wheel spacers ? good or bad?

31278 Views 22 Replies 12 Participants Last post by fourwd1, Apr 13, 2012

whitey601

Discussion Starter · Sep 17, 2010

i want to get a little more space but i dont reall want to spend 3-500 on new rims with an offset i have 2'' wheel spacers are they good to go or are they a waste of money. i dont know if its true or not but i heard with all the turning and bumps and bouncing around it could sheer off the bolt and then im left with no wheels on the truck. if anyone has some insight on this let me know

1 - 20 of 23 Posts

exist

· #2 · Sep 17, 2010

Well unless it sheers off all 6 bolts holding the spacer on, and the other 6 holding your wheel on - you should be good to go ..

Almost every solid axle swapped truck out there is running spacers because the front diff is narrower than the rear.. keep it around or under 2" and you should be fine..

IronNam

· #3 · Sep 17, 2010

I'm running 1.5" spacers on a 2WD. HARD cornering and braking and alot of daily driving.

been a lil over half a year i think with these on.

Jayota

· #4 · Sep 17, 2010

As long as you get the ones that bolt on, not just slip over the studs you should be a-ok

IronNam

· #5 · Sep 18, 2010

+1. I'm not a fan of the slip on spacers

Zembonez

· #6 · Sep 18, 2010

As long as you buy GOOD spacers and not the cheapest Ebay Chinese junkers you can find, you should be fine.

fourwd1

· #7 · Sep 18, 2010

Beyond 1/2" or so you are talking adapters, not spacers. Even when the bolt pattern is the same, it's an adapter. You bolt the adapter to the stock lugs and the wheel to the adapter's lugs.

There's nothing wrong with good set of adapters. I've been using 1.5" spacers on the front of my rock crawler for 6-7 years with no problems, and they take a beating. Checking the lug nuts on the adapter periodically is important, especially at first.

Zembonez

· #8 · Sep 18, 2010

Great point.

IronNam

· #9 · Sep 18, 2010

true, sometimes i say spacer adaptors.

when i say 1.5" spacers... people ask if my studs are long enough..

04 3RZFE

· #10 · Sep 18, 2010

iv never used wheel spacer/adapters before, but have heard alot of negative feedback from them. The one that i hear most is that they tend to wear out the wheel bearing, which makes sense, because the further you go out with the wheel you put more presser or leverage force on the wheel bearings from the natural weight of the truck.

Jayota

· #11 · Sep 22, 2010

Its true, but wider wheels do the same thing.

fourwd1

· #12 · Sep 22, 2010

Jayota said:
Its true, but wider wheels do the same thing.

Exactly.
Either way, you gotta pay to play.

Jayota

· #13 · Sep 24, 2010

fourwd1 said:
Exactly.
Either way, you gotta pay to play.

thank god toyota wheel bearings are serviceable. I pack them once a year. Only costs like $50 for the stupid rear seals and a tube of grease.

cd_god

· #14 · Sep 24, 2010

whitey601 said:
i want to get a little more space but i dont reall want to spend 3-500 on new rims with an offset i have 2'' wheel spacers are they good to go or are they a waste of money. i dont know if its true or not but i heard with all the turning and bumps and bouncing around it could sheer off the bolt and then im left with no wheels on the truck. if anyone has some insight on this let me know

I had 2" adapters on grey 2WD. I didn't have any problems. When I lowered my truck I had to take them off totuck the wheels under the fenders but had to space the front out 1/2" to clear the steering linkages and ended up getting ARP studs all around and run 1/2" inline spacers on the front. I wouldn't recommend running spacers with stock length wheel studs as there aren't enough threads but the adapters have their own studs and lugnuts so I felt safe using them. I put the spacers on my red truck with some 16" Lexus wheels and it has a vibration between 35-45 which unfortunately is most of my daily drive. The 2" adapters have a lot of mass to them so I guess they could be slightly out of balance or I mounted them slightly off center but I would think the vibration would get worse the high speeds like a tire out of balance if it was but the truck rides fine at HWY speeds. Unless you got your wheels for free or just about free like I did I would just buy some rims with the correct offset.

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IronNam

· #15 · Sep 24, 2010

before i even torque them fully, i make sure the spacer is evenly mounted between all 5 lugs.

kamesama980

· #16 · Sep 25, 2010

Jayota said:
Its true, but wider wheels do the same thing.

Depends on where the center of the tread is for both wheels and spacers. if the tread is centered in the same spot as stock, it won't be a problem course usually there isn't enough clearance to run wider wheels with the same center so yea, more torque on the bearings.

IronNam

· #17 · Sep 26, 2010

say you have 0 offset wheels, basically 50/50 tread on each side of the hub.
and then you threw a 20mm spacer on the vehicle.
you now have a -20mm offset setup.

hilux rocker

· #18 · Mar 21, 2012

fourwd1 said:
Beyond 1/2" or so you are talking adapters, not spacers. Even when the bolt pattern is the same, it's an adapter. You bolt the adapter to the stock lugs and the wheel to the adapter's lugs.

There's nothing wrong with good set of adapters. I've been using 1.5" spacers on the front of my rock crawler for 6-7 years with no problems, and they take a beating. Checking the lug nuts on the adapter periodically is important, especially at first.

the 1.5 spacers, do they cover your stock lugs or you need to shorten them? and are you running them on the rear as well? how often do you have to change your bearings?

mprtftr

· #19 · Apr 10, 2012

^^^bump^^^

hilux rocker

· #20 · Apr 10, 2012

mprtftr said:
^^^bump^^^

bump?

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