My father in law is passing down his retired '89 Chevy Cheyenne to me. Woohoo! I've been pining away for this for a few years now....as it was being used as an aluminum can storage shed. Tis a 1500 4x4 with the 4.3.  Needs a rebuild, new rear bumper and a seat cover. I have noticed that this Cheyenne sits much higher than the more common Silverado packaged K1500 trucks. He is the original owner, and there was a lift involved. Do the Cheyennes really have a higher suspension setup? If so, without adding a lift, what kinds of wheels and tires will it accept? Right now it has some rusty 16" formerly steel wheels decaying on it. There appears to be more than a foot of vertical wheel clearance from the top of the tire to the fender opening. I would guess about 18". Let me know, I'm picking it up this weekend, and need new wheels and tires b4 then. Thanks guys!

CORRECTION: There was NO lift involved. Its sits higher in stock form. I want to know what wheels and tires this will accept in this higher stock form. Geez, I can't type.  

I would look for a small block chevy(305,350.402) to put in your truck  most trucks that came out from 1973 to1987 had a small block. find a 2wd and pull the moter and sell the body to the junkyard. Go to summit racing.com and order a catalog they sell wheels for a good price I think they do any why.

if they are factory tires 225/75R16 or 235/75R16 [about 27/28's] that's why there would be a lot of clearance left. right now on my K1500 '93 silverado i'm running 265/75R16 [about 30/31's], ive got ruffly 7"or 8" until the opening of the wheel well, and ive been told i can run a maximum tire size of 285/75R16 [about 32/33's] with out having to do a lift. now rancho, and i think it was skyjacker sell a 1-1/2" lift that consists of new torsion bars, upper control arms, and rear add-a leaves. it just 'pushes' the lower control arm down a little farther to fit the 285's. i've seen them for about $300- $400. for the wheels, it's all up to you on what you want, same goes for the tires. hope this helps.  

Every chev IFS truck came from the factory with a slightly different ride height, I think it just depends on the day of the week the truck was built. The Z71's sit higher than the rest from the factory. The ride height at the front of the vehicle is controlled by the torsion bar preload, which is easily adjusted by a bolt, but shouldnt be fooled with.

The measure of wheel space from the top of the tire to the top of the fender well is entirely useless in determining the size of tire you will be able to fit. A larger tire will contact the front and back corners of the fender before anywhere else.

Griasev is right, 285/75/16's fit with no lift. 32x11.50x15 will fit and 33x12.50x15 will not.

As for a 1 and 1/2" lift for $400?.......don't do it. if that is all the lift you want, spend $80 and body lift it 2 or 3". If you are gonna do a suspension lift save for a 4 to 6" kit......you wont even see a difference with a 1 and 1/2" kit, trust me.

An 87-95 TBI 350 is about the easiest swap anyone could hope for....all you really need is the intake manifold down....and exhaust manifolds....and a v8 fan shroud.....other that that its a bolt out bolt in job.

Good luck.

The Cheyenne doesn't sit any higher than a similar year Silverado.  Before Chevy changed the name of the truck to Silverado, from '88-about '95/'96 Cheyenne was simply a cheaper trim package  (cloth seats and vinyl floor mats) v/s  Silverado trim was the zoot trim (leather, carpet, etc)  the Cheyenne usually came with smaller tires than the Silverado trim, so it might appear that it sits higher.  My neighbor had an 89 Cheyenne with the 4.3 V6 and it had smaller tires  (225 or 235/75R16 I think) than my 1995 Z71 Silverado (Stock 265/75 R16).  You should be able to fit 285/75R16 on stock rims with no trouble, before you buy new tires, figure out what gears you have, your gears may not be low enough for bigger tires.  You'll want at least 3.73's or 4.10's if you want bigger tires.

Oh, and a 88-95 5.7L (350) will bolt up to your tranny. If you swap in a V8, you'll need the V8 PROM/ECU (computer) and maybe a bigger radiator.

my 92 Scottsdale came with 225/75/16 from the factory. most of these trucks (k1500) have 3.42 gears with the V8, as far as the V6 goes, i dont really know.

my 305 turns 32x9x16 bfg AT's no problem with the 3.42 gears, with that being said, i am puchasing a 3" body lift, 33x12.5x15 and am contemplating a switch to 3.73 or 4.10

I will likely choose 4.10 as it will be tolerable for the for as long as the 33's last.....and as we all know, improving our trucks is a addiction, so after the 33's there will probably be 35's to go with the 4.10s.

I ran 33's and 3.73s for a while and did pretty good,  not so good with 35's though, I have a 95 K1500 EXT CAB/350/5 speed/Gibson headers and exhaust/Jet Chip and 35" Procomp Xterrains.  I have 4.56's now (about a year) and am very satisfied with the new gears. If you plan on 35's in the future I would just get the 4.56 gears, and skip the 4.10's.  If you stick with 33's then 4.10's would work well.