Thoughts on wheel spacers

1-tonmudder

1-tonmudder

Doin my part to stir the pot.
Joined
Apr 17, 2005
Location
Greeneville TN
Im starting to look for wheels for Jakes 71 Deville and everything I find that we like is either the wrong bolt pattern or $800 ea.Looking to probably go down to a 5-4.5 pattern.Im not a fan of spacers but I know they are a lot better now than they were in the old days.So what do ya say??
 
I run them on my xj, 5x4.5 to 5x5, 35" tires. no issues yet.. however I use a torque wrench on my lugs too. I have always read on the interwebs the failure is due to over torquing. like with a impact during installation.
 
I'd run spacers in a heartbeat. Just make sure to loctite and torque to the proper spec.
 
We run 1.5” spacers on the back of Dad's 67 c10 to keep tires from scrubbing inner wheel tubs on the back, and to give it the same track width front and rear. The front was 3” wider than the back with the drop spindles and disc brake conversion.

Loctite the spacers and torque like said above. They've been on a year and a half now, no problems.
 
From what I've seen as long as you don't get stupid with the width, the primary failures are a result of not torqueing to spec.
 
I also think there are alot of cheap spacer out in the amazon and ebay land that give them a bad name also. I believe I would find a reputable company to get them from also.
 
Limited to 2 inch and go. All the reasons posted and my personal limit on width and payload. I can't bring myself to run them on something I intend to tow with.
 
Hell, I run them on my tow rig. No loctite, just torqued like they should be. I forgot they're there most of the time... I DO check them every time I rotate the tires or have the back tires off for any reason. I've never had them loosen up even a little.

20190330_181302.jpg
 
I've always ran them using grease on all studs so they won't seize up and re torque them every rotation

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I had someone put antiseize on my studs one time and I threatened his life. I couldn't imagine greasing them either.
 
UTfball68 said:
From what I've seen as long as you don't get stupid with the width, the primary failures are a result of not torqueing to spec.
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Looking at 17X7 on the front and 18 x 8 on the back BUT with an extra inch of wheel width on the back Im not sure we can get the skirt back on so it might get 7's all the way around.
 
Tim C said:
We run 1.5” spacers on the back of Dad's 67 c10 to keep tires from scrubbing inner wheel tubs on the back, and to give it the same track width front and rear. The front was 3” wider than the back with the drop spindles and disc brake conversion.

Loctite the spacers and torque like said above. They've been on a year and a half now, no problems.
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Just lookin at 1 inch spacers,just enuf to get a better bolt pattern.Suprised me at the lack of wheel selection for a 5X5 application.Gonna run a 2 inch spring all around,wanted to do air ride but its just not in the budget right now.
 
I have used them, never had a problem when I install them, have seen others screw it up (funny and scary when a wheel falls off and the spacer is still attached).

I don't like them, because I don't like the extra step for brake service, and on the odd chance I need to get them off when I am solo on the roadside, the red loctite makes it really tough.
 
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Mac5005 said:
FWIW I ran spacers on my jeep 14bolt to clear the coilovers with the inside of rear tires. No loctite or torque wrench. Just set impact to break and several seconds of ugga duggas.

Checked them after 3 years, no issues. Ran them for another 3.
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Same here... 1.5" all the way around for at least the past 10 years... zero issues
 
No Loctite or blue Loctite, no real reason for threadlocker except for a little extra safety margin. Most of the flavors of blue Loctite are rated for use with fasteners up to 1/2 or 3/4 inch, so that would already be overkill and no need to release with a torch. If you need anything else, something is really wrong somewhere. If you need red Loctite, you have a fastener problem that needs solving or need a better designed spacer.

Honestly, I've rarely ever heard of people using threadlocker on adapter spacers, except in the offroad community. If you have a Jeep or whatever, the general consensus on forums is "red Loctite or you're gonna die!", which is pretty damn funny and overdramatic. It sounds like one or more of the spacer vendors supply them with red Loctite, which somehow translates to dire consequences if you don't use it (probably cover-their-ass insurance against people who shouldn't work on vehicles in the first place). Ah, love the interwebs.
 
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Spacers are on the rear of my pile. 14 bolt FWIW. I run 1.5" and have been for years. I torqued them but didn't use Loctite. I checked them yesterday and I tightened them just barely. I probably should Loctite them but I probably won't.
 
Fabrik8 said:
f you need red Loctite, you have a fastener problem that needs solving or need a better designed spacer.
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The general internet consensus on wheel spacers is that using them results in fiery crashes with busloads of nuns.

The red locktite is there for the same reason we use stover nuts and cotter pins. People fail to properly torque fasteners. I've done it, everybody here has done it. Irrespective of that, there are contributing factors (painted hubs) that will cause the fastener to lose clamping force over time. It's a concealed fastener, so it's unlikely to get rechecked after 100, 500, etc, miles.

If I had a dollar for every time I got stuck on the trail behind somebody that lost a link bolt....
 
I ran 3 inch spacers on my 14 bolt to match my dually front 60 and never had a problem, also ran 1" 1/2 on my 4runner with zero issues.

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shawn said:
The red locktite is there for the same reason we use stover nuts and cotter pins. People fail to properly torque fasteners. I've done it, everybody here has done it. Irrespective of that, there are contributing factors (painted hubs) that will cause the fastener to lose clamping force over time. It's a concealed fastener, so it's unlikely to get rechecked after 100, 500, etc, miles.
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So permanent Loctite is the solution to improper fastener torque, and paint creep causes loss of fastener preload. Cool. ;)


I'm totally catching on to this arguing technique. :D
 
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