How Much Lift?

dnunnery · January 31, 2008

I am wanting to put BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A's in 315/70/17 on my 08 GMC HD. I tried it when I got the truck, and found they rubbed so bad at the rear of the fender, it took the dealer 15 minutes to back it out of the shop without tearing the inner fenders out of it. I elected at that point to go with 285/70/17 T/A's and tweak the torsion bars a little. these tires still rubbed a little until I drilled holes at the bottom of the plastic inners, and tied them back to the body mounts with plastic zip ties.

Does anyone out there know how much lift it will take to fit these tires on stock 17" wheels under this truck?

2000DV4.8 · January 31, 2008

I am wanting to put BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A's in 315/70/17 on my 08 GMC HD. I tried it when I got the truck, and found they rubbed so bad at the rear of the fender, it took the dealer 15 minutes to back it out of the shop without tearing the inner fenders out of it. I elected at that point to go with 285/70/17 T/A's and tweak the torsion bars a little. these tires still rubbed a little until I drilled holes at the bottom of the plastic inners, and tied them back to the body mounts with plastic zip ties.

Does anyone out there know how much lift it will take to fit these tires on stock 17" wheels under this truck?

DO NOT put a 315 on your stock wheels!!!

If I'm not mistaken, the stock wheels on the HD's are 6.5" wide, which is WAY to narrow. Even if they are 7" wide, the widest you can safely run on a 7" wheel is a 295. When you run wide tires on a narrow rim, the bead of the tire doesn't contact the lip of the wheel the way it is designed to, which will make a blowout a very likely possibility, especially when towing/hauling, and since this is a HD, I'd bet you do that every once in a while. This is not only dangerous to you, but to others around you. The tire will also balloon, and look like a giant krispy kreme donut, and will also not contact the road properly, causing it to wear unevenly. If you want to run a 315, you need at least a 8" wide wheel. Follow the manufacturer's reccomendations, they reccomend the minimum and maximum wheel widths for a reason.

dnunnery · January 31, 2008

I am wanting to put BF Goodrich All Terrain T/A's in 315/70/17 on my 08 GMC HD. I tried it when I got the truck, and found they rubbed so bad at the rear of the fender, it took the dealer 15 minutes to back it out of the shop without tearing the inner fenders out of it. I elected at that point to go with 285/70/17 T/A's and tweak the torsion bars a little. these tires still rubbed a little until I drilled holes at the bottom of the plastic inners, and tied them back to the body mounts with plastic zip ties.

Does anyone out there know how much lift it will take to fit these tires on stock 17" wheels under this truck?

DO NOT put a 315 on your stock wheels!!!

If I'm not mistaken, the stock wheels on the HD's are 6.5" wide, which is WAY to narrow. Even if they are 7" wide, the widest you can safely run on a 7" wheel is a 295. When you run wide tires on a narrow rim, the bead of the tire doesn't contact the lip of the wheel the way it is designed to, which will make a blowout a very likely possibility, especially when towing/hauling, and since this is a HD, I'd bet you do that every once in a while. This is not only dangerous to you, but to others around you. The tire will also balloon, and look like a giant krispy kreme donut, and will also not contact the road properly, causing it to wear unevenly. If you want to run a 315, you need at least a 8" wide wheel. Follow the manufacturer's reccomendations, they reccomend the minimum and maximum wheel widths for a reason.

Actually, the stock 17" wheels are 7.5" wide. My previous truck was a 2004 Chevy 2500 HD w/ diesel. Stock wheels on it were 6.5" wide. I ran 2 sets of 285/75/16's and 1 set of 305/70/16's all BFG All Terrains before selling it. The first two sets of tires got around 65,000 miles per set with no problems, and the 305's had around 30,000 on them when I sold it with no signs of adverse wear. BF Goodrich specifies 7.5" minimum wheel width for the 285's, and 8" wheel width for 305's. Their website specifies 8.5" wheel width for the 315/70/17, and given my experience with my last 3 sets of their tires, I don't think I will have too much trouble with this set up if I can get the truck high enough to tuck them under it. I also typically run lower than normal tire pressures when not hauling (which is most of the time). Usually around 50psi front, and 45 psi rear. This seems to offer a better ride, as well as better traction. When I do hook up to the occasional trailer, I inflate the tires up to the max. reccomended pressures. I am in the construction business, and don't buy the diesels for the hauling capacity as much as for the higher resale, fuel economy, and durability. I use these trucks to get around on job sites before and during concrete construction, and to get around on deer leases, and other rural properties.

Don't take these comments the wrong way. I'm not trying to be a smart a#%, just stating my past experiences with these tires, and wheel combinations.