Debating Wheel Spacers. See Pics

[rob17san]

Rob, there wouldn't be anything to gain with any chemical. The real question is the vertical forces, the support of the vehicle. If the wheels engage the hub, either of the actual hub, or the spacer(the spacer must be hub-centric also), then the weight is going through the wheel/hub, and not the studs. The studs are only capable of holding the wheel in against the hub, reliably. They can't reliably support the weight of a vehicle. The time which they do survive is related to how string they are, and how much friction they generate which lessens the vertical forces which they see. The match of the wheels to the hub center is an old and not commonly understood concept. I believe that I will work very hard to always have properly matched wheel hub holes. Good luck,

yes I understand that, the only good I assume the loctite or similar would do, is to keep the lug nuts from backing off.

 

[CDW6212R]

Well true, but the torque should be near 90ft.lbs. each, and nut which becomes loose would point to a mounting problem. I don't want to alarm you or anyone, I just would like everyone to have the needed knowledge, and be as safe as possible. Check the lug nuts for tightness after mounting and driving for a while, a day even. Regards,

 

[rob17san]

Thanks for the information. I was just thinking of being EXTRA safe if I am using spacers. I figure there are 5 lug nuts on a single wheel, switching to a spacer, it will have 10 total to worry about.
Rob

 

[rd_turbo]

+1 on being **** about using a hubcentric approach. I think it's quite possible for the lugnuts to loosen, but the problem is not that the studs are unable to bear the load. One stud on its own can bear the load of a corner and then some. The problem is dynamic loading. Wheel imbalance or just cyclic loading can eventually loosen the lugnuts. The hub provides significant support for impact loading. The hub also provides proper centering, which further reduces the possibility of radial imbalance. It's true that manufacturing tolerances vary and not all hubs come in full contact with the wheel counterbore, but the hub definitely comes into play when the wheel is impact loaded . I agree with CDW, relying on friction alone is not the answer. Don't buy the spacers from your first link off Ebay if you don't have the ability to modify them to make them hubcentric. You also don't need to worry about Loctite if you make sure that the spacers are hubcentric. The back side of the spacer must engage with the hub on the rotor and the front side of the spacer must engage the counterbore in the rim. Beyond that, all you need to worry about is proper torque on double the lugnuts...hardly a nuissance in my book. Where people might get into trouble is applying proper torque on the inside lugs, since the hub would need to be held stationary during torquing. I'm about to order some 1.5" off Ebay but I'll modify them to make them hubcentric. I can't believe how such an important feature was omitted on the so-called application specific stuff on Ebay....they're hogging out all that aluminum anyway, why not leave a lip where it belongs??

 

[rob17san]

How do you plan on making the spacers hub centric if I may ask?

 

[rd_turbo]

If you look at all the ones on Ebay, the ID is significantly larger than the hub diameter. I plan to make aluminum sleeves for each one with a slight slip/press fit and Loctite them in. The counterbore which would be needed to engage with the wheel hub would be machined into the sleeve, while the opposite end of the sleeve will engage with the wheel. In my situation, the rims that I'd like to fit are newer Explorer wheels with a totally different offset, so using spacers would recenter my wheels - this is so I can run winter tires. A forum member gave me great advice to keep the spacers on all year round to improve the appearance. I totally agree, I don't know why Ford designed all their trucks like that in the past....narrow track, small wheels, weird ride height mismatch front to back, and sometimes coupled with a short wheelbase....and they wondered why their trucks were tippy and unstable. My Sport Trac was nothing short of dangerous sometimes - oversprung and underdamped. My Mazda B/Ranger is much better and significantly more stable on the road but it could use an improvement in the appearance department. Most people tell me to simply use the right wheels and forget about spacers. I'm waay too deep into this to stop now and increasing my track width was something I had been thinkging about for a while.

 

[CDW6212R]

I have one of the 2002+ 17" Mountaineer rims as a spare, the offset is 44mm, and it's close with a spacer. I don't plan to use it, that's for emergencies.

 

[justin146]

I run 2" spacers on the rear of my truck.

 

[rd_turbo]

So spacers won't work on a 4WD Ranger/B-Series. I finally had a chance to take a closer look at the rims and hubs on my truck. The locking hub housing OD is 70.5 mm also, which means the spacer would engage with the hub lip, but there would be no possibility of having a lip on the spacer to engage with the rim. Hubcentric spacers on an older 4WD Ranger/B-Series won't work for me....booo.

 

[fordnut71]

if u look at the 85-94 f-150 2wd the hub dont hold the rim on the rear all the weight is on the studs. having own 4 f-150 in that year range none of them held on the hubs only the front will fit the hub

 

[CDW6212R]

Yes I agree, but it is much desired to have the wheels on the hub center. There have been quite a few stories on these forums about spacers and breaking studs etc. The bigger wheels and tires make it more important. Regards,