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Our old CJ was looking pretty bad with some major trail rash so we started to freshen it up. However, it turned out to be quite a major redo (we will show you more in later articles). Every time we did something we tended to over do it!
With this new redo we wanted to fit a set of 37” tires and stay within the capabilities of the 4” spring under design, so we built the whole thing around that idea.

With all that done it was time to actually decide what tires to buy. With all the new tires out there these days it proved to be quite time consuming. What tire? What rim size? How much to spend? How much not to spend? I think it is pretty safe to say that tire and wheel purchases are one of the most important and costly purchases for your rig.

With all that said and cost being a major factor, we decided to go with the 'tried and true' Super Swamper TSL. Why? It is one of the originals and still proves to be one of the best tires out there (nearly indestructible) in varied off-road terrain. Streetability is not a priority for this CJ. So, we called our friends at Interco Tires! Still wanting to stay with our 37” goal and, since the TSL only comes close to that in a 36” and 38” tire in a 16.5" rim size , we faced a slight problem. What to do? Go BIGGER!

With the new 38" TSLs in hand it was time to mount them up! With the TSL being a bias tire the only way to get them to flex the way you would like is to run around 2-5 psi. In order to do that safely,you need to have a bead locked wheel. We would like the bling of some of the high dollar, lighter aluminum wheels however we decided to sacrifice a bit of $$ vs. weight and go with the steel double bead lock. We made a call to Daniel at USA 6X6 for a set of re-centered Hummer wheels. Hummer wheels are made for the military rigs with a radical 7.5" of backspacing. That is too much for my setup as it would cause brake interference issues and narrow my track width too much. USA 6x6 can supply recentered Hummer wheels that address that issue. The center is removed from the stock rim shell and a new one is welded in to the new measurement. Also, the lug pattern can be changed from 8 on 6.5" to, in my case, 5 on 5.5".

Daniel makes these light weight inserts that make mounting these tires a breeze. The hardest part of the install would be installing the valve stems if you don’t have the right tool. If you don’t have one and you can’t find someone to borrow it from, then pay the tire shop 5 bucks to install them for you.

Before...After...

With the install completed it was time to try them out. All we could say is these things work great! Better than we expected. I thought the BFG M/Ts worked good, but my last trip out on the M/T’s I lost two tires off the bead. That was not going to happen again! One issue I had was that the wheels were out of round and it turned out the steel wheel centers were not welded in straight. I called USA 6x6 and he explained that when I requested a radical wheel backspacing of 2.5", that the pressed in centers are not really designed to accomodate that and it made it a bit of a gamble to get them true within the shell. Daniel took care of it and swapped them out for another set with a more reasonable 3.5" backspacing and those were on target.

This new combo worked out pretty well! All you have to do is point and gas it! We spent some time up in the mountains of Big Bear in Southern California and could not have been happier...unless we had hydro assist steering, but that is coming up next!

A big thanks to Interco and USA 6X6!
Happy wheelin' and God Bless
Mike Cross

More Specs:
80 CJ7 AMC 401 Turbo 400
stretched wheel base to 99”
clocked Dana 300 w/twin stick
rear Ford 9” 4:88 r/p Detroit Locker alloy shafts
front h/p Dana 44 4:88 r/p ARB alloy shafts
4” lift spring under suspension
38” x 12.50 x 16.5 double bead locks

Interco Tire

USA 6X6