Will a 42 GPW pass inspection with wide tires on it?

[nelson84]

My tires extend out past the fenders a little ways, will it pass inspection?

[Eric B]

Hello Nelson

I guess you got the jeep back from the USA, great stuff.

The answer is maybe, some mechanics may pass the Inspection. I do not think it specifies how far the fender requires to be for the safety.

However, if you are in Ontario it is against the law to have your wheel not completely covered by a fender. So in this case having your tire extending beyond the fender could see you receive a ticket.

You can get fender extensions if needed or put on the proper size tires.

I have heard that wider tires than those originally used on vehicles can possibly shorten the life of wheel bearings. Sush as what happened with some of the CDN M151A2's, which used the wider lug tread type of tire.

I am sure others, more mechanically inclined can provide more information on this.

thanks
Eric

[Grant Bowker]

The worst situation for wheel bearings caused by wider tires is that the wider tires are often offset outward to avoid interference with suspension or body pieces. This adds a bending moment for the bearings to absorb as well as the vertical load they were designed to carry. The effect adds load to the outer bearing and initially reduces the load carried by the inner bearing. Extreme offsets can end up with more load on the inner bearing than it was designed for (and in the opposite direction) and a load on the outer bearing several times larger than it was designed for. The bending moment also increases the loads in the steering spindle and the steering pivots and to a lesser degree in the axle.
If the wider wheels can be kept to the same offset as the original wheels the increased loads are minimized although the extra width can still add some extra loads.