To Wheel Space or Not to Wheel Space....
- Thread starter KevinMLee
- Start date
the dude
Adventurer
I'd like you to find me documentation on that. The DOT approved part. (modifications may not be covered, check with your insurer) I will guarantee you there isn't any, especially in Canada. Every dually has "bolt on spacers" ICBC might have written it up in their rules but I have never been able to find it.
DOT approved is such a catch all. The only thing that I know to be written as DOT approve are tires, rims, and lens. None of my brake parts are DOT stamped. Non of my suspension is DOT stamped. Most (not all states/provinces) give provisions in their highway safety act to modify vehicles.
It's another mechanical connection. If you are OK with that, run them. Torque to spec and use loc-tite.
For the record, I have bent both a front and rear cruiser axle housing in large part due to a heavy truck and wheel spacer but never had any actual issues with the spacers. I went with custom width axles but I would run them again and watch my speed and weight.
Cimarron13
New member
I had no problems getting a check after my rollover from the wheel sheering off. I use Progressive if that matters. I was given the value of the Jeep plus 50% of all the aftermarket stuff I had on it. Just had to supply the receipts.
Heloflyboy
Adventurer
I run a 1.5" on the front of my pathfinder and a 1" on my wife's Suzuki. I only run them because the tires will rub the leaf springs without them. I have run many hard core trails and have not had any problems. I used to run them on my toyota 4 runner and also never had a problem. It was a little hard on the front wheel bearings , but in 60k miles only replaced them once.
My suggestion is if you need them to clear bigger tires us them. If you don't stay away.
My suggestion is if you need them to clear bigger tires us them. If you don't stay away.
SirCampalot
Adventurer
I had 1 1/4" Spidertrax spacers on my FJC. They were hub-centric and worked great. I used loctite and torqued them to spec... never a single issue.
FellowTraveler
Explorer
Food for thought, on chevy/gmc 2500/3500 IFS the duly adapter for the front IFS is bolt on and there is are no known issues w/excessive wear on the sealed unit bearings if they are OEM or Timkin. I have found that knock offs or cheap chi parts do wear out in short order.
IMHO;The back space (BS) should be changed as you go w/wide floater type wheels, if your factory BS was say 4.5" before and you go to 1.5" spacers then the new wheel BS should be 6" for longevity of steering suspension parts.
IMHO;The back space (BS) should be changed as you go w/wide floater type wheels, if your factory BS was say 4.5" before and you go to 1.5" spacers then the new wheel BS should be 6" for longevity of steering suspension parts.
Ozrockrat
Expedition Leader
I think this is a very broad statement that is definitely not true. My Ford came standard with wheel spacers on the front (E350 dually) and I believe that just about every ford dually does. Now if Ford are willing to put 3" plus on an axle that is rated at over 5000lbs it would seem to me that it is not a terrible practice. But it falls back on the quality of the spacer and the quality of the installer. A set of rims with less backspace is going to apply the same loading to the bearings as standard wheels with the same size spacer.
esh
Explorer
I have 1-1/4" spacers now as I've switched to 16" tires and haven't found wheels that I really like, so I went with a local cheap set of used steel 5-spoke Tacoma wheels (which are growing on me, but they're nearly a 5" backspace wheel). I just want a set of stock 60 or 70 series 16x7s or if Staun ever starts making the Outback TX-1 wheels. I do like the 255x85r16 Cooper STs, but the whole setup needs to move outward further, and that's not going to happen without swapping to a new wheel.
The spacers got loctite and haven't moved since installation and some rough miles so that doesn't bother me. Prefer a proper offset wheel without the extra parts though.
The spacers got loctite and haven't moved since installation and some rough miles so that doesn't bother me. Prefer a proper offset wheel without the extra parts though.
its probably all relative to a variety of things.
If you run a stock rig with larger tires and no serious weight add-ons......theres probably no issue whatsoever if you have well maintained axles and utilise proper torqueing.
If you do a bazillion plug n play hefty parts ala winches/bumpers/sliders/fridges/etc---the added 1500lbs probably puts you in a more precarious position when it comes to stressed components like axles/birfields/spacers. etc.
The fact that theres a ton of 80's tipping the scales at 8000lbs running 35-37" tires would lead me to believe that ANYONE running much closer to stock weights would have absolutely no issues running spacers if properly checked/torqued.
My aluminum ones from Marlin came with rather precise (oddly low in my mind) torque ft/lbs........and cant recall specific numbers-but i know it wasnt as high as i thought.............so i would make sure that you find out the manufacturers torque specs- vs just "makin em tight".
If you run a stock rig with larger tires and no serious weight add-ons......theres probably no issue whatsoever if you have well maintained axles and utilise proper torqueing.
If you do a bazillion plug n play hefty parts ala winches/bumpers/sliders/fridges/etc---the added 1500lbs probably puts you in a more precarious position when it comes to stressed components like axles/birfields/spacers. etc.
The fact that theres a ton of 80's tipping the scales at 8000lbs running 35-37" tires would lead me to believe that ANYONE running much closer to stock weights would have absolutely no issues running spacers if properly checked/torqued.
My aluminum ones from Marlin came with rather precise (oddly low in my mind) torque ft/lbs........and cant recall specific numbers-but i know it wasnt as high as i thought.............so i would make sure that you find out the manufacturers torque specs- vs just "makin em tight".