Bolt on wheel spacers? Anyone have them? What kind? Are they safe and legal in Delaware? Do ball joints need to be upgraded? I have 5.5 B/S on my current wheels, so how do I determine the thickness I need to recover the turning radius I've lost (corrected with washers) and give me a little more stability after the 1"BL and 2"BB plus the bigger springs? Also to be able to use the same wheels with wider tires in the future?
More ????? Wheel spacers
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i had spydertrax for a little while. then got my new rims. i know others that ran the same ones for years..which is why i went with them. great quality..but they are still wheel spacers
my opinion would be to take the 250 bucks you are going to spend on the spacers and get some new rims with proper backspacing. it is the safest option. and you wont have to worry if its legal or not black steelies are like 50 bucks a rim or cheaper
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Quote from "MellowYellow"
my opinion would be to take the 250 bucks you are going to spend on the spacers and get some new rims with proper backspacing. it is the safest option. and you wont have to worry if its legal or not black steelies are like 50 bucks a rim or cheaperthis is the best way. etiher way your going to increase your scrub radius.
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I dont' like them. They are hard on your bearings and ball joints.
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Quote from "Slimer"
I dont' like them. They are hard on your bearings and ball joints.
No real difference between spacers and wheels with less backspacing.Gotta do one or the other to run 12.5" tires on a TJ.
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The effect is the same.
Narrow track CJ'ers go to 10" wide rims to run 12.5" wide tires. The less bulge clears the rear inner fender wells.
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for most backspace rims and normal spacers it makes no diffrence on wheel bearings what so ever. the force is applied the same. ball joints will have the force applied slightly diffrent, but the diffrence is small.
if it gets taken to the extreme then it will make a diffrence. -
I don't like spacers for applications that will be used on the road extensively, just more nuts to come loose and cause problems. When those nuts come loose it's big problems.
I've been running 3.75 backspacing on 15x8 wheels for 3 years now on the TJ over 50,000 miles. I run 4" backspacing on XJ with 15x10 wheels also for well over 50,000 miles. Ball joints and hubs are still in good shape on both. I check them frequently
That said anytime you move the wheels out you will increase stress on ball joints and hubs causing them to fail sooner then a stock set up would, but that's life in the offroad world.
You should still get pretty good life out ball joints and hubs.
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for the original questions sara,
you'll be fine to have them in delaware - tire protrusion isn't as much of an issue down here and they don't inspect close enough to even realize if you are running them. like dave said, spidertrax is the most popular brand. they are typically 1.25" wide...which will give you a 2.5" wider track overall. no upgrade to your ball joints are neccessary (nor available anyways) and they just bolt on right over you hub. you put them on, torque the lug nuts on the spacers, then install the tires and torque their lug nuts as well. the spacers don't need to be removed unless you need to pull the brake drums or rotors - i.e. you don't need to mess with them to rotate/balance your tires in the future.
chrisp.s. one trick i've noticed to keep them running as smooth as possible on your jeep. pull off the little tin lug bolt "keepers" off. they are the tin rings that hold your rotors or drums from sliding off when you pull the wheels off. once the spacers are installed they will perform the same function and with the little keepers removed you'll have them seated squarely against the mating surface. just fyi (erica and i are both running spidertrax spacers
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I"ll have a set of spacers in the not to distant future. Mine will not be used on the highway much though. I'll be running them only for offraoding.
I am going to be running a stock backspaced Hummer rim (7.5" backspacing) on the Jeep to keep the width down after the 1ton swap. This makes the hubs stick out really far, so to keep hub damage to a minimum I'll probably run a spacer.
I believe spacers are illegal to run on the highway. But I'm not positive.
As stated above, spacers don't add any more stress to your components than narrow backspaced wheels.
Just be sure to get QUALITY spacers, not junk.
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im not trying to say anyone is wrong on the strength/function of wheel spacers..but i look at this
my wheel studs are pressed through a steel plate attached to the axle.
im bolting an aluminum ring with new studs pressed through it.
aluminum is weaker than steel... the spacer is the weakest link and has the potential to fail in heavy offroad conditions.
like i said above though..i did have spacers for a short time for daily driving. but opted for the proper backspacing for legal and in my mind safety issues
my .02
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Quote from "MellowYellow"
aluminum is weaker than steel... the spacer is the weakest link and has the potential to fail in heavy offroad conditions.
If you follow that logic to the end, then aluminum wheels are unsafe compared to steel as they would be the weak link.Just food for thought...
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that is true..but alloys and steelies are strength comparable in their gauge/thickness.
having had the wheel spacers where the bolts and studs are recessed into the aluminum with only about .25 thickness of material.. that is the weak link i am refering to.
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Quote from "quadna71"
p.s. one trick i've noticed to keep them running as smooth as possible on your jeep. pull off the little tin lug bolt "keepers" off. they are the tin rings that hold your rotors or drums from sliding off when you pull the wheels off. once the spacers are installed they will perform the same function and with the little keepers removed you'll have them seated squarely against the mating surface. just fyi (erica and i are both running spidertrax spacers )Does what Chris said above help with the prblm Dave's talking about?
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what i am refering to is more offroad related. if you come down on a rock on the edge of a rim the aluminum could break. i dont have the specs on how they are produced or designed so the design might take that into account.
if you go with a quality company (spidertrax) i dont think you will have any problems. its just some concerns that i felt you should think about before spending 250 bucks on spacers.
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Spidertrax wheel spacers were the ONLY way I could keep my beloved stock Grizzly wheels
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OK, I'm trying to understand all this, be patient with this dumb girl.
From what I've read elsewhere about wheel spacers, they are mounted to the hub (not correct part, but you know what I mean) with lug nuts, then the wheel is mounted on the studs in the spacer with the wheel's lug nuts. Correct so far?
I seriously doubt I'll EVER do "heavy" wheeling, so I should be OK?
Since I'm currently running with wheels that have b/s of 5.5, if I go with 1.25 or even 1.5 spacers, I'm reducing my b/s to 4-4.25 right? Since this is more in line with the b/s on oem wheels shouldn't it be better for the ball joints and/or hubs? The wheels I have are alloy and they are for a Cherokee. I didn't buy them, they were on there when I bought the Jeep. I think they were ordered as an option and no adjustments were made for the bigger b/s. When I went from 225/75/15's to 31x10.50's washers on the steering stops were needed to correct rubbing at full turn. Then after the BB was installed, more washers were added 'cos they were hitting the LCA's.
Sorry for being such a pita, but you guys (m & f) know a lot more about this than I do.
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you're doing fine sara. just put them on and don't look back. you'll get your steering back and a little better stance. and 4.25" BS is about perfect if you ask me.
chrisp.s. keep an eye out for them...the set i'm running i picked up for next to nothing from a friend who was upgrading. the ones that are on erica's tj are from turtle - and he too made me a great deal on them. (bide your time)
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no, i bought this set from him over a year ago. he had another set more recently
chris
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