Jeep Wrangler YJ 1987-1995. Don Alexander
about four-wheeling, need beadlocks for the terrain you run, and are willing to put in the time and money for proper maintenance, stick with traditional bead wheels or the simulated beadlocks if you like the look.
Some of the larger, more aggressive mud-terrain tires have a thicker bead. This requires a spacer between the wheel and the beadlock ring to ensure a square fit and accurate torquing.
Ultra Wheel’s Xtreme Bead-Lock provides excellent strength and durability. This has been proven over many extreme off-road races and rock crawling competitions.
Insert the remaining bolts through the beadlock ring and start the bolts into the bolt holes on the rim. Snug all of the bolts without tightening.
Beadlock wheels allow the use of much lower tire pressures without the risk of the tire bead becoming unseated from the rim. The Raceline Monster beadlock wheel provides excellent strength. We know because we have tried to destroy them on several occasions.
With the beadlock ring removed, it is easy to mount the tire on the rim. With the tire on the rim, the beadlock ring is placed over the tire so that the bolt holes line up on the rim. There are 32 bolts holding the Raceline beadlock ring on the rim. Place the first 4 bolts at approximately 90-degree intervals and snug them down to set the tire and ring squarely in place.
Wheel Size
Wrangler YJs were sold with 15- and 16-inch-diameter wheels. The optimum diameter for a YJ is more dependent on tire availability and the tire brand you prefer. Not many off-road tires are available in 16-inch diameters and even fewer in 15-inch diameters. If you plan to install diameters no larger than 30 to 31 inches, stick with a 16-inch diameter wheel. This allows the maximum amount of sidewall height for most effective airing down. If you plan to upgrade the brakes, go up to a 17-inch-diameter wheel. Smaller-diameter wheels can have clearance issues with brake calipers.
Width
The widest wheel on stock YJs is 7 inches. This is too narrow for tires larger than 32 inches in diameter. Optimum width is 8.5 to 9 inches for 33- to 37-inch tires with a 12.50- to 13.50-inch section width. If you go extreme with 40-inch tires, then a 9-inch-wide wheel is needed.
Weight
Wheel weight is important, but given that off-road tires are heavy and the Jeep Wrangler YJ uses solid axles, the effect of wheel weight is minimal compared to the total unsprung weight of the wheels, tires, axle housings, gears, and half the weight of suspension components.
The most common wheel size for a YJ with larger all-terrain or mud-terrain tires is 17-inch diameter by 8.5- to 9.0-inch width. A typical steel wheel will weigh around 40 pounds, an alloy wheel in the mid- to high-20-pound range and an alloy beadlock with a steel retaining ring weighs about 44 pounds. The larger the tire and wheel combination, the greater the rotational inertia becomes. This can have a serious effect on braking. The stock YJ brakes were designed for 28- to 39-inch tires. Increasing tire diameter to 32 inches or more is cause for a brake upgrade.
Lug Nuts
If you use anti-theft lug nuts with splines, make sure you have the proper key socket that fits on your lug nuts. There are several sizes with different spline patterns. Always carry the key lug socket and the socket that drives the key because you never know when you will need it.
The lug nut key socket is used with anti-theft lug nuts. Be sure to carry the lug nut key socket in your Wrangler if you use security lug nuts.
Jeep uses dynamic wheel balancing for the Wrangler. The reason is simple: with large tires and high rotational inertia due to the heavy tire tread located away from the center of rotation, dynamic balancing reduces out-of-balance issues such as shimmy and death wobble. During dynamic balancing, the tire and wheel are spun at high speed until the location of imbalance is located on both the inside and the outside of the rim.
This 37-inch BFGoodrich mud-terrain tire and Raceline beadlock wheel measured less than 2 ounces out of balance on the first spin after mounting. After adding weights, the second spin showed nearly perfect balance at 0.25 ounces out on the inner rim. Perfect balance was achieved on the third spin. The fallacy that beadlock wheels are impossible to balance is clearly inaccurate!
Wheel and Tire Balancing
Tire and wheel balancing is important on all vehicles. On the YJ, especially with larger tires, standard static balancing is not adequate. The Jeep factory uses dynamic balancing on Wranglers. Dynamic balancing balances both the outside and the inside of the rim, which reduces wheel wobble and shimmy. The YJ is prone to rapid ball joint and rod end wear. This leads to shimmy and death wobble, especially when tires greater than 33 inches in diameter are used.
Tire Rotation
Normal tire rotation is even more important with larger tires on a YJ.
Choosing the Right Tires and Wheels
What is the best tire for your application? It really comes down to priorities. If you use your YJ as a daily driver, and especially if you have a long commutes, then an all-terrain tire is likely the best choice. If you drive in mud often, then a mud-terrain tire would work well. If driving off-road (especially on difficult trails) takes precedent over highway driving and tire wear and road noise are okay with you, then go for the aggressive mud-terrain tires.
Torque all of the bolts. It is best to torque in two or three steps. With the Raceline beadlocks, the first torque step is about 14 ft-lbs. The final torque is 18 ft-lbs. After a few miles of driving, recheck the torque. The beadlock bolts should be retorqued every 30 days.
Wheel backspace is critical on the Wrangler. Backspacing is measured from the back of the wheel rim to the mounting surface of the wheel to the hub. Too much backspace with larger, wider tires can cause rubbing problems, as the front tires are turned near full lock and at the extremes of vertical suspension travel.
There are dozens of tire choices for a Wrangle YJ. Here is a list of the tires that we have experience with. There are other good tires available, but we have not used them.
• BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2
• BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM2
• Falken WildPeak M/T01
• Falken WildPeak A/T3W
• Goodyear MT/R
• Mickey Thompson Baja Claw TTC Radial
• Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ P3
• Mickey Thompson Deegan 38
• Hankook Dynapro MT RTO3
• Hankook Dynapro AT-m RF10
• Toyo Open Country A/TII