Midas

[werewolf]

Just like some thoughts on wheel spacers. I was at Midas the other day getting oil change and there was a guy there with a new ranger. I heard him say he had Rough Country 2 1/2 lift and some 2" wheel spacers on order and he was going to put wider and taller tires on his new ranger, like maybe 33 x 11.5 17. What you think is he full of B S.

 

[Dirtman]

So what exactly do you think he is BSing about? Not sure what the question is.

 

[werewolf]

From what i have read on here and some other places even with 2 1/2 lift all you can safely go is like LT265/70r17 . He's talking 33's same lift , am i missing something.

 

[sgtsandman]

I'm not sure if the kit he is talking about is a full lift or a leveling kit. If it's a leveling kit, I don't think he could pull it off. The kits I've seen up to date have only been leveling kits.

With the backspacing of the OEM wheels, the spacers could work for clearance as far as the increased tire width. Spacers are a horrible band aid solution to the issue though. Sure people do it all the time but people have reported a lot of problems because of them too. Better to just get the right backspacing on a new set of rims and be done with it.

In any case, I would be skeptical as to whether he is correct or not until he shows proof that what he wants to do, fits and doesn't rub anywhere.

 

[HenryMac]

It all depends on what offset wheels he is using. Unfortunately sometimes if you have your heart set on a certain wheel design the only economical way is to use a spacer.

There is nothing wrong with a spacer, as long as it is a quality design, made from quality materials, machined correctly for the application and installed per the manufacturers specifications.

The issue often is people use cheap aluminum spacers with big long wheel studs... and when they fail everybody bad mouths the stupid spacer. Stupid is... as stupid does.

He is also probably planning to remove the front and rear crash bars for clearance on the front wheel wells. I'm on the fence on this. As a retired engineer I know it makes sense that a wider tire will help spread the load of any crash if a frontal impact shoves the tire back toward the cab.

But I couldn't live with somebody getting foot / leg injuries due to me removing components specifically designed to help prevent those very same injuries.

 

[sgtsandman]

Removing the crash bars is a deal breaker for me if they have to do that to put a bigger tire on.