My truck is currently on 235-75-15 "roller" tires I robbed off of an 86 F150 from the back 40. Today (yes Easter) I picked up a great set of used 235's to run on it. I'm staying with the 86 F150 rims as I have had no clearance problems on my test drives.

 

For John, here is a picture showing the clearance to the bed sides.

 

Looks like you are sitting a little higher than me too Rich, I also have an Explorer rear differential too which might be narrower than yours, thanks for the picture.

 

No problem. Glad to help.

 

My tires right now are about 1/2" from my box side but don't have the proper rims yet.. thanks again..

 

John, for a daily driver and no load a 1/2" is probably okay. Put any load in the bed or do any spirited driving and you may rub in corners but that should not be problem unless the curve is a long sweeper. My old set up ran about that same clearance and the only time I ever had any issues was when loaded or trailering heavy.

 

I'm just trying to figure out how wide of a tire I can safely go with out back, don't plan on trailering anything and can't imagine I'd ever have an real heavy loads on it. I'm not in favor of tubing the bed or widening the fenders at this point. Thanks

 

I run 30x9.5x15, which is reasonably close to a 245/75Rx15 (if memory serves) and they're fine. They are on '80s era rims, so they're probably 7 or 8" wide. I have no issues up front, but my truck is not lowered - other than 62 years of sagging. I do intend to do a lowering spring front set at some point in the future and am not worried about my tire/wheel combo in the least. I'd love to put some plain steel wheels on it at that point, and will likely keep the same dimension as these '80s wheels.

When I first got the rims, they had 255 or 265/75Rx15 on the rear and I had them on the truck as a roller. I really liked the look of those, but no way they'd fit on the front, and while I'm not opposed to staggered wheels (two of my cars have different sizes front/rear), the truck is more utilitarian than either of the cars and I wanted 5 tires the same size.

Anything narrower than the 235/75Rx15 looks odd to me - but that's my subjective opinion, only - nothing more. I don't like skinny tires, as was stock...maybe it's my muscle car roots. If folks prefer the stock look, by all means, carry on - I appreciate the nods to originality. I think the 30x9.5x15 (or 235/75R15) is a nice compromise between functionality and width. The next step up (31x10x15) looks oversized and overstuffed - had a set on an '80s F150 and put them on a '49 ****** - looked a bit big on the ****** and about right on the F150, which was a 4x4, but a larger truck overall that was raised up by the 4x4 suspension. That's a long-winded way of explaining proportionality...there are times when bigger tires look good. The way we generally keep our trucks stock or lowered isn't one of them. Opinion only. Worth exactly what you paid for it!!