37" Tires on a Non-Sasquatch Badlands - My Experience, Results, Pics

[Hossfire]

I'm talking about the liners, you get a good coat of mud on those tires, they're gone.
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It's a little hard to test full up-travel without ramping (a ditch only goes so far). I think you're probably going to run into more issues than you think.

I guess I'm not sure what your resistance is to a lift. You say you went non-SAS for more travel, but if your travel is limited by your tire's clearance then you have a bigger issue, not to mention issues you are going to have when your tire is stuffed and you're at full lock either direction.

The additional non-squatch BL travel (from my recall) is the delta between the spacer on the end of the squatch Bilsteins and the smaller wheel radius. I never understood why they just didn't use the squatch Bilsteins on both. That spacer is a little under 3/4".

Also, if you are using stock steering components, investing in BroncBuster's tie rod reinforcers may be wise investment. Most of the broken tie rod ends are on 37's. https://www.extremeterrain.com/bron...wqC572tCCFI3MKOjjwoaAtNIEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

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[TeocaliMG]

The additional non-squatch BL travel (from my recall) is the delta between the spacer on the end of the squatch Bilsteins and the smaller wheel radius. I never understood why they just didn't use the squatch Bilsteins on both. That spacer is a little under 3/4".

Also, if you are using stock steering components, investing in BroncBuster's tie rod reinforcers may be wise investment. Most of the broken tie rod ends are on 37's. https://www.extremeterrain.com/broncbuster-bronco-tie-rod-busterbrace-set-so122.html?utm_content=XT Handling - Steering|BroncBuster&T5_Var4=FB15491&utm_campaign=XTB+Bronco+No+Vehicle+High&dialogtech=ppc&utm_source=google-pla&utm_medium=shopping&T5_Var2=shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjwteOaBhDuARIsADBqRejUtFbbiLnQuqtHzsJ2TmICk-KvzFQtPOlfwqC572tCCFI3MKOjjwoaAtNIEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I have back-up tie rods ready to go and get me off-trail. I definitely recommend that anyone running 37's or really hard wheeling at all, have back-ups. I am not against getting some beefed up components like Broncs, but I think I will wait and test limits first. Most broken tie rods are on 37's, but they are also overwhelmingly on lifted rigs that really exacerbate the geometry. Also, I am a bit more in the camp of preferring to break a tie rod than the gear, though I am not overly worried about the gear.

 

[Hossfire]

I've never had to replace a broken one. I've watch videos on replacing them. It looks like if you prepare with spares and the correct tools, a field repair that can get you to an alignment shop isn't too bad.

 

[BroncoBoy22]

@TeocaliMG have you seen the APG Off-road fenders? Might give you the clearance you’re looking for

 

[TeocaliMG]

@TeocaliMG have you seen the APG Off-road fenders? Might give you the clearance you’re looking for

I have, not a huge fan of the style, but I dont hate it.

I did some wheeling at Bundy hill offroad park here in Michigan and had no issues with body clearance since adding 2/3rds of the RC spacer kit (trying to keep it as minimal as possible). Still kind of rub the wheel liners at full lock so I imagine those will need to be replaced eventually, already showing some signs of wear.

Overall though the performance of the larger tires was a hefty improvement, and well worth it to me. I'll post new pics fully flexed out again when I get the chance.

 

[BroncoBoy22]

I have, not a huge fan of the style, but I dont hate it.

I did some wheeling at Bundy hill offroad park here in Michigan and had no issues with body clearance since adding 2/3rds of the RC spacer kit (trying to keep it as minimal as possible). Still kind of rub the wheel liners at full lock so I imagine those will need to be replaced eventually, already showing some signs of wear.

Overall though the performance of the larger tires was a hefty improvement, and well worth it to me. I'll post new pics fully flexed out again when I get the chance.

Ok cool! Yeah me neither. Sucks because they designed them in conjunction with their suspension setup to give even clearance in the wheel well at full flex on a set of 40’s. Really good performance but it’s a very distinct pre-runner look.

Glad you’re getting the performance you want

 

[TeocaliMG]

I threw together a video of some off-roading on the 37's. Mostly from The Mounds. I also went to Bundy hill.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of good footage from Bundy hill, especially from when I got buried in a deep mud/water hole (was way more concerned about getting out and not swamping the intake than getting video). Water level was several inches higher than the door sill, put the drain holes to the test.

