Why, There is about 14" of usable Real Estate on our trucks originally from the inner side of the bedside to the inside of wheelwell. How low/where the tire bulge (cross section width) falls effect how wide you can go. On a taller tire like Live85 has (which looks great by the way!
) the cross section gets you in trouble faster than say a 28"-29" since you would have to be lowered another 2" or so (total of 7"-8") to get the bulge in line with the bolts that hold the wheelwell to the floor & the most protruding lumps on the inside of the bedside.
With all of the different backspacing & custom wheel services out there, the axle cutting shouldn't be needed, however at some point a 12"-14" wide wheel with 4" dish in the frontside & 8"-10" backspace seems odd.
What I did on mine was widen the tubs back to the leafspring (about 1 3/4") so the usable space is about 16" & centered the tire in the hole. I now have way more room than needed for the tires I'm currently running...about 1 1/2" on each side of the tire.
The same 12.5"-13" section width tire fit without doing the wheelwell mod, however it was only a finger thickness on the outside edge & about the same to the bolts on the wheelwell...I liked it better with the tires toward the outside more than I have it now, but had seen signs of the sidewalls rubbing on unusual turns & launching...I plan to move them back out 3/4" or so.
Here's some pictures...maybe they will help. Lorne
How it was originally...Note the space between the tire & the traction bar bracket (about 2") but the wheelwell had very little when compressed
How it is now...Centered
Here's the outboard clearance now
And the inboard
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