37 inch tyres fitting

[Cain]

Hi all, am new to this sort of thing have got my hands on some 37x12.50x16 wheels and am wanting to fit them on my 90, I’ve got a 2 inch lift already and am looking at putting some 2 inch blocks in and some 30mm spacers, is there anything else I’d need to do?? Has anyone done this before that could point me in a good direction?

[Escape]

I had 37x13x17 on my 90 when I did Ladoga. To get those to fit it had a 4" spring lift, so with your 2" lift plus 2" blocks you should have the necessary clearance, but it will still need some trimming at the rear wheel arches. And extended bumpstops. I also changed the A-frame mounting point on the rear axle, to move the rolling center upwards and keep the tyres from rubbing the spring perches. Wheel spacers were needed to keep the turning circle somewhat reasonable.

To get the suspension to work, you'd want cranked radius and trailing arms, an adjustable Panhard rod front and A-frame ball joint rear and a wide angle or double cardan propshaft at the front. As well as longer brake lines of course. If you plan to put any power on those tyres, you'll need stronger axle internals as well. I went with Ashcroft all round, and then started breaking props and diffs... The added loads also meant I was changing wheel and swivel bearings and certain suspension bushes on a regular basis.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the looks and how she performed off road, but it was clear I was pushing it and that came at a serious cost. Not sure I'd do it again (but then I'm building a P38 on 33"s that's likely to give me just as much of a challenge to get right). Ask yourself what I hope to gain from the bigger tyres and if it's worth it. The downside of running the biggest tyres in the group is that most stuff becomes easy if not boring. And if you do get stuck, nobody will be able to reach you. 😉 

Filip

I couldn't resist looking back at the photos, those were the days...

[Chicken Drumstick]

How do you do lift blocks on a Defender? I didn’t know they existed and have never seen any. 

[Bowie69]

e.g. Land Rover Defender, Discovery 1, RRC +2" Spring spacers suspension lift kit | eBay

[landroversforever]

1 hour ago, Chicken Drumstick said:

How do you do lift blocks on a Defender? I didn’t know they existed and have never seen any. 

Between spring seat and axle. 

[landroversforever]

37” takes a lot of effort to fit. Things like spacers and the lift will help some clearances but won’t help others. Unless it’s just a road going vehicle? 

[Chicken Drumstick]

39 minutes ago, landroversforever said:

Between spring seat and axle. 

Thanks. I'd read it as being a body lift.

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Fitting 37s to a 90 will cause 

 

massive overgearing

poor braking

desruction of drive train half shafts diffs clutch etc

37s are not suited to LR axles really …you can give them a fighting chance with pegged diffs low ratio hd CWPs 300m shafts HD cvs etc but this will not be cheap !

35 s are pretty much the limit on LR axles - even then you need internals upgraded to Stand any chance of it all not just turning to shrapnel

best advice is unless you are going to invest HEAVILY in internals - don’t 

 

[Escape]

I agree with the advice 'don't', or at least think long and hard.

But my standard TD5 managed OK despite the gearing and the braking was good as well. Main problem I found was 1st low being not so low anymore, so engine braking often wasn't enough and you needed to use the brakes as well. And in gloopy stuff the width of the tyres made it a lot harder to keep going, especially as you'll often find yourself outside the main ruts dug by standard(ish) vehicles.