Dang, new wheels/tires don't fit!

[Bratastick]

I converted my hubs/drums to 6 lug and located some nice D50 14" wheels and felt pretty good about everything. Ordered in some 195/70-14 tires that I'm pleased with and they mount up and look great. Clearance on the rear of of 82' Brat is close but will work fine. Fronts not so much. I'm getting interference on the fronts when turning. A little of the front part of the fender and more on the rear. The standard shocks are adjusted as high as they go. 

 

Question is will a 2" lift on the front fix the issue? And, if I do that can I just lift the suspension only? It would level out the look which I would like. I've read through a bunch of threads but get differing opinions as to whether it will work on a Brat. I think I could make up a simple suspension lift using some of the info here, but don't want to fool with it if in the end it's not enough or leads to a more involved set of issues.

[BEECHBM69]

I have that exact setup on my hatchback and have zero issues with rubbing. 

 

Just out of curiosity, have you had the shocks off/ tophats out? When I redid the frontend the new tophats were stamped FWD/4WD, and had to be turned a certain way to reflect the application. Not sure how much difference it made. 

 

As to suspension only lift, on an EA81 it's a bad idea, as the axles don't take well to it. 

 

Good luck. 

 

Dan

Edited May 4, 2017 by BEECHBM69

[Bratastick]

I haven't had the front suspension out so I don't know about the top hats. I haven't actually gotten to run it yet. I figure the struts will need to be replaced, but wanted to get it up and running before jumping into that. I'm guessing they are original from the factory.

 

BTW, they reason I went for the 6 lug 14" with 195/70 is that I had read a number of threads where they worked just perfect. Unfortunately on this Brat, no. 

Edited May 4, 2017 by Bratastick

[dfoyl]

Is it the inside or outside edge of the tyre hitting the fender. Could be a backspacing issue on the wheels. Have you thought about putting a spacer between the two and using longer studs if necessary ?

 

Tophat changes won't help if you are clipping the fender both front and back.

[dfoyl]

Also, if you have an 82 BRAT you have the solid rotors, correct ? Moving to the later vented rotor *might* increase your track just enough...

[Scott in Bellingham]

Rim back spacing might be to much, and yes you can lift just the front to help, over a 1" I would also lift space the engine crossmember down as the EA81s axle don't like to much of a angle, i can make the lift parts you need

Edited May 5, 2017 by Scott in Bellingham

[Bratastick]

it's the outside corner of the tire hitting the rear of the wheel opening on the right side when turning right, and the outside front corner hitting the front part of the fender on the left side. Does the same when turning left just opposite tires. Does a little more when turning right than left. 

 

I think a spacer would make it worse.When I measured the backspacing they were about 1/2" shy of what I wanted, but only a 5.5" rim width. These are aluminum. 

[BEECHBM69]

Ah..... I'm not familiar with the aluminums. I had the steel wagon wheel looking variety from the early eighties.

 

That might be the difference.

 

Dan 

 

 

[bratman2]

A 2" lift would most likely solve your issue. In the back of the fender is it hitting the mudflap? If so trim it. In the front if it is just barely scrapping try rolling the edge of the fender in. When I did those two things 195/75-14 all terrains worked okay on my 87 Brat. I was using Pug steel rims. First 5-8k miles if the steering was locked and I hit a pothole, like in a store parking lot, they would scrape on the front. After 5-8k never heard them scrape again.

[Bratastick]

I could probably make the front work with a little tweaking. I don't have e mud flaps unfortunately so it's rubbing on the fender itself and the plastic liner