Does anyone here use wheel spacers?

[jremington59]

Yesterday I came across a set of four continental cross contact LT's 255 70/16 mounted on Ford 16 inch rims for 150.00. They still had 11/32's tread so I bought them. The guy said they came off a wrecked 03 Explorer. Of coarse, as everything else it was to good to be true, lol. The problem is my rims have a 5 1/4 backspace from the rim to the inside of the tire and the new ones are 6 1/4 so if I turn very sharp the wheel barely hits the lower control arm. I can either grind down a 1 inch length the lower control arm about a quarter inch or throw on wheel spacers. My question is do wheel spacers cause any trouble?

 

[Dave 1955]

I ended up putting wheel spacers on my 95 and never had a problem.
I think 1/2" and I used the stock studs.

 

[frankcal]

Ive had them on mine for about 5k now and nothing wrong with them. I take the wheels off every other weekend to torque them down, but they haven't budged at all. I went with 1 1/2 inch ones off ebay.

 

[koda2000]

Yesterday I came across a set of four continental cross contact LT's 255 70/16 mounted on Ford 16 inch rims for 150.00. They still had 11/32's tread so I bought them. The guy said they came off a wrecked 03 Explorer. Of coarse, as everything else it was to good to be true, lol. The problem is my rims have a 5 1/4 backspace from the rim to the inside of the tire and the new ones are 6 1/4 so if I turn very sharp the wheel barely hits the lower control arm. I can either grind down a 1 inch length the lower control arm about a quarter inch or throw on wheel spacers. My question is do wheel spacers cause any trouble?

if they were 255 70/16's off an Explorer they should have fit fine. that's what's on my '01 EB right now. as far as using wheel spacers, i think the concern is the shear force they may put on the lug studs, but i know many people use them. i guess you can minimize any risk by properly torquing everything down and checking them periodically.

 

[frankcal]

The difference from 2nd gen to 3rd gen wheels is the backspacing like the OP mentioned. So putting 03 wheels on a 2nd gen makes them tuck in, even if the tire size is stock.

 

[jremington59]

I suppose if you're careful then using the third gen wheels on a second gen is possible if you are careful, but I found a new set of synergy on craigslist for 90 dollars so I think I'll get them. The dude also has a 3 in body lift for an older jeep that goes with the deal also.

 

[stoneydude]

Do you have 15's?

 

[SoNic67]

Wheel spacers put more torque on bearings, because larger distance between applied forces (vehicle weight on ball joints in steering knuckle) and support reaction (wheel "contact" face with the disc/spacer).
So... more stress on your bearings.

 

[Ford008]

Wheel spacers put more torque on bearings, because larger distance between applied forces (vehicle weight on ball joints in steering knuckle) and support reaction (wheel "contact" face with the disc/spacer).
So... more stress on your bearings.

Spacers only increase stress if you push the center line of the wheel further outward than 'stock'. In this situation, the wheels the OP used have 1" more back spacing that the originals, so if he ran a 1" spacer (and the wheels are the same width), the forces would be equal. He could easily use a 1.25 or 1.5" spacer (I like 1.5" as you usually don't have to trim the stock studs) and remain very close to original. Many people run a 15x8 with 3.5-3.25" BS that pushes the center line out 1.5" without issue.

I say go for it. I ran 33x10.5's on J**p Gambler wheels (15x8, 5.5" BS) on a 97 Ex with 1.25" spacers in front and 1.5" spacers in the rear. They kept the fronts just inside the fenders and pushed the rears out just a hair.

 

[SoNic67]

The torque on bearing has nothing to do with the back spacing of the wheel.
It's all about the SPACER itself.
Look again at my drawing to see where the force application points are - the hub face and the ball joints.

 

[shucker1]

The torque on bearing has nothing to do with the back spacing.

Look again at my drawing to see where the force application points are - the hub face and the ball joints

 

[shucker1]

Between #8 & #10 you just did a complete 180????

 

[MercuryMullet]

I run 1.5" adapter spacers. I also have 0 offset/backspace. I have had no problem, I run them on an offroad truck. Check the lugs because even though the stress the tire isn't much differnt the lug nuts have a small amount of extra load since the wheel it self is further away. I have had less problems with my bearings than people with huge off set wheels and no spacers.

 

[SoNic67]

Between 8 & 10 you just did a complete 180????

No, I am saying the same thing. Wheel spacers will put more stress on bearings.
But the wheel back-spacing has no importance.
There are two different things.

 

[MercuryMullet]

No, I am saying the same thing. Wheel spacers will put more stress on bearings.
But the wheel back-spacing has no importance.
There are two different things.

So if have a zero back space wheel and run a 12" tire (6" of leverage on each side of the bearing) it puts the same stress as a 4" back space wheel (10" of leverage on one side and 2" on the other)?

 

[SoNic67]

Yes - is the same for the internal part of the hub. Fulcrum points for the hub are not as you describe.

Sure, the torque exercised on the steel wheel itself is equal and acting opposite direction. But that is not the issue here, that is a different lever system.

Imagine a 10ft spacer combined with a -10ft back space on wheel. Will that be the same stress on bearing/hub as the normal wheel? Because that's what you are saying.
No. there will be 2 opposite torque systems - one inside the hub, one outside, in the wheel. They will cancel each other, but the fact remains that the hub will have to resist a 10ft arm with 1/4 vehicle weight on ends.

 

[shucker1]

I tend to disagree with your physics.

In the old style inner \ outer bearing set up (Tapered Roller) movement inward or outward from the CL of the bearing plane will change loading of the bearing.

In a later style cartridge \ hub bearing (Cylindrical Roller) bearing the effects may not be as bad but will still be there.

If you try and put large back spacers on and old tapered roller bearing set up I'll bet your outer bearing don't last long.

 

[shucker1]

P.S. Back Spacing has the same effect but not as high as a spacer.

Back Spacing moves the CL of load.

 

[MercuryMullet]

I run 1.5" adapter spacers. I also have 0 offset/backspace. I have had no problem, I run them on an offroad truck. Check the lugs because even though the stress the tire isn't much differnt the lug nuts have a small amount of extra load since the wheel it self is further away. I have had less problems with my bearings than people with huge off set wheels and no spacers.

That's what I'm saying? I'm pretty sure I stated the there would be extra stress since the wheel itself is further away.

However you did say the back spacing has no importance. So If the wheel has a 10' back space there is no more stress on the bearing. Learn something new every day.

 

[shucker1]

I'm not disagreeing with you MecuryMullet.

Just the other guy.

I've been working on large bore, slow speed, stationary engines for 17 years and I've seen some very bad stuff from bearing failures.

Usually because someone thought the could make it better than the origional design engineers.