Tire size for 12 inch lift on 1985 suburban?

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short

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*Moderator's note: this thread was merged with another, some posts may seem a little repetitive*

I wanted to know what's the biggest tire size that I can get while having 1/2 ton axles? I wanted to eventually get a 12 inch lift on my suburban and I was hoping to get a tire size between 40-44. I'm not sure if the axles would be able to handle tires that big, so if that's too big and I have to down size, what would be the biggest size I can get? Also if it makes any difference, I don't plan on taking the truck off road at all, I just like the look. Any help is appreciated
 
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short

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What's the biggest tire size that would fit on a 85 suburban with a 12 inch lift? I don't want to cut the fenders and I know there's other things that I would have to take into consideration like the width and wheel offset etc. Any help is appreciated thanks.
 

nvrenuf

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Hard to say without knowing the wheel info but I'd guess 40's would be safe for the body. 44's would hit without a body lift and even then they might still rub with wide wheels.
 

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40's with a 12" lift and 1/2 ton axles is just asking to have a bad time. You can get a 14BFF axle around here with 4.10's for about $150. I'd start with that before I thought about going over about a 36" or 37" tire. You can convert the stock front axle to a 3/4 ton by just changing the outer hub and brake parts. The entire upgrade to 3/4 ton running gear would probably be cheaper than blowing up the stock 10 bolt gears just once.

The non-functional Bro-dozer mall crawler thing isn't really my jam, so I don't know that I can give any further advice than that. I've seen 37's clear easily under full deflection on a 12" lift, 40's would probably be pushing it depending on width.
 

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My truck is the "little" stock height 3/4 ton in the photos.
The green Sub is on an 8" lift and 37's.
The monster rolling through is on a 12 inch lift and was built for 44's, but in the photo it is rolling on 42's.
The black truck is on a 6 or 8 inch lift riding on 36's.
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If you look through old 4x4 magazines from the 80's and 90's, big lift trucks with 44's and half ton axles were fairly common to see. I'm sure they tore up axles and hubs just like the ones that ran around in my neck of the woods.
 

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It can be done, seen it many times. But at that point it'd more of a show piece than an actual truck. Put a lifted 1/2 ton on 44s and drive it around all normal and you'll be alright. But if you beat that thing in the mud she's gonna break and get you stranded really fast. Hell, put a set of 36s on a 1/2 ton with a 4spd and try to do more than one or two burnouts and you'll blow your rear faster than the input shaft bearings go out in a souped up Honda Civic lol
 

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My truck is the "little" stock height 3/4 ton in the photos.
The green Sub is on an 8" lift and 37's.
The monster rolling through is on a 12 inch lift and was built for 44's, but in the photo it is rolling on 42's.
The black truck is on a 6 or 8 inch lift riding on 36's.
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That big truck also has a body lift so that’s more than 12”.
 

Vbb199

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40's with a 12" lift and 1/2 ton axles is just asking to have a bad time. You can get a 14BFF axle around here with 4.10's for about $150. I'd start with that before I thought about going over about a 36" or 37" tire. You can convert the stock front axle to a 3/4 ton by just changing the outer hub and brake parts. The entire upgrade to 3/4 ton running gear would probably be cheaper than blowing up the stock 10 bolt gears just once.

The non-functional Bro-dozer mall crawler thing isn't really my jam, so I don't know that I can give any further advice than that. I've seen 37's clear easily under full deflection on a 12" lift, 40's would probably be pushing it depending on width.


I once witnessed someone I knew personally run 53's (military 53s at 330 pounds each), on a 8 lugger front (10b), and a 14b ff rear end.... he did it for months until he got tired of ripping his sterring box off the frame, and after wrecking the big piece of **** into a Toyota and demolishing it....

I inspected his axles after the tear down, the 14 bolt remained unchanged.

