Steering knuckle almost rubbing tire

I’ve noticed I have less than a quarter inch clearance between the little nipple in my steering knuckle and my tire. Is this normal? Seems like in a hard turn or big bump the tire would hit and possibly cause a blowout. This is a 265/75/16 on the stock 16x7 SR rim with stock suspension. Anyone else able to take a pic and show me their clearance?

 

Is your camber way off? That doesn't look normal.

 

I don’t think so. Tires are wearing evenly. I had Toyota align it for free around the 12k mark since it had a slight pull. I have 22k now though.

 

There should be no movement between the tire and knuckle. Camber adjustment won’t affect that gap. Only thing that will change that is wheel spacer, skinnier tire, or different wheel dimensions.

 

And the only way it will hit is if you have play in your wheel bearing...

 

looks good to me.

 

My KO2s look like that but nothing moves or rubs

 

I would guess that if you air down below 20psi, it my rub. Or maybe not.

 

I’ve aired down to 18 psi before I had noticed this low clearance but there is no rub line on the tires so I don’t think that matters. The top of the tire stays fully aired and the bottom gets fatter. It just seems so close that there’s no room for error. I hear wheel spacers aren’t good, but might be safer than this.

 

I wouldn’t consider it unsafe... there is no movement between those two parts. Virtually no risk of the tire hitting the knuckle.

 

That is my largest gripe about 3rd gens; I didn’t realize this and can’t believe we can’t put snow chains on the front wheels because of the lousy clearance behind the tires. There are times where I used to chain up all four wheels, like for plowing, but not with this truck. Its ok though, I’ll live with it since I like my Taco otherwise. If I really need it, I’ll get a old Ram or something like that to do the real truck work.

 

“Almost” isn’t rubbing. If you haven’t had any rubs in 22k without changing anything, I think you’re good

 

If it really makes you uncomfortable you could just get a set of wheels with slightly less backspace. That would get you a little more clearance there without spacers.

 

Under normal circumstances, the wheel will not move in relation to the spindle. The only thing that would change that is wheel bearing failure.

 

Can’t really put chains on front of any modem truck. Had a Silverado and a wrangler. Neither could take regular chains on the front. Need an older truck anymore like you said to chain up all four

 

Mine has about 1/2" clearance. Is your clearance the same on both LH and RH side? Could be a bent knuckle (aka spindle).

If both sides look even, you can grind down the nipple.

 

Both sides are the same. I thought about grinding it down. It seems like it's there for a reason though. Maybe so that if you did have a wheel bearing go out, it hits there before it gets into the UCA or something else?

 

Are stock SR wheels backspaced differently than other stock wheels off a sport/off road/limited because they use narrower 245 tires? If so, there's the problem, that wheel was never meant to hold a 265 tire and the increased width pushed the tire sidewall 1/2" closer to the knuckle.

 

The wheel is 7 inches wide. I measured 2.5 inches from the outside edge of the wheel to where the lugnut sits. So the backspacing is somewhere around 4 or 4.25 inches depending on how thick the wheel is. I think that's similar to the other stock wheels, if not less backspacing which would help in the clearance. Right?

 

Hmm that's strange, but maybe that's normal judging by other members responses.

Correct, less backspace will give you more clearance.