stevo-mt
Member
I don't know if a dually rear end is too necessary, plus you will lose your limited slip unless you change that over too. I've never had any issues with the load range E Toyo's that I have, the rear is rock solid. When I put the 12 bolt H1 wheels and tires on I put dually hubs on the front dana 60 and 3" steel spacers onto the rear corporate 14 bolt. That was golden as far as the H1 wheels were concerned. I drove it like that for 1500 miles and on a road trip I started getting the death wobble. Swapped tires around and rebalanced, then it came back worse. So stuck on the road 800 miles from home I was left with no choice but to get new tires and wheels. When I got back to MT I put back the original front axle hubs and removed the rear spacers. I have just a set of generic 17" x 10" wide steel wheels and 37x13.5x17 Toyo MTs. The thing drives like a dream now. With the 37's the truck will go about 65 (hit 75 mph one time!) and sticks to the road amazing. I put some blistien shocks and that makes a world of difference. I still drive it 55 mph to try and get a little better MPG. I've got a banks turbo kit to put on it this fall as well. Really the only time the truck has not had enough power was when it was at 10,000 ft, so there is about a 30% loss of effiency there and the truck couldn't cut it. A turbo should cure that though.
Another possibility that you could do would be to scope craigslist and find junky old set of 37's already mounted on some nice wheels that fit. Use those to mock up all of your truck's suspension work you want to do then when your happy go buy new rubber for it and go 37s or 35s depending. If you go the 37's route I would be prepared to cut fenders though for sure, but 35's should clear on a 4" lift. One other word of caution. When you lift that truck 4" you WILL need to spend the money on a crossover steering kit and a replacement powersteering box from a 2WD. The truck will not turn 37s with stock components lifted. This is due to the messed up angles from the powersteering box has when it's lifted. This caught me offguard because it was another 1200 dollars. Truth be told it ended up costing me 3 or 4 grand by the time the truck was lifted and steering properly. Plus a bit of custom work, the kits weren't always exact with things. Oh and your front swaybar will have to go if you do crossover steering. I can go back through my cost spreadsheet and give you a better idea, that part was kind of painful.
Looking back, cutting the fenders and putting bushwacker fender flares, running 35's and not lifting the truck would have been a very viable cost effective option. I don't know what kind of budget your planning for your truck, but the day I started lifting it up the money just emptied from my wallet. Granted it does look super aggressive and pretty awesome. After all the headaches, extra time, re-engineering the front shock mounting, and tons of cash it is pretty awesome what the truck will do with 37's. I was driving it back and forth to my little shop in Montana with record snowfall this winter. They don't plow the roads, but that thing does not care! It pushes through snow with the just the limited slip up to axle's height. Then you have to put in 4wd and it will push through the snow to the top of the axles around the bottom of the frame. Then after engaging the front locker it will go through until the drift is at the height of the fenders. Any deeper than that the truck is stuck and you have to back up.
When I first got the truck it performed great with just 4wd and the rear limited slip. The box was heavy enough it would drive rock solid on ice. I got caught up in making a super off road capable truck and after a year of reflection I could go probably 90% of the miles that I've taken the truck without much more than some better tires. 5% of that could be reached with 35's and a front diff locker. The best 5% would be where I had to have 37's, but I could have also just parked and walked a mile or two here and there... It seems like where I ended up setting up camp, even in the forests during winter, I could have probably made it there with a less expensive setup. I remember looking at a M1010 that the 100dollarman had built with 37's and I don't think he had lifted it. Just cut the fenders. Turned out pretty awesome, but I wasn't sure on tire rubbing and all that.
Not to rant but I'm just kind of excited to see other people taking on these projects. There are few guys on here with CUCV trucks and the good old 6.2l diesels. Some have had good luck with the 37's H1 wheels and tires. My gut tells me if the GSA is getting rid of them there is most likely a reason, but there are some good ones out there.
Another possibility that you could do would be to scope craigslist and find junky old set of 37's already mounted on some nice wheels that fit. Use those to mock up all of your truck's suspension work you want to do then when your happy go buy new rubber for it and go 37s or 35s depending. If you go the 37's route I would be prepared to cut fenders though for sure, but 35's should clear on a 4" lift. One other word of caution. When you lift that truck 4" you WILL need to spend the money on a crossover steering kit and a replacement powersteering box from a 2WD. The truck will not turn 37s with stock components lifted. This is due to the messed up angles from the powersteering box has when it's lifted. This caught me offguard because it was another 1200 dollars. Truth be told it ended up costing me 3 or 4 grand by the time the truck was lifted and steering properly. Plus a bit of custom work, the kits weren't always exact with things. Oh and your front swaybar will have to go if you do crossover steering. I can go back through my cost spreadsheet and give you a better idea, that part was kind of painful.
Looking back, cutting the fenders and putting bushwacker fender flares, running 35's and not lifting the truck would have been a very viable cost effective option. I don't know what kind of budget your planning for your truck, but the day I started lifting it up the money just emptied from my wallet. Granted it does look super aggressive and pretty awesome. After all the headaches, extra time, re-engineering the front shock mounting, and tons of cash it is pretty awesome what the truck will do with 37's. I was driving it back and forth to my little shop in Montana with record snowfall this winter. They don't plow the roads, but that thing does not care! It pushes through snow with the just the limited slip up to axle's height. Then you have to put in 4wd and it will push through the snow to the top of the axles around the bottom of the frame. Then after engaging the front locker it will go through until the drift is at the height of the fenders. Any deeper than that the truck is stuck and you have to back up.
When I first got the truck it performed great with just 4wd and the rear limited slip. The box was heavy enough it would drive rock solid on ice. I got caught up in making a super off road capable truck and after a year of reflection I could go probably 90% of the miles that I've taken the truck without much more than some better tires. 5% of that could be reached with 35's and a front diff locker. The best 5% would be where I had to have 37's, but I could have also just parked and walked a mile or two here and there... It seems like where I ended up setting up camp, even in the forests during winter, I could have probably made it there with a less expensive setup. I remember looking at a M1010 that the 100dollarman had built with 37's and I don't think he had lifted it. Just cut the fenders. Turned out pretty awesome, but I wasn't sure on tire rubbing and all that.Not to rant but I'm just kind of excited to see other people taking on these projects. There are few guys on here with CUCV trucks and the good old 6.2l diesels. Some have had good luck with the 37's H1 wheels and tires. My gut tells me if the GSA is getting rid of them there is most likely a reason, but there are some good ones out there.
