My Rock Warrior wheel journey (1 Viewer)

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92LXAZ

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Jun 8, 2012
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Chandler, AZ
It really happened. Finally. I know there are a lot of threads on RW wheels but why not another. I think I did something original by getting a not so common size so may be worth it for some.

So here’s the story and components I went with…

I bought the wheels off of CL locally back in July of last year. Got a great deal for 4 at 500 bucks. Wanted a fifth so got another off a member here for 200 shipped. I’m proud for being so patient. Probably could have waited a little longer but an upcoming road trip covering almost 4k miles and HIH later this summer gave me good cause for ponying up.

Although I’m not a huge fan of the dip I did the rings so it would be temporary in just in case. May powder coat down the road. 6 coats should hold up well and make it easy to remove.

Of course I did the AHC lift, dealer cranked my TB, and I recently added 30mm MAF spacers to the rear to balance out the pressures. Still working on getting the Techstream operable so I can see if specs are correct.

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I originally wanted 1” spacers but they weren’t immediately available at this time. I went with Just Differentials because of the quality I’ve heard about. It is definitely there. They helped convince me the 1.25” would be fine. Because I went with a wider tire I felt a 1” would put me very close to flush with the fender or just past. The 1.25” look really good IMO, I like the wide stance and the poke past the fender. There will be a little pounding necessary though.

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Speaking of tires. I was set on 305/65 from the beginning. I don’t necessarily like how flat looking the RW’s are so I wanted more bulk to the tire. That didn’t leave a lot of choices but luckily BFG had them in the KO2. It came down to these and the Cooper ST Maxx. I know the Cooper would have been great so it came down to the look of the KO2. My wife’s cousin works for Discount so feel I got a good deal for the five. I also had them put in new pressure sensors.

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I couldn’t find anything on the www about the torque specs of the spacers so I went ahead and called JD. Carl himself picked up and it was a true pleasure speaking with him. He went over the proper install techniques and gave me the torque specs, 110. Super helpful. Will get to meet him at HIH hopefully.

Got going on the install after work today. Went pretty smooth. Sanded and cleaned the axle and wheels really good to make for a nice mounting surface. Added some Loctite to the studs and hand tightened the bolts in a star pattern, wiggling the spacer as I tightened each time. Tightened a little further with my ratchet before taking the torque wrench to them (picked up a Tekken ½” drive off of Amazon). I had purchased the TRD lug set long ago locally from Camelback Toyota as well and used the same technique for the wheels. After getting that first one on and seeing what it looked like it was on, could not wait to finish so threw down the hammer.

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The last custom touch were the center caps. I ordered brand new also from Camelback Toyota. I’m sure someone has done this but I hadn’t seen it so I painted the TRD with my sons black model paint. Took a steady hand and a magnifying glass to try to get them as perfect as possible, although not you can’t tell until way up close. I did pretty darn good though I feel.

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The first drive went very well. There’s nothing like new tires. I was really surprised and how quiet these are for an AT. Discount tire said the combo balanced very well and I must have done good with getting the lug centric spacers right as there is no vibration or wobble at all (again probably the quality product but I’ll take a little credit). Wifey is super psyched as well, she’s so cool.

Thanks for MUD and all others who’ve posted about these wheels.
 
Now for the fun ones...

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In high...

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Gonna have to hammer a little.



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Happy wife...

 
Wow looked good - really like what you did there!

I had a chance to buy the RW wheels a few months ago for a pretty good price, and I should have jumped at it - seller was 3 hrs away, so 6 hrs round trip. I've been kicking myself every time I see a thread about RW. Now all I see at CL is priced like these are made out of gold.
 
Last item related to this project...got the spare mounted. Nice that the mounted cable doesn't need to be modded. Took some thick cardboard and tie wrapped it to the spare to try to protect it. I will be rotating all five so they shouldn't get too messed up but thought I'd try to keep them looking as good as possible.

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May be just me, but doesn't the inner side of the wheel sit flush with the spare tire bracket? Or is this just - you know - preventative maintenance we all love to do?
 
Looks good, man! Thanks for the write-up.
 
Thanks @Rigger

May be just me, but doesn't the inner side of the wheel sit flush with the spare tire bracket? Or is this just - you know - preventative maintenance we all love to do?

If you mean the cardboard then yeah just a precaution. The old spare had dust and tiny gravel bits all over it, pretty messy. Probably unnecessary but it didn't take much.
 
Looks really good!!!
 
Gonna have to hammer a little.

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Nice job with the RW wheels and BFG KO2's. I have rubbing in this exact location on my 2002 LC with 285/70/17 BFG KO2's and 1.25" spacers. Would a 1" spacer make any difference in the rubbing at full turn? It's only 0.25" less, but is it enough to make any difference? I'm asking because I want to purchase another set of spacers to level out the rear, but not sure whether to get another set of 1.25" or get 1" spacers to replace the front and move the 1.25" to the back.
 
I don't think it would make a difference. I just cut that part it was hitting. It's very thin plastic. I think some guys have heated it and massaged it flat, not sure exactly.
 
I don't think it would make a difference. I just cut that part it was hitting. It's very thin plastic. I think some guys have heated it and massaged it flat, not sure exactly.
Yeah, I might just pick up another pair of 1.25" spacers to match the front and call it a day. The rubbing isn't that bad and it only happens at full steering lock, i.e. low-speed situations like U-turn, parallel parking, etc. If it bugs me enough, I'll just cut it out.

I've had many different wheel/tire combinations on my truck, ranging from 16" up to 22", but I like the 17" Rock Warrior wheels the best, especially with a fresh set of BFG KO2's (white letters out though)!
 
Would these wheels work without spacer? It the upper control arm less than an inch away from the tire sidewall?
 
Would these wheels work without spacer? It the upper control arm less than an inch away from the tire sidewall?

Only the rear would work without spacers. For the front it isn't a matter of hitting anything. The bore of the wheels taper narrower slightly towards the outside and will not go all the way on the hub. You could use about a 10mm slip on spacer but then the center cap wouldn't fit. Also the slip ons leave less thread for the lug. Some think this is a risk others don't as much, depends on how hard you plan on wheeling it I guess. 1" spacer would work. This was my first choice but they were not in stock.
 
@92LXAZ I think you mentioned in another thread that you were having a front end vibration, and were going to try another set of spacers to rule that out as the culprit. Did you ever find out if the JDs were your issue?
 
@montegofd3s Yes I was having tire issues. It wasn't vibration, it was typical steering wheel and brake peddle wobble from unbalanced tires. I think the spacers are fine. Discount is being sort of cool but they did mentioned the lug centric spacer. The last 3 times I've had them in they've been out of balance. I had them do a road force balance and that seems to have fixed them, for now. So since it still could become a battle I got the Spidertrax spacers from Slee, only so they can't use the lug centric excuse anymore. I believe JD's are fine. Will probably list them soon.
 
Funny, I've been having to take my KO2s in several times to get balanced. Ive been meaning to get them road force balanced, but the shop I use hasn't fixed their machine yet. I've pretty much got rid of all vibes excuse the occasional shimmy.
 
Looks good!!
 

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