The 10 bolt had destroyed ball joints, and nothing more LOL LOL
 

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It can be done, seen it many times. But at that point it'd more of a show piece than an actual truck. Put a lifted 1/2 ton on 44s and drive it around all normal and you'll be alright. But if you beat that thing in the mud she's gonna break and get you stranded really fast. Hell, put a set of 36s on a 1/2 ton with a 4spd and try to do more than one or two burnouts and you'll blow your rear faster than the input shaft bearings go out in a souped up Honda Civic lol
Thanks for the help. I wish I would've known all this before buying my truck. Let's say I get the 12 inch lift and some tires in the 40in range while still on the 1/2 ton axles, how would that hold up if I were to play bumper cars? Serious question I know it sounds ridiculous but would the axles hold up in a situation where I ram another vehicle or vice versa?
 

short

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My truck is the "little" stock height 3/4 ton in the photos.
The green Sub is on an 8" lift and 37's.
The monster rolling through is on a 12 inch lift and was built for 44's, but in the photo it is rolling on 42's.
The black truck is on a 6 or 8 inch lift riding on 36's.
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Thanks for the help. Can you help me out trying to guess the lift and tire size on this suburban? The guy who owned it told me it was a 12 in lift on 40s, but i don't think that's accurate.
 

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Thanks for the help. I wish I would've known all this before buying my truck. Let's say I get the 12 inch lift and some tires in the 40in range while still on the 1/2 ton axles, how would that hold up if I were to play bumper cars? Serious question I know it sounds ridiculous but would the axles hold up in a situation where I ram another vehicle or vice versa?
Are you planning revenge for the Christmas Parade massacre?
 

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Thanks for the help. I wish I would've known all this before buying my truck. Let's say I get the 12 inch lift and some tires in the 40in range while still on the 1/2 ton axles, how would that hold up if I were to play bumper cars? Serious question I know it sounds ridiculous but would the axles hold up in a situation where I ram another vehicle or vice versa?
I would htink you are running the risk of over powering your vehicle which is on stilts by whatever means you lifted it than your axles because your forward energy being halted is more or less saying spring hangers, Thanks for wild ride.

Your 1/2 ton truck already having leverage on the mounting spots because of that increased leangth and those u joints at extremer angles probably arent going to hold up well when the engine and tcase are content where they are . Plus your tires might get a scratch, so you really sure about this?
 

bucket

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Thanks for the help. Can you help me out trying to guess the lift and tire size on this suburban? The guy who owned it told me it was a 12 in lift on 40s, but i don't think that's accurate.

Looks like 40's, but doesn't look like 12 inch lift. Really hard to tell, but you can kinda see the arch on the RF spring. My guess is 8". It also looks like the fenders are cut.
 

RecklessWOT

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Thanks for the help. I wish I would've known all this before buying my truck. Let's say I get the 12 inch lift and some tires in the 40in range while still on the 1/2 ton axles, how would that hold up if I were to play bumper cars? Serious question I know it sounds ridiculous but would the axles hold up in a situation where I ram another vehicle or vice versa?
I have no idea what you're planning to do with this truck and I probably shouldn't know for my own best interest so please don't get specific if it's something crazy lol, but I can understand the need for that type of **** sometimes seems necessary, can't say I've never built a truck with apocalypse in mind. Hell, a 4x4 square Suburban on 40s fits that bill pretty well.

I'd say impacts to the body/frame shouldn't do a ton of damage to your axles themselves. If they're REALLY hard hits and the truck is lifted super high there's a chance you could rip your axles out from under you, but that would happen with a 3/4 or 1 ton as well. Definitely don't use blocks, make sure they're beefy springs. As far as blowing up gears and axle shafts, as long as you're not dumping the clutch to build speed while attempting to "bump" stuff or smoking the tires with your foot to the floor once you've made contact and came to a stop, I don't imagine the axles will be too stressed. Heavy rocking forward and back to try to get un-stuck might cause issues. Plainly put, they're weak axles, the gears specifically. But as long as there's no extreme torque demands from them they shouldn't just explode.

Good luck with your upcoming demo derby/rampage/romp in the post apocalyptic landscape. Hope it all works out for you lol

Post up some pics once you got this beast sitting on 40s, could be cool
 

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