Wheel fitment problem

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LiftedBlackHD

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Oct 15, 2006
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To make a long story short...I bought some new wheels, went to have them mounted and due to the width and offset of the wheel they rubbed on my front bumper considerably.

If I just had the gray unpainted bumper I would have cut it no problem. However I have the Harley bumper and I'm not willing to hack on it at this point.

The way I see it now I have a few choices: Buying a larger lift kit, getting a shackle and hanger kit, wheel spacers, shimming the bumper or a combination of the above. The full lift kit is out at this point because of price.

I currently have a 5.5" lift which I believe has sagged considerably. The wheels are 20x10 KMC Rockstars (with a -24mm offset)on 35" toyo m/t's. The old wheels where only 8.5" wide and never touched the bumper.

Bottom line is I need to figure out how to get these awesome looking wheels on my truck for as little money as possible.

P.S. this will be a temporary fix, as I will eventually get a full 8" lift kit when the funds are right.
 
Shim the bumper out.

Use washers or spacers behind the 4 mounting bolts by the tow hooks.



FWIW, I would never cut a bumper without rewelding the lip back on the inside...that way there are no sharp edges to possible cut the tire down if you ever made contact off roading.
 
DCSpecial said:
Shim the bumper out.

Use washers or spacers behind the 4 mounting bolts by the tow hooks.



FWIW, I would never cut a bumper without rewelding the lip back on the inside...that way there are no sharp edges to possible cut the tire down if you ever made contact off roading.
Click to expand...

Thanks man! Superlift makes a spacer kit that uses a 1" spacer. Probably overpriced, but I thought it would be convenient.

How far out can you space the bumper before it starts to look lame? I'm afraid I may need more than an inch.

Also, the bottom portion of my bumper is plastic, so no welding would be required...
 
I've seen bumpers shimmed out 1.5" that look fine.

I cut mine and rewelded the lip.

I don't know for sure on the 04 HD bumpers...but the XLT/Larait ones just have a plastic cover over the metal....and then of course the valance below that.
 
Believe it or not mine is shimmed out 1'' and to me I can't really tell. It worked well.
 
Well I spaced the bumper an inch and a half. It doesn't look bad at all. From the front it actually looks kinda cool. Tomorrow I'm gonna go have the new wheels mounted. Wish me luck!!!

BTW the Harley bumper has the 4 large bolts that mount to the frame and then a Y bracket with 3 more bolts on each side. Presumably because the bumper cover is all one piece, unlike some of the other trucks.
 
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Yeah the bracket inside the fender well is on all 01+ trucks. It has some room for movement or it's easy to bend :D
 
The wheels are finally on and they do not rub! They look awesome! Thanks for your help! There is actually about a 1/2" more clearance than there was with the old wheels...
 
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