Will 17x8 crager soft wheels work on a lowered Tahoe?

[Andiamo]

I'm thinking about lowering my 2003 Tahoe with some 2" drop spindles and 3 or 4" lowering rear springs. To make the spindles work, I've read that I need to upgrade from my stock 16" wheels to 17's. I was thinking some crager soft steelies would look cool, but I'm concerned about the back spacing of the wheels will cause the tires to hit on the fenders as they will stick out more. The cragers are 17x8 and have a 0 offset and a 4.5" back spacing. I'm not thinking about running wider tires, 265's or maybe 275's at most. I'm seen lots of pics are lifted trucks on steelies, but not many lowered ones.

Has anyone else run these numbers yet? Thanks guys

 

[Bombsquad85]

I believe with 17s you need to cut the lower control arm ball joint threads

But this could easily be answered by @NORCAL SS

 

[1992rs]

Drop spindles and 17’s are totally possible. Cutting threads on the lower ball joint and running a short lock nut is required.

However, zero offset is quite a bit of poke. That will stick out close to 1 1/4” out compared to the OEM wheels from my Denali. You might need to run shorter tire like a low 31 or 30.5” overall diameter to gain some clearance, which might be your factory size idk, but my Denali ran close to 32” tires with its OE 17’s. I think it’s totally possible but I wouldn’t dismiss the idea of you might rub slightly.

I did a brief search but something like a 265/65/17 or a 275/60/17 would look bad ass with a 2/4 drop. It would give it a PPV type of look


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[Andiamo]

Thanks. That's the look I'm kinda going for. I'm most concerned about the tires hitting the fenders if I hit a big bump with the suspension lowered. I drive on some country roads that aren't the smoothest. I could also do American Racing AR172 wheels in black, but they just don't have the same rough look as the steelies.

 

[1992rs]

I can’t imagine hitting a fender with only a 2/4, especially if you stick with the stock 16” tire diameter. Our generation rigs got different tire diameters depending on the OE wheel size. 16’s got around 30.5” tire OD while the 17’s and 20’s got a 31.7-9” tire OD, which is why I emphasize it so much. The difference between those two tire heights is 1.5” so that would give you roughly 3/4” closer to the fender and it would also raise the whole vehicle up 3/4” too. On top of that, it would show a couple miles different on the Speedo and odometer if that matters and it might throw you an abs code, which could be changed via tech2.

The torsion bar suspension really doesn’t have a ton of bump travel. You could get the z71 jounce stoppers. They are a little stiffer and more planted to the road yet still ride nice. That will help control the bump travel.

If you do commit post pictures! I like low offset wheels on these rigs. My last 20’s were a +10 and I liked that widened stance compared to the +27-31 that most here run.


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