As of now the mods in addition to the wheels and tires are: 2/3rds of the 1" RC front level, and slight trimming of the lower rear portion of the front wheel liners.

Wheel liners still rub at max turn and moderate articulation, but far less severely than before.

(27) Testing Bronco on 37's at The Mounds - YouTube

 

[8ronco]

Doing the same surgery on my rock rails - what type of thin grinder blade did you use to trim them?

I have a brand new DEWALT DW8424 Thin Cutting Wheel, 4-1/2-Inch x .045-Inch x 7/8-Inch - will this work?

Rock Rail Trim:
Like I mentioned above, this is the only clearance issue that needs addressing immediately. The fender flares can be removed for offroading, and the wheel liner just barely gets grazed at full lock.

Removal is surprisingly easy! I started by backing off the small nuts along the pinch weld, then backed out the larger bolts holding the brackets down.

Once off, I cleaned up the area around the end forward end caps to see what we were dealing with. You can clearly see where the plastic end cap had been polished up by the tire already.

Holding the endcap in is one torx fastener, one Christmas tree style plug, and the friction/interference fit of the cap itself. I was careful with the removal of the tree plug so I could reuse it, but probably best to replace if you have spares lying around. I used a small screwdriver to spruce up the plastic fins of the tree plug and end cap before reinstalling.

I didn't need much clearance, judging by the scuffing, I might have been fine with a quarter inch, but I only wanted to do this once, and know that the control arm bushings are compliant, I didn't want to crash my tire into the rock rail if I ever took a bigger hit than expected, especially with wheels in motion. I settled on 1 inch, actually 25mm. With my calipers locked, I scribed a line in the paint all the way around and traced it best I could with a thin cut-off wheel on my grinder. I also scribed the location of the new holes to be drilled. The cut actually came out excellent, didn't have any major corrections to do.

Before putting everything back together I wanted to clean up the surface of the cut, and spray on some enamel just to help dissuade any rust getting an easy start here. Also drilled the new holes and coated those as well.

New holes, and new assembly.

Plenty of clearance now!

 

[ezapar]

It doesn't look like you aired the tires down much.

 

[TeocaliMG]

It doesn't look like you aired the tires down much.

For the sake of my testing, I only aired them down to about 18psi, vs 20 on my 33's. Thats because I wanted to test the performance gained by the tire size and design. Obviously with the beadlocks I can air way down to 5psi or so safely but that would leave the aired up 33's way behind for comparison on tire size only.

 

[TeocaliMG]

Doing the same surgery on my rock rails - what type of thin grinder blade did you use to trim them?

I have a brand new DEWALT DW8424 Thin Cutting Wheel, 4-1/2-Inch x .045-Inch x 7/8-Inch - will this work?

Thats basically what I used. It certainly wasn't a large wheel, just a standard cut off disk for a hand-held battery grinder. The key is getting a good trace line drawn/marked before cutting so you can hold the line properly.

 

[omi205]

If not mistaken this was done on a non-saw badlands. Do you think the results would be a bit more welcoming with sas? Asking because I have a sas badlands and have been toying with the idea of going 37 but am also content with the 35s from the factory. Might go 37 when the 35s are ready to be replaced and if the work do go from 35 to 37 (with sas package) is not that much ($$$).

 

[TeocaliMG]

If not mistaken this was done on a non-saw badlands. Do you think the results would be a bit more welcoming with sas? Asking because I have a sas badlands and have been toying with the idea of going 37 but am also content with the 35s from the factory. Might go 37 when the 35s are ready to be replaced and if the work do go from 35 to 37 (with sas package) is not that much ($$$).

Definitely, the SAS limits the wheel travel (a small amount) in jounce/compression. The main reason I made this thread was to show the non-SAS results since that is a bit more challenging and harder to find info on.

Some issues, like needing to trim the wheel liner (depending on wheel offset) will remain. Keeping the SAS offset of +35 will probably be better than the 0 offset I went with. (other than the OEM beadlock which I didn't have, I couldn't find any positive offset beadlocks.)

I don't mind a bit of trimming or a bit of rub at full lock, but the issue that I did have to address (that you might not, or at least not as urgently) is the rub against the fender panel at full compression. I mitigated that by putting the smallest amount of level I could get away with.

 

[TheGeneral]

Wow they do look great, thinking of putting 37's on mine .

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