Well, gentlemen, after many weeks of consternation over this issue, it all becomes academic tomorrow. We wound up getting Torq Thrust II's -- 15"x6" with 2mm offset (website says 3-3/8" backspace) and 15"x8" with 18mm offset (website says 3-3/4" backspace). Tomorrow, the tires will be in that I ordered at Discount Tire. We settled on BF Goodrich T/A Radials -- 205/60-R15 up front (24.69" dia.) and 235/60-R15 in back (26.10" dia.) for a total difference in height of 1.41" (not too bad for rake).
With the 8" rims in back, we still had almost 2.5" clearance off the springs. The 235 fills out the wheel well nicely, and the sidewall lines up just inside the wheel lip. We went with the 205 up front, because we tried 215/65-R15 (26.00" dia.) and had barely 3/8" clearance from wheel lip, with steering turned to left. It also hits the stiffening brace spanning from fender to frame rail. The difference in diameters will yield approximately 5/8" more clearance (26.00"-24.69" / 2 = 0.66").
I'll post some pics as soon as I get the tires mounted. Friday, Aaron goes to San Antonio to compete with his FFA project at the fair and livestock show. I'll have a nice surprise waiting for him when he gets home Saturday.
Thanks for everyone's input. I was fairly sure what we wanted, but in the long run, it simply boiled down to test fitting to see if the combination would work.
Jerry
