I recently put 37x12.50R16 SSR's on 16x8 rims w/ a 5" RCD, and 3" PA body lift on my F-250LD 4x4. Here are the problems that I'm having:

- At full-turn, the wheels slightly nick the torsion bars. If anybody w/ a 4x4 has tried to fit 37's, have you had this problem?

- When I got the truck back from the shop, the front was way higher than the rear. Upon inspection, I noticed that the torsion bars were cranked all the way up. When I lowered them to make the truck sit level, the tires rub a little on the lower valence. So for anyone wondering if you can fit 37's w/ a 5" susp. and 3" body without cranking up the t-bars, I say no. Unless you don't mind the rubbing or trim the valence a little.

Is there anything I can do about the torsion bars? And how do others fit 37's or bigger with the torsion bar in the way? I wonder if there's any way of relocating the bars more inward or limiting the turning by a few inches. It barely nicks the edge at full-turn.

 

sounds like something that might be solved by a wheels with a differnt offset or if you dont want to have to buy new wheels you could get some wheel spacers. You can get them to push the wheels farther out so they clear the torsion bars..

how that helps

 

It's not the tire size. Its the backspacing on the wheel. My 40s and 15X12.5s don't close to rubbing anything. These prime wheels have large backspacing (=sticks out really far). Good luck.

Snowball

 

I would say the others are correct. A different offset is needed. What size tires were you running before? Also if you adjusted the torsion bars after you got it back from the shop, you may need to have it aligned again. There is nothing that you can do about relocating the torsion bars crossmember or about limiting the turning radius. Except for remembering not to turn all the way but, that would suck. Not worth it IMO. Maybe the shop had the torsion barse cranked up all the way for a reason. Ask them. Unfortunately I think the offset is what is causing your problems and that is a costly $$$ mistake.

 

gp7200 could you please do me a favor.? Take a tape measure and measure the height and width of your 37s. The 37in SSRs are probably going to be my next set of tires. Either those or 36x14.5 TSL Radials...undecided

 

hey gp, nice looking truck!

 

Thanks for the opinions, guys. The backspacing issue sounds logical to me. Not that I had a whole lot of choices for rims since I have the 7-lugger, but the AE 121HD I got had the same backspacing (4 1/4) as the stockers. I've read a lot of posts on this board as well as others about not going with too much backspacing, so I went for it. I also got a good deal and only planned on running 35's, which I originally did. But like many others feel who have a 4"/5" susp. plus 3" body lift, the 35's looked so small. The fix I'm going with, at least for now, is adding a small bump stop to the steering knuckle. This will prohibit the wheel from contacting the torsion bar. This is what I meant by limiting the turning radius. When I spoke with Paul at PG Series, he suggested this as well. And sayed they would do it for free while I'm getting the springs done. (See below) What do you think about this? And what opinions does anybody have about bigger backspacing?

As far as the torsion bars being cranked. It had no affect on the problem I'm having. They rubbed just the same before I lowered them. I'm getting a set of 5 1/2" custom leaf springs from National Springs put on this Saturday to replace the add-a-leaf and block, so I may need to adjust the torsion bars up a little for a more even look. At that point, I will be getting an alignment and deciding if I need to trim the valence.

Thanks again, for the info!

 

Out of curiosity. How are you getting National Springs installed on Saturday? Right now they are on back order no matter what application, for 1 month.

 

I've had them on order for about a month already. PG Series which is right around the corner from National Springs, ordered them for me about a month ago while I was having the tires and steering stabilizer put on. They picked it up from them this past Friday. My current springs are squeaking pretty bad, and I think it's from the add-a-leaf from the RCD. I will post the results after the new springs are on.

 

I am happy to post that adding the bump stops to the steering knuckle has worked and the wheels no longer rub on the torsion bars. Full-turn either way and no problem. And to be honest, it doesn't even feel like my turning radius is any different.

Also, the new leaf springs are in and all the squeaks are gone. I am very happy with this mod! Not only is it quiet back there now, but adding the new springs also raised the back to sit even with the front. I didn't really want that pre-runner look, and this took care of that, as well as strengthening things back there, and getting rid of any wheel hop that may have occured due to the blocks and add-a-leaf.

If anybody is contemplating getting new springs, or even rebuilding there existing ones, I would highly recommend giving National Springs a call. I understand that they do good work rebuilding for a cheaper price as well. I will post any changes, good or bad, here.