personally, i just dont understand the 12 inch lift... seems... excessive...

one thin you have to remember about clearin tires: once you get to the point that they rub, you only need to increase your clearance by half of how much you go up in tire size. so if 35s fit without rubbin, but you want to go up to 42s, thats a seven inch difference so (after roundin) you would want a four inch lift to keep them clear. unless you want enough clearance park a 747 in...? but hey, if thats your prerogative go for it. different strokes for different folks. my $.02

 

That truck would need about a 6" lift to clear 37's and thats not leaving much room for fender kissing as the suspension cycles. 47's are 10 inches taller... so even by your theory (which I will disagree with in a second) he would need bout 11" of lift

And why I disgree with what your are saying is that if you take a tape measure and measure the fender openings front and rear, you will find that they are not 47" wide. Obviously. With me so far?

I just measured mine and mine are about 36" front to rear.

So a 35 could be jammed clear up in the wheelwell and would have front to rear clearance. A 37" couldn't. So even though its only 2" larger it would take more than one inch of lift to get the same amount of clearance. Does that make sense?

Its hard for me to describe this and since a 40" tire or a 47" tire is only that wide at the very middle and the very middle isn't normally gonna be jammed up in the fender, its difficult to estimate exactly how wide the wide that will be contacting the fender would be, and you would need to know how much articulation and travel you have and you want.

For what I'm building my truck for, I want clearance for mud tires for all the mud around here. Thats the primary use. But I'm going for a tall suspension lift and I dont want it all to be in the shackles and blocks. I want to retain some travel so I can keep my tires down on all the rocky trails and steep ascents around here too, so I can still play on the trails even when the mud is dried up this summer.

I'm not saying you are necessarily wrong, it could be the case that with a 4" lift you could physically jam 47's under there, and if your suspension was basically solid (and some mud trucks I've seen have like 3" of travel) you might emerge ok. Or if he is willing to commit to massive clearancing to clear those tire, they might fit with a shorter lift. But when you are talking about tires so big they are bigger than the fender openings, you can't just use the formula "half of the increase in diameter" and have assurances it will fit, or work.

Also, if you are gonna sawzall your body up, and its in decent shape, take the good panels off and put some oneson there that are rusted in the fenders anyway... no point molesting good sheetmetal IMO.

 

ok. one thing that ill make mention of. for the most part im not gonna be bouncin off rocks where i need a ton of flex. probably in my life, i wont run a tire larger than a 37. i think lifts should be minimal, to the tune of four inches max. for anything i would do, a highboy sits high enough to clear the tires i would want to run with no modifications. now dont get me wrong, im not a pavement pounder. if i cant hit a two track to get my elk out of the back woods, or chase a coyote across a pasture, there is a problem that WILL be resolved. and yes you would be limited to A maximum tire size before you simply have to trim fenders to clear em. but remember, your fenders arent a half circle. more like the top half of a hexagon, so to a point, when you lift the truck, its like settin a similarly bent paperclip on progressively larger roles of tape. if that makes any sense without actually showin ya? but like i said, to each his own, if runnin a 12 inch lift on rockwells with 28 inch tires is your thing, or 52s on stock ride height with a 28 spline 9 inch and a stock dana 44 is, more power to ya. lol.

 

Small lifts do not prvide enough articlation or uptravel to be anything more than modest. The frame gets in the way, and prevents the axle from moving up.
There is a happy medium, and limiting lift may not be the way to go. WHile the theory is sound, there are physical limitations that can limit the use of small lifts.
COG (center of gravity) is probably the first thing that one considers, but there are other factors such as breakover angle, as well as approach and departure angles.
Far to often the wheelbase is not even considered.
I mean a Samuri with 44's might have a problem when a fullsize rig with the same tire wont even think of rolling over, though many killer Sammys tend to keep the rubber side down.
ANyway, with lift comes potntial articulation, and this brings killer potential to the table.

Works for me, even on a 1 ton:

 

well i just read all of that, and i wouldn't say i didn't learn any thing, but does anyone have experience with 47"ltb's? i have some mini truck friends that swear by them,.... in 33's and 34's

 

No experience with the LTB's, just the regular swampers, the thornbird's, and the boggers.

The swampers are fantastic all around tire. I'd like to try out the newer radial ones, but probably never will just because of the price.

The thornbirds are basically all terrain tires and do not clean real well for mud use.

And the boggers are arguably the best DOT mud tires available.

I'd imagine those LTB's would be pretty good.

 

i've had alot of different tire's and my only advice is super swamper sx's are really great as long as you're not driving on pavement. my 40'' boggers had better road manners.too bad i drove on em too much, only got 7,000 miles out of em on the street. wish i would've got a set of stockers and spared the boggers. well you live and you learn