Chevy & GMC Vans

i am going to be building another awd van here soon. it will be lifted 4 inches has anyone tried to fit a 32in tire on there van with the overland 4" kit? if so what wheels did you use and what was the backspacing on em?

I did 32 x 11.5 R15 Cooper STT's on the SPB. With all the added weight of the wheeling supplies and winch/bumper up front, I ended up adding air shocks at all 4 corners. There was also a LOT of front wheel well pounding to allow the suspension to flex without the tires rubbing. The wheels were American Racing 15" x 7" with a 0 offset.

With the shocks all aired to 125 psi, there was enough room for flex. But the ride was terrible on the road...very floaty...like riding on air! If you found some wheels that brought the tire in 1/2" to 1" from center, you could probably fit them easier. You will also NEED to regear to 4.10's minimum. I hade 4.10's and it lost a lot of power going to the much heavier and wider tires. I would also recommend moving the rear axle back to center it in the wheel well. 1/2" to 3/4" rearward movement would be about right.





In the front, you can see where I removed the trim piece and had to pound the rear of the wheel well behind that piece back a couple inches.

I found all my original fitment attempt pics. The front was the biggest pia! There was clearance issues in both the front and rear of the wheel wells.

I had to grind away the sharp edges in the front:



I also had to pound all the metal under the trim piece at the rear of the wheel well:

Before:



After:



Complete album is here.

32" seems pretty big for the 4" kit.

Dean, I've never seen the spare tire carrier before? Links?

32's are big for a 4" lift. That's why the air shocks were required. I was either that or the torsion keys to lift it higher. Wanna talk about wearing out idlers! I had to replace them after every weekend wheeling trip! I usually went and replaced them after a couple months and they were Moogs!

Tire carrier link.

Yup aside from the way it looks very cool, if you really want a good functional 4x4 with BIG tire, get a truck or suburban. Its design is much better suited to being a big tire 4x4.
Lifted Astros work good up to a point, but at some point (around 31") you gotta ask your self how good the end result will be for what you need. Personally, I dont like to by Moog Idlers very often... and if I really NEED to get further back in the woods, Over bigger and bigger obstacles that I would need that big of tires, and still be able to drive well on the highway... I would consider a better base to build on. Some people run HUGE tires on their vans, but I wouldnt expect that they handle on the road very well. One guy on the site here has about 33 inch super swampers on his 2wd van. It looks, well, lets just not go there,,, but I bet it drives like a blind dog. So, Good luck with your van, and Plan well.

What my plan is after the 4.10 gears are installed and I get a 3-4" lift on is to go with around a 30" tall tire but go wide like a 265 - 305 width tire with a shorter sidewall.

i would love to just say F it and do a sas w/ 33x12.50`s and a 4bt cummins conversion. now that would make for a bad ass astro!

LiftedAWDAstro wrote:32's are big for a 4" lift. That's why the air shocks were required.

What style/model shocks did you install? Thinking about installing two air shocks in the back of my 4" lifted Safari for transporting a motorcycle on a hitch tray. If you have any opinions, let me know! Solid trail rig, btw.

doyoulikeithere wrote:... Some people run HUGE tires on their vans, but I wouldnt expect that they handle on the road very well. One guy on the site here has about 33 inch super swampers on his 2wd van. It looks, well, lets just not go there,,, but I bet it drives like a blind dog. So, Good luck with your van, and Plan well.

Lets not go there. You are inexperienced and wouldn't be able to make an informed comment on a damned thing. My van is the biggest passenger vehicle on the road in Los Angeles and it drives better, safer and more solid than any other truck I have ever been in.

Lift the shit outta your van and enjoy the daily draw dropping looks you get wherever you go. If you have fabrication skills you can do whatever the hell you want:

97CargoCrawler wrote:Lets not go there. You are inexperienced and wouldn't be able to make an informed comment on a damned thing.

Some people like just to call others names etc, when feeling insecure or defensive, or compensating for inadequacy.

As I recall,,,
97CC complained bitterly that all of his expensive new front tires were wearing out really fast!
"Cone-ing" I think he called it. You could find it in his posts (if you care about his opinion).
Anyways, I bet that drove nice and straight and true and safe.
And then he called the alignment shop guys "morons", for doing the best they could with the pile they were handed.

On the subject of "You are inexperienced and wouldn't be able to make an informed comment on a damned thing":
97CC's van is a 2wd. So really, it is nothing like and completely irrelevant too, the AWD van originally being asking about.
Duh, Take what you read with a grain of salt and use your own best judgement.

Since I bought all of my own alignment tools and did it myself, no issues. The previous alignment was done by 4WheelParts. And yes, they were morons.

To the original poster my message is to ignore those on this forum who say it can't be done, or not done well enough. If you have the desire and motivation you can build exactly what you want and make it safe and drivable. A lot of the of the "advice" on this particular forum is actually criticism.

I'm looking forward to seeing another awesome van and not another pile of crap in someones driveway.

Stirring up drama from almost a year ago is bad form