Wheel spacers

It moves the load center away from the middle of inner and outer bearings which will make it harder on the bearings. I've also heard that it's harder on ball joints.

But the net effect is about the same as a wheel with less BS. X2 what Slimer said. Pick your poison as I am sure you will tear up your unit bearings in other more creative manners long before the additional load of the spacer does it for you. ;D

pretty sure that the spidertrax are 1.25" so you'd be at 3.25", it makes sense that a more offset rim will put more stress on the axle, but how much is too much? IDK.

Quote from Quantum73

But the net effect is about the same as a wheel with less BS. X2 what Slimer said. Pick your poison as I am sure you will tear up your unit bearings in other more creative manners long before the additional load of the spacer does it for you. ;D

the net effect is not the same because the rim backspacing is still the same not matter how many spacers you add, they are just spacing the wheel out. All wheel spacer manufactures say not to use them on wheels that have more backspacing than stock, not safe!!

If you think about it, running a 1.25" wheel spacer on stock rim say 5" (bs now 3.75 theoretically) or a rim with the correct amount of back spacing 3.75, the tire is not in the same relationship to the mounting flange of the wheel. Spacers add much more stress on components.

If you have a wheel with 4.5" of backspacing there is no way you should need more unless your running 13.5 wide tires....Stock rubicon wheels can run 35s without spacers and only rub the front lower arms, (no biggie, let them rub!)

Quote from Meeper

the net effect is not the same because the rim backspacing is still the same not matter how many spacers you add, they are just spacing the wheel out. All wheel spacer manufactures say not to use them on wheels that have more backspacing than stock, not safe!!

If you think about it, running a 1.25" wheel spacer on stock rim say 5" (bs now 3.75 theoretically) or a rim with the correct amount of back spacing 3.75, the tire is not in the same relationship to the mounting flange of the wheel. Spacers add much more stress on components.

If you have a wheel with 4.5" of backspacing there is no way you should need more unless your running 13.5 wide tires....Stock rubicon wheels can run 35s without spacers and only rub the front lower arms, (no biggie, let them rub!)

Huh? Throwing away differences in wheel weights, etc running a spacer is no different than a wheel with the same offset as the org+spacer. The net effect is the same...draw a quick picture and you can see that a 15x8 w/ 3.75" BS will have the same leverage as a 15x8 w/ 5" BS plus a 1.25" spacer.

Back to the OP's question of wear-and-tear. Yup, this will add leverage and cause increased wear on balljoints and unit bearings over the same wheel with no spacer. BUT...IMHO I think the difference becomes less and less as the tires become larger/heavier. I was on a yearly replacement schedule for unit bearings and maybe 1.5-2 for balljoints while running 36" Iroks on a D30.

--Ian

Quote from Meeper

the net effect is not the same because the rim backspacing is still the same not matter how many spacers you add, they are just spacing the wheel out. All wheel spacer manufactures say not to use them on wheels that have more backspacing than stock, not safe!!
If you think about it, running a 1.25" wheel spacer on stock rim say 5" (bs now 3.75 theoretically) or a rim with the correct amount of back spacing 3.75, the tire is not in the same relationship to the mounting flange of the wheel. Spacers add much more stress on components.
If you have a wheel with 4.5" of backspacing there is no way you should need more unless your running 13.5 wide tires....Stock rubicon wheels can run 35s without spacers and only rub the front lower arms, (no biggie, let them rub!)

Hehehe I think we need that Structural Engineer back in here! ;D

EDIT: And FYI, 315x75r16 MTZ's on 16x8 with 4.25" BS do rub on a stock or nearly stock setup. No amount of rubbing is "ok" so just add washers to the steering stops and call it a day.

Also remember there is a big difference between hubcentric and non-hubcentric spacers... hubcentric being the preferable spacer to run.... t

Quote from clendaniel

I was on a yearly replacement schedule for unit bearings and maybe 1.5-2 for balljoints while running 36" Iroks on a D30.

--Ian

How do you do it, I cant even make a D30 last a year let alone do any yearly maintenance.

Quote from J-Man

How do you do it, I cant even make a D30 last a year let alone do any yearly maintenance.

That was unit bearings...shafts, r/p's, and diffs were a different story!

--Ian

Quote from J-Man

How do you do it, I cant even make a D30 last a year let alone do any yearly maintenance.

learn to drive with less skinny peddle maybe?

Quote from Artie

learn to drive with less skinny peddle maybe?

Good luck talking him into that.
Anyway, a junk yard D30 and a couple hours work once a year, he doesn't care anyway.