P500 And so it begins (tires and wheels)

[Splorin]

9's and 11's on stock wheels are fine especially with 26's and 27's. Some people prefer bead protection because of trail conditions. Dial in air pressure to your liking. One of the best Jeep combos we run are 34x9.50 Swampers on 4.5" rims. Crawl and claw.

 

[JCart]

Again this is just my opinion, I am not a fan of using 2.00" spacers , so if you go with a tire 28" or larger, you really should go with 2.00" spacers to maintain the same stability you had in stock form.

I think if you go with a 26"-27" tire and you have a winch, you should be good to go on hunting trips. As you said , you can always go with spacers in the future, if you feel they are necessary (I would get the spacers). They can always be removed for those times when you think you need to be 50" width.

My take on the tire dilemma, kinda depends on what you are using the machine for. Mine is typically just me, chainsaw, shovel and recovery stuff so pretty light weight wise. For me 27x11x12s on 5-2 rims work great and I’m very pleased with the Bear Claw HTRs, they do just snick my front mud flaps at near full lock on a compression. 26” wouldn’t. If you pack heavy more often then not, ride in hilly terrain plan on doing the 906UP gear change mod I’d stay with 26” tires. I’ve also changed the exhaust and intake on mine so I get a little (SoP) broader power-band, so that helps with running 27” tires and the plan is a tuner.

Think Chooglin’s comment on adding spacers after if wanted is a really good point. I’ve not ran spacers, mine is about 56” wide and just fits backing into my pick up box.
Cheers
j