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M1008 Wheel/Tire upgrade

Mainsail

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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I found some decent aluminum wheels on craigslist and painted them. They've been on eight months now and the paint is holding up great. You can also get them powder-coated if you want to spend the money. I also found some BGF AT TAs on craigslist as well, almost new.
WM1-s.jpgWheel-s.jpgTopless-s.jpg
 

Easypatriot

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Sacramento
Looks like I might be reviving an old thread, but it seems like the best place to ask... Is lifting an M1008 the only requirement (trimming not withstanding) to fit HMMWV 37's ? No mods to the wheels? I already plan to do a 4" lift as time and money allow, and it looks like HMMWV takeoffs (wheel and tire) are getting competitive in price with a set of new tires... The cost of the lift notwithstanding. Seems like HMMWV wheels is the way to go for me, just want to make sure I'm not missing some critical detail.
 

Disciple

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Eagan, Mn
If you're sticking with the stock HMMWV wheels you will also need 2" spacers for at least the front. There is not enough wheel offset with those wheels alone. They will hit on the inside. The other option is to buy re-centered HMMWV wheels with the new offset built in, which is highly recommended if you can afford it.

The wheel spacers are a bit of a controversial item. I've heard horror stories of wheels flying off on the freeway and I've heard from guys who have used them for years with no trouble. I personally haven't had any issues with mine and I've had them on for about two years.

I think the general overall consensus is that wheel spacers are not a good idea if you plan on doing any hard off-roading, especially high impact, torque, and strain stuff like rock crawling or hard trail riding.

I have 2" spacers in the front and only because it was originally going to be a temporary thing until I could get re-centered or different wheels. Times have been tougher than I was expecting so they're still on the truck. I will say that it looks a little ridiculous with only the front being spaced out. You can easily tell that the front tires sit out further than the rear, but I used to work in construction and would often carry very heavy supplies/equipment in the back, like whole cubes of brick or block and pallets of mortar, etc. Therefore I didn't want to risk adding spacers to the rear axle, just in case.
 
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Disciple

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Eagan, Mn
Oh, and yes, you need a minimum of 4" lift. Even then I had to do a little trimming to the front fenders. There is a way to avoid all trimming though, get a set of "Zero-Rates" from Offroad Design. They will give you an additional 1" lift in the front (which I really wish I had done, my front springs have sagged a little after breaking in) and allow you to move the front axle forward just slightly, no trimming. I would recommend going with the Zero-Rates. I bought the Tuff Country EZ Ride HD front springs and after living with them for about two years I wish I had an additional inch of lift in the front. The truck would then ride closer to level. Right now the back rides a little high for my liking.
 
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Disciple

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Eagan, Mn
What did these tires do to your mph?
Well, your acceleration certainly isn't helped with a larger tire. That's especially true if you leave the run-flat inserts in place. This is already a very heavy wheel/tire combo, but with the run-flats each wheel and tire weighs in at about 150 lbs. I only know this because when they were shipped via freight to me the packing slip said 600 lbs for the 4 of them. My solution is just to floor it, but even then you won't win any drag races.

Your top speed is helped a bit with these. I never changed out my speedo gearing to compensate for the larger tire but on average I'm reading about 7 mph slower (verified via GPS) on the speedo than I'm actually going, so when I'm showing 55 mph (which is the max that I run my truck at) I'm actually doing 62, which in my area (city/suburbs) is usually plenty to allow me to keep up with traffic for the most part.
 
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Disciple

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Eagan, Mn
Is lifting an M1008 the only requirement (trimming not withstanding) to fit HMMWV 37's ? No mods to the wheels? Seems like HMMWV wheels is the way to go for me, just want to make sure I'm not missing some critical detail.
You cannot fit the 37" HMMWV tires on your stock wheels. The HMMWV tires are a 16.5" tire and are too wide for the stock CUCV wheel. You will need to get a different wheel, the stock HMMWV wheels just happen to bolt up to the M1008 axle (not the M1009 axle, 8 vs 6 bolts) and they're relatively cheap, so that's why a lot of guys go with them.
 

truck1

Member
332
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Location
San Anselmo,CA.
Consider finding 16.5 " Chevy 8 bolt 8 1/4 " wide wheels from the 70's era trucks. They are out there and will fit surplus Humvee tires. I run this setup on my 1028 and they are balanced with beads in the tires. They run true and look good. Any tire shop that do big truck tires can set you up with mounting and balance( beads). Surplus Humvee tires have gone up in price, but they are still a great deal IF you buy from a reputable dealer. If they have sat out in the weather ask about sidewall cracking which is common with these tires. Militaryoffroadtires.com is a good source. You will get what is advertised. At least I did.
 

chesapeake

Member
142
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18
Location
Winston, Ga
I have been researching the tallest tire you can run on a stock 16" wheel without a lift or trimming and all the results seem to be from 2-5 years ago. The results seem to be between a 31 and 35" tire. Any body got any updated info on this matter. I pick up my first cucv on saturday?
 

Abbylind

Member
284
14
18
Location
Palm Harbor FL & NM
I went the HMMV wheel tire route. Replacing the front leaf bushings will give you about an 1" (old age rots them out) adding another spring and re-arch got me 4" more. I changed out the front hubs with a 87 dually. That gets you the space you need. Some minor trimming on the fenders and viola! YMMV
 

chesapeake

Member
142
3
18
Location
Winston, Ga
I'm just not wanting to spend $1700 on a lift and steering components. That is the only reason I don't want a lift. But I would like to bring the rpms down
 

K9Vic

Active member
1,261
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38
Location
Fort Worth, TX
On my 1984 Suburban CUCV clone I am building I am going with a 4" lift and 285/75/16 Mickey Thompson ATZ Baja tires (33" tall). That is enough lift and should make the ride allot more smooth. I just wanted a good non-aggressive A/T tires as it will be on the streets 90% of the time as a daily driver.
 

WARWAG

Active member
004.jpgP7080027.jpg These are the BAJA 37" tires on 12 bolt wheels. The tallest tire without a lift would be 33". I ran the Wrangler II on 8 bolt wheels and they rubbed (2" spacers) 36x12.50x16.5. The Wrangler II are actually 34" tall NOT 36. Im currently running 37x12.50x16.5 BFG Baja Mts on stock HMMWV wheels. They rub when im flexed. They rubbed a bit before but a 2lbs sledge hammer cured that. You need to do some trimming so they don't rub when flexed even a little bit.ROAD TRIP 001.jpgThese are the Wrangler II with no lift
 
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martindc1

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Location
La Crosse, WI
I run Cooper SST Discover 285/75/16 rated to 3750 LBS Only the LT315/75R16 is higher......3860 lbs

http://us.coopertire.com/Tires/Light-Truck/DISCOVERER-STT.aspx
On stock wheels? Any wear problems? The other option would be a 255/85R16 but the only tires I can think of off hand in this size are the BFG KM2, Toyos, Maxxis Bighorn MT and the Interco Truxxis.

For the stock look a Ford Accuride steely 16x7 would give an extra half inch of width. These can be found for $25-35 per wheel.
 
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