wheel spacers, good or bad?

[91stranger]

i bought some actual spacers (not the washers) of ebay a while back ago. they r nice lookin and made of aluminum, i was wondering if anyone has these on their trucks and if they would recomend them. ive been a little hesitant bc they r made of aluminum and not steel and im afraid they could just easily snap off since i run 33's on a heavy truck.

here is the site on ebay that has what i bought.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4-Wh...wItemQQhashZitem414d638e55QQitemZ280471244373

 

[daniel3507]

I would be a little nervous about them or any other spacer. Ive heard of a lot of spacers snapping while driving down the road.

 

[06RangerXLT]

a buddy of mine has them on his ranger in the back. his offset if ****ed and the rims dont fit without em. he has 34's and rips it through mud trails with no problem.

 

[pillen140]

rough country sells them for $60 per set of 2. i would trust them before some no name chinese company thats probably making them out of something they shouldnt.

 

[feellnfroggy]

Wheel spacers are fine as long as they a hubcentric and have their own mounting lugs. The ones that just slip over are bad, however, depending on your axle, it is a full float front end, you will have added stress to your bearings. The required cleaning and maintenance for them will be doubled. With 33's and a dana 35 I would recommend no larger than a 3/4 inch spacer. 1/2 inch for the 28. What size did you get?

 

[adsm08]

I wouldn't worry about them being made from aluminum. It's brittle, but it's strong. Most of our issues with it is because it's brittle. As for strength, most rims, even on Super Duty trucks are aluminum.

 

[disciplerocks]

Just use common sense with them. If possible get rims with a wider offset, but if not you could run them without any problems for the most part. I am currently running wider offset rims (not sure of measurement) and 1/2" spacers.

 

[94xlt4.0]

ive heard stories from people whose "friend knew someone" that had spacers break on them but havent really seen it. its the bearings on the vehicle that ive seen wear more than anything. just dont go overboard and get 2" spacers or anything too big

 

[OilPatch197]

rough country sells them for $60 per set of 2. i would trust them before some no name chinese company thats probably making them out of something they shouldnt.

Agreed, you should NOT go cheap in this area, name brand spacers all the way.

I wouldn't worry about them being made from aluminum. It's brittle, but it's strong. Most of our issues with it is because it's brittle. As for strength, most rims, even on Super Duty trucks are aluminum.

Smack a Curve side at 30 Mph and see what happens, I did and one of my aluminum rims got a chunk taken out, tire was slashed but the rim was still usable with a new tire, it also fractured my wheel bearing and ripped my radius control arm bushing out.

 

[4.0B2]

yeah, good brand will last forever.. but if they are cheap, throw 'em out...

a lot of jeep guys use them for a long time..
if you sas an 84ish model yota front axle into the 92ish model, they use wheel spacers..
i've seen guys run the hardest trails at superlift off road park or moab.. nothing bad happened.. use good ones.

 

[adsm08]

Smack a Curve side at 30 Mph and see what happens, I did and one of my aluminum rims got a chunk taken out, tire was slashed but the rim was still usable with a new tire, it also fractured my wheel bearing and ripped my radius control arm bushing out.

And I'm not saying that it won't break a heck of a lot easier than steel will. Steel will bend and give, aluminum won't do that as much. That's why we don't make body panels from it.

Regardless, aluminum, pound for pound, is a stronger material than steel. Again, wood is stronger and lighter than aluminum. We still don't make cars from it. Going under the assumption that the OP is not going to go smacking into curbs though, the aluminum spacer will not create a weak link that doesn't already exist elsewhere, which was roughly my point. I think your curb indecent demonstrates that pretty well actually.

 

[91stranger]

i agree. im not gonna be testing how strong a curb is compared to my tire. but i just wanted some opinions on the them. they r 1.5" a piece to give u a 3" wider stance. nothing too big b/c i didnt want them five inches past my fenders. they arleady stick out about 1.5" without the spacers. and its sad to say but im selling the truck... i love it but i have a baby on the way and need something more practical and safer. lol.

 

[r1hatman]

I have run them on my 67 mustang for a year now and they are fine. Just make sure you get good quality ones, billet if possible and torque them to specs! and then recheck them ever time you rotate your tires.