Wheel spacer stupidity

[BAN-ONE]

Ok so I got some new edge gt wheel for my 97 and hurriedly/uneducatedly order wheel spacers for the front wheels. I screwed up and got non hubcentric and I got 1 inch spacers so I had to grind my studs. Now I’m wondering for those running mustang wheels what size thickness spacer did you run and did it clear the studs? And does anyone know the stock LENGTH of the front wheel studs on a 97 2wd? I know the thread pitch is 1/2-20

 

[19Walt93]

I bought a used set of 94-95 Mustang 16" wheels for my 93 and bolted them on. Ideally they could have another 1/2" offset but they work fine as is. Wheel adapters/spacers give each wheel a second chance to loosen up.

 

[sgtsandman]

The only spacers I ever used were for my utility trailer and they are 2”. As soon as I get to the point and can afford a suspension upgrade, the spacers are going away.

That being said, I have not had a problem with them or had to modify anything to get them to work. I did blue loc-tite the original lug nuts so they wouldn’t work loose and made sure they were torqued to spec with a torque wrench.

 

[Snoranger]

I’ve got a set of wheel adapters bolted to a pair of rotors sitting in my garage... come try to take them off! I broke 3 sockets before I just put new rotors on the truck.

 

[insaneranger]

Spacers can be perfectly safe, but if you run spacers, don't buy a set of cast or $30 fleabay or Amazon specials. I had a cheaper set of machined 2" spacers on my narrowed 9" reared and they eventually broke into pieces. A couple years ago I finally invested in a set of billet rotary forged hub centric spacers for the rear. They were expensive, but are incredibly strong & I'm not worried about them falling apart.

 

[Ranger850]

Ok so I got some new edge gt wheel for my 97 and hurriedly/uneducatedly order wheel spacers for the front wheels. I screwed up and got non hubcentric and I got 1 inch spacers so I had to grind my studs. Now I’m wondering for those running mustang wheels what size thickness spacer did you run and did it clear the studs? And does anyone know the stock LENGTH of the front wheel studs on a 97 2wd? I know the thread pitch is 1/2-20

Got any pics of these Edge GT wheels on your Ranger? I really like the Edge Sport wheels and want these or something very similar when I get to that point.
These

 

[91stranger]

Cheap spacers = wheels falling off or broken studs.....

Expensive wheel spacers = wheels MAY fall off, studs MAY break off. If you plan on wheeling or racing then these will probably break. Do it right and get rims with the right offset before you cause an accident..... Now that you have cheap spacers, you grinded the studs which puts you even more in the red.... Did you at least tap the threads so you can take the lug nuts off or did you hurry that too?

 

[don4331]

Ford Mustang Cobra rims on my Ranger are running on 30mm spacers as Cobra rims had 30mm offset and stock Ranger rims were 0mm.

Like sgtsandman's, the spacers are lock-tite blue secured in place. The spacers are quality hub centric ones and they have been carefully torqued on. Then I carefully torque wheels on.

From RockAuto, which seem to me a little longer than my stock one.
PTC 97261:

KNURL DIAMETER	.570"
SHOULDER LENGTH	.594"
Thread Length	1-7/8"
Overall Length	2.102"

Stock - extend 35mm from the surface of the hub; these would appear to extend 38mm. There was >5mm space in the "pockets" on the backside, so rims sit flat on hub.

I don't race, I don't wheel - truck with the spacers is a lowered 2wd....

 

[BAN-ONE]

Got any pics of these Edge GT wheels on your Ranger? I really like the Edge Sport wheels and want these or something very similar when I get to that point.
These
View attachment 43407

I ment new edge as in new edge mustang wheels 1999-2004 body style,

 

[BAN-ONE]

I know I bought the wrong spacers and don’t like the studs being somewhat rigged, if I have to take the spacers off but I put about 200 miles on them, checked them nothing loosed up and no vibrations at 70 so I’m quite content now I panicked at first seeing my error but I think everything is good until I get some new rotors(new studs installed already) then order the proper spacers

 

[BAN-ONE]

Cheap spacers = wheels falling off or broken studs.....

Expensive wheel spacers = wheels MAY fall off, studs MAY break off. If you plan on wheeling or racing then these will probably break. Do it right and get rims with the right offset before you cause an accident..... Now that you have cheap spacers, you grinded the studs which puts you even more in the red.... Did you at least tap the threads so you can take the lug nuts off or did you hurry that too?

I tried to tap the threads with the lugs themselves, which shows my inexperience in this area I didn’t know they were softer then the studs and made a mess. Now please don’t assume I would put a dangerous vehicle on the road and hope for the best. Have you ever had your car in the shop for any reason the wheels had to come off? Did you check the torque in the parking lot? If you didn’t that’s considered unsafe as well. Ever use spring boosters or air shocks, or air bags on your suspension? According to the internet they are dangerous to but people every day run them with no problems. I don’t know for a fact but I would guess wheel spacers that “fall” off failed do to installation, under/over torque, rusty rotors, and poor wheel balance. The spacer bolts where the wheel went if the tires didn’t fall off before the spacer they shouldn’t after , then the wheel goes on offset by the spacer which is engineered And designed to this exact thing. I’m pretty humble that’s why threw this out there to show a mistake I made so others in my situation might learn from my mistakes. Not be judged

 

[sgtsandman]

Never trust a shop to properly torque your lug nuts. Most times I need a big assed breaker bar to knock them loose and put them at the proper torque. I’ve even showed shops that their “torque sticks” are useless by using an actual torque wrench after they tightened the lugs down. They still use the torque sticks. I feel bad for the poor schmuck that has a flat on the side of the road and can’t break their lug nuts loose because the last person to work on their vehicle was a shop.

My 2019 has a big breaker bar as part of the emergency tool kit in order to make sure my girlfriend isn’t stuck on the side of the road. Even when properly torqued, she might not have enough strength to break the lug nuts loose with the factory supplied wrench.

 

[BAN-ONE]

My learning lesson was with 86 F150 and a MR.TIRE about 10 years ago. They put on a new set of tires picked up my truck drove home about 35 miles enjoying my nice smooth ride....until maybe 1/4 mile from my driveway I hear a clicking sound I can’t identify then I feel it in my steering wheel and I turn into my driveway I heard a good thud the front end dropped down but I make it into the driveway. I get out confused walk around the truck and don’t immediately see any obvious problems. Upon closer inspection my driver side front wheel only had 4 of 5 lugs which was real odd cause it went in with 5. I’m not a CSI but from my best guess when I jacked it the missing lug was also missing the stud it was snapped at the rotor and my gut says ol’johnny rockets with the impact gun was living out pit crew fantasies on my truck and over torqued the hell out that wheel. The wheels have semi deep holes and use conical lug nuts and there was a big blob of grease in that hole that I’m pretty sure held that lug nut so I wouldn’t know immediately somebody somebody made a boo boo. The other 4 my guess is had the threads pulled out because they backed down the studs 1/2ish in and the wheel had start wearing on the studs but I could not safely ( like snap another stud) get those lug nuts to budge. The 3 other wheels when I checked were all way to tight but no damage so I loosened and and reset them. The shop had the truck towed and repaired what they did, when I picked the truck up I took a breaker bar and torque wrench.