So....went to do some serious wheeling with the Jimmy for the first time (James is his name). My build threads are in the build forum. For the purpose of this discussion I'll add these details:
1.5" tb crank
2" shackles
fr swaybar disco - rear is removed
31x10.50s on stock rims
MY GMC has the plastic rocker skirts, door bulges, etc. It's FAT.
trimmed from fascia
trimmed behind front tire and beat back lower innner fenderwell

I need more clearance.

We rubbed hard on the driver's-side inner fender.

It rolled the passenger-side fender lip (that's good actually)
The driver's-side fender lip got pulled down
we dragged tail a LOT
It rubbed up front some, but didn't tear anything up
w/ stock wheels I get frame rub at full loc on both sides









Mind you...we were running around with mostly-stock Rubis so it wasn't all stock-friendly.

The rear sags when the truck is full of gear so I am doing a short add-a-leaf to improve rate. That will help a bit.

So I am back to wanting a 2" BL. Perhaps could happen this fall or winter.

Will the 2" BL fix the majority of my rub problems...?

What offset rims (or spacers) do I run to avoid frame or other rub, but not look like a pregnant roller-skate...?

I would like to eventually move up to a 265/75 (~31.5"). Will the 2" BL added to my tbar/shackle lift get me there...?

When we do the BL we'll remove the rear bumper and fab a new one and fender corners to give us a better departure angle. Sliders will be fabbed at that time too. Oh my....what have I started...

 

Yes the 2" body lift will fix the majority of your problems. As for rims get 15x7 or 15x8 with 4-5" backspacing. Stay away from spacers. My fenders pulled down just like yours did until the body lift, but nothing a 3# sledge couldn't fix

 

Another old school way to roll your lip up and out of the way is to get a cheap wooden baseball bat and have some one pyy against the metal as you roll back and fourth with the bat pressed agains the side wall of the tire . Use the bat as a kind of pry bar against the metal and the wood should not do to much damage to the metal and paint. This is the way we used to fit wider tires under old Chevelles and Novas and stuff. Good luck but be carefull when doing it and make sure to have good communication with your helper.

 

I've used the ball bat for clearing slicks. I had a '65 Camino with decent size meats in it with the lip rolled.

Why no spacers...? I see folks on here with them...

 

I personally don't care for the spacers because of the weird vibes I got runnin highway speeds with them (and I just plain don't trust them), you however might not ever have that problem.
Great Idea. I would have never thought of that lol. When metal is bent I usually just reach for the hammer

 

Yup, thats how we would squeaze those old N50's in the rear wheel well on 10" wide rims.

 

I had no luck with trying to use a bat to roll the fenders. I used a sledge with a few relief cuts to make it work in the inner lip to have it stop chewing up the sidewall if i flexed a lot. Now heaven forbid it does hit it just hits the rolled area of the fender for that split second and does no damage at all

 

You're dating yourself. Most of these kids wouldn't know what a N50 or L60 are. Mmmm...the days of fender flares (on the rear of cars), air shocks, chrome diff covers, and Cragars. Schweet.