Wheel backspacing

[Markstrimaran]

I have the opportunity to set my wheel backspacing,

The rims are 16x8.

Stock is 3.65" on a 15x7 rim

How close can I get to 3" of back space before I start wearing out wheel bearings?

Any ideas about custom bead lockers, highly encouraged.
Thanks

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[Stuka]

Wheel bearings are a concern, but the bigger concern is turning. As you have less back spacing you end up with a larger scrub radius. This means your tires have to roll some to turn. It can also make you feel bumps in the steering wheel, as the tires then have more leverage.

Personally I would not go below 3.5”. A wider wheel will pull your tires out away from the springs and frame, if that’s your concern.

[tgreese]

JMO - I don't know to what degree changing your backspacing reduces wheel bearing life. I observe that use of wheel spacers on newer Jeeps seems to be very common, and is typically done to improve clearance with the body and fenders. I have not read any accounts of very much shorter bearing life connected to reduced backspacing. Currently I run 7x15 Cragar Soft Eights on my CJ-6 with 2.5" back spacing. This is changed from the original wheels which were 6x15 with 3.75" backspacing. No ill effects noted, though it's a hobby car and sees little use.

I'd say, generally, every "performance" change from original is going to reduce reliability and/or durability, to some degree. I would expect reducing backspacing is going to have some negative effect (as will oversized tires) but looking at the common experience, that effect would seem to be negligible.

You hear about rear axle bearing failure on these Jeeps pretty often - I suspect the largest contributor to this failure is overloading. You can very easily overload a Wagoneer using it like a truck, with bags of cement for example.

[Stuka]

JMO - I don't know to what degree changing your backspacing reduces wheel bearing life. I observe that use of wheel spacers on newer Jeeps seems to be very common, and is typically done to improve clearance with the body and fenders. I have not read any accounts of very much shorter bearing life connected to reduced backspacing.

Stock JK wheels have 6.25" BS, with 1.5" spacers they end up with 4.75" BS. Which is why nobody reports bearing issues. However, I have seen spacers fail, and I will do my best to never run them myself.