Largest possible wheel/tire combination on a stock THING?

[SlurryDog]

Hey guys -

Lots of great info & leads on this site!

I recently dug my grandads '73 Thing out of the dirt at the farm, where it's been sitting uncovered since 1992. Many great memories and crazy stories from this car, so I thought it would be a great time to bring it back to life. I am prepping it for street-legal backroad fun, and a run at the Baja 1000. I will probably have a million questions over the next few months, but I thought I'd start with this:

What is the largest/tallest/widest combination of wheels & tires that I can fit on the Thing with the stock suspension? I will modify the fenders if I have to, but I want to keep the stock suspension.

Thanks for your help!

[Alan Willis]

measure fom the center of the wheel to the edge of the fender. Subtract 3",then double your measurement. This will give you the height of your tire.
Once you know this,there are tons of different tire configuations you can go with
If plan to run in the Baja 1000,you'll need at least a suspension lift and bigger tires,as well as some extra braces for your ride.
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die schwarzen Schafe #666

[SlurryDog]

OK, great info! Thanks Alan.

I am waiting on the official SCORE rule book to arrive, but some folks have told me that allowable mods are minimal in the stock class, so the plan was to go with stock suspension. A buddy and I rode a lot of the Baja tracks on KLRs a few weeks ago, and when we were done, we said, "Hell, we can do this with FOUR wheels...let's try to get Grandads old Thing!"

...and my wife is now a Thing widow.

[SlurryDog]

But I do notive that I am still missing one dimension... width! Is there a readily available offset rim that will allow me to run wider tires? Any Thing fanatics out there that have dealt with this?

[Alan Willis]

Since no one else is chiming in...
CBPerformance has the rims you need;15x7 aluminum off road wheels.
With these you can run up to a 29" tall tire. Since you plan on using your thing in the SCORE offroad race,you will want an aggressive offroad tire that will still perform somewhat on asphault
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die schwarzen Schafe #666

[sharkskinman]

without mods
wide 5 to 5x114.3 adapters
buggy lug washers( ball seat for wheels and cubicle female seat for lugs)
the washers also allow to take up the extra 2.3 mm of difference

I have 205/60/17 Yokahama Geolander A/Ts

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74 Mexi Swamp Thing. 70 square volksrod (Swamp Rat)..65 C10