• DCRC 2024

Wheel spacers... Pro's and Con's

simplyXJ

simplyXJ

Registered User
What are the Con's to adding 1.5" wheel spacers besides the state not being too happy with me? I know the Pro's are a wider wheel base and more stability...
 
Brett

Brett

Meat-Hippy
Location
Salt Lake City Utah
More wear on the bearings (same thing as adding a higher offset wheel though) and just the added problem of having to tighten two set of lug nuts on each corner.
 
Drew_XJ

Drew_XJ

Jeep is a 4 letter word
Location
Next door to Kiel
simplyXJ said:
What are the Con's to adding 1.5" wheel spacers besides the state not being too happy with me? I know the Pro's are a wider wheel base and more stability...
Click to expand...
if you want wider wheel base buy my 10" wide rims so i can get some 8" so i dont rub when flexed. just get some wheels with the right off set for what you want
 
simplyXJ

simplyXJ

Registered User
Well i have the spacers already... They came with my 4runner from the PO but I wasn't sure how bad they wear out the steering or whell bearings etc... so I was wondering if the 3'' gain in wheelbase is worth keeping them on. This is also a DD so I don't want to replace wheel bearings every 10k etc... if they wear out that quick.
 
Rot Box

Rot Box

Diesel and Dust
Location
Smithfield Utah
Spacers suck! I hate everything about them period.

That being said I run 2" wide spacers front and rear, because I don't want to swap my axles out and can't really get around it.

They mess with my steering really bad, but then again they are a little wider than the common 1" ones.
 
Tacoma

Tacoma

Et incurventur ante non
Location
far enough away
I hate them as well. They are just no good for bearings. ANd neither are high-backspacing wheels either.

If you're running on an XJ, triply bad idea. Those axles are marginal to begin with. The unit bearings are too close together, add more leverage and you are begging for the trouble that will come your way. :)
 
crazyyo

crazyyo

Active Member
Location
slc
i would say negative on them my brothers yj has them on the rear i broke the wheel studs off the spacer coming into green river at forty mph not fun if you can avoid it do so
 
M

MRJ

Just a user
Location
Draper, UT
I have to add the Pirate answer SEARCH, this gets covered about every two months.

For the right application they are fine. That is if you use a high quality spacer. I run and fully support the Spidertrax spacers. They are excallent quality, and i have had nothing negitive from them.

That said, when I build my D60's I will adjust the track width as to not run spacers.
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
Tacoma said:
If you're running on an XJ, triply bad idea. Those axles are marginal to begin with.
Click to expand...


simplyXJ said:
Well i have the spacers already... They came with my 4runner from the PO
Click to expand...

Pretty sure they're not on an XJ. ;)

While spacers aren't the ideal, they're very common especially in Toyota applications, since there aren't many options for track widths in a Toyota front axle.
 
DevinB

DevinB

I like traffic lights
Location
Down Or'm
Drew_XJ said:
if you want wider wheel base buy my 10" wide rims so i can get some 8" so i dont rub when flexed. just get some wheels with the right off set for what you want
Click to expand...


Wider rims won't net you any more width.

I have had 1" spacers/adapters on my 8.8 for about a year with no problems whatsoever. They're not ideal, but I don't see a problem with them.

Devin
 
toys4rocks

toys4rocks

I didn't mean to do that!
Location
Lehi
If you get the correct backspacing, how do wider rims not net you a wider stance? DO you have a different tape measure than me?

I had 8" rims, with 3.5" backspace, sat at 72" wide. With my 10" rims with 2" backspace puts me at closer to 80"...... :confused: That seems wider to me?
 
DevinB

DevinB

I like traffic lights
Location
Down Or'm
Your rims may be wider, but your tread isn't any wider. Hence, you're not increasing your width. Your tread didn't majically grow with the increase in rim width. If you had the same size tire on rims with different widths but same backspacing, your outside of tire to outside of tire dimension might be a little different, but your tread will stay the same width apart. Therefore, you gained no effective width. Make sense?
 
simplyXJ

simplyXJ

Registered User
ok well thanks for the opinion everyone! I'll see how they do with them off for a while and go from there...
 
yellowbronco

yellowbronco

Cuts Through Grease !!!
Location
Moab
DevinB said:
Your rims may be wider, but your tread isn't any wider. Hence, you're not increasing your width. Your tread didn't majically grow with the increase in rim width. If you had the same size tire on rims with different widths but same backspacing, your outside of tire to outside of tire dimension might be a little different, but your tread will stay the same width apart. Therefore, you gained no effective width. Make sense?
Click to expand...

You mean that tire stretcher I ordered doesn't work?? :rofl:

Was this thread about tire width?
 
Last edited:
toys4rocks

toys4rocks

I didn't mean to do that!
Location
Lehi
Ok, time for some simple math.

My truck started out with 8" rims with 3.5" of backspace for a total of 72"

I removed the 8's and replaced with 10's with 2" of backspace, I used a calculator so my math should be correct.

By Removing 3" total from my backspace, I added 3" of track width (Tires stick out 1.5" on either side = 1.5" of gained track width)

So, 72 + 3 = 75 right? So if I am at 79" total, where did that other 4" come from? Oh yeah, the 2" on either side from the added width of the rim for a total of (your still with me right?) 79" of total track width.

This has nothing to do with tread width............. This is simple math, and you are more than welcome to stop by and check my measurements, I have both sets of rims and tires.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top