable shackles on the rear (2-1/8" of lift) and for the front have the AC control arms from the 3" lift, but with the torsion bars adjusted so that the truck is level. On a side note, I think this type of lift is better vs doing the full 3" lift because I still have downward travel (i.e. droop) on my front wheels.
Running BFG AT KO2s - 265/75/r16 -> which converts to 31.6x10.4x16. These are on Mickey Thompson Classic III (8” wide, 0 offset, 4.5 backspacing). The stock backspacing is 5.5" in case you're curious, so my wheels are slightly pushed out.
On the front have a Shrock bumper, so no clearance issues there!!
Truck on level ground for reference:
---- Experiment:
Fitting the chains on level ground, looked like things just cleared. But I was certain that things will be rubbing once the wheels are turned/stuffed. Decided to find a slope and do a little experiment. Here are the results:
Lots of droop on the rear. Awesome!
Other side, rear tire fully stuffed:
Chains on:
First rubbing spot: the rear of the rear wheel well (photo taken from the inside looking out):
But the bigger issue was actually lack of clearance between the inside of the tire and the body sheet metal:
With chains, you can see they get jammed:
To test the front, I turned the truck around:
You can see with the wheel turned there is very little clearance on the back of the front wheel well:
Close up of the gap:
By the way, I had removed the front mud flag and cut back the plastic fender trim already. Hammered back the sheet metal of the wheel well just a bit, but can probably do a bit more to add more clearance.
In general, looks like chains on 32x10.4s is a no-go, even on a 2" body lift Xterra. Fits fine on level ground but if you actually plan to off-road with them, where your suspension will be flexing, those chains will rip everything up! Will have to step down to 245/75/r16 for the winter tires I think (30.5x9.6x16) in order to comfortable fit chains.
---- My truck:
My Xterra is a 2004. Have a 2" body lift as well as a ~2+ suspension lift. For the suspension lift, I'm running stock leafs with AC adjustable shackles on the rear (2-1/8" of lift) and for the front have the AC control arms from the 3" lift, but with the torsion bars adjusted so that the truck is level. On a side note, I think this type of lift is better vs doing the full 3" lift because I still have downward travel (i.e. droop) on my front wheels.
Running BFG AT KO2s - 265/75/r16 -> which converts to 31.6x10.4x16. These are on Mickey Thompson Classic III (8” wide, 0 offset, 4.5 backspacing). The stock backspacing is 5.5" in case you're curious, so my wheels are slightly pushed out.
On the front have a Shrock bumper, so no clearance issues there!!
Truck on level ground for reference:
---- Experiment:
Fitting the chains on level ground, looked like things just cleared. But I was certain that things will be rubbing once the wheels are turned/stuffed. Decided to find a slope and do a little experiment. Here are the results:
Lots of droop on the rear. Awesome!
Other side, rear tire fully stuffed:
Chains on:
First rubbing spot: the rear of the rear wheel well (photo taken from the inside looking out):
But the bigger issue was actually lack of clearance between the inside of the tire and the body sheet metal:
With chains, you can see they get jammed:
To test the front, I turned the truck around:
You can see with the wheel turned there is very little clearance on the back of the front wheel well:
Close up of the gap:
By the way, I had removed the front mud flag and cut back the plastic fender trim already. Hammered back the sheet metal of the wheel well just a bit, but can probably do a bit more to add more clearance.
In general, looks like chains on 32x10.4s is a no-go, even on a 2" body lift Xterra. Fits fine on level ground but if you actually plan to off-road with them, where your suspension will be flexing, those chains will rip everything up! Will have to step down to 245/75/r16 for the winter tires I think (30.5x9.6x16) in order to comfortable fit chains.