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Wheel spacers Pros/Cons?

O

ONX

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Caldwell Idaho
I am looking at getting 2 inch wheel spacers for my cherokee on 33/13.5 and I was wondering if there are any disadvantages to wheel spacers?
 
ONX said:
I am looking at getting 2 inch wheel spacers for my cherokee on 33/13.5 and I was wondering if there are any disadvantages to wheel spacers?
Click to expand...

i've never run them but i can tell you they are illegal in many states for street use. do you want them for additional backspacing or to adapt a different lug pattern? if its just to gain space i'd suggest buying new wheels with a more appropriate offset.
 
I run wheel spacers in the rear, and as Brett pointed out, there are more lug nuts to tighten, and makes servicing your rear brakes harder unless you have discs. The dis advantage on using them on the front is the put more load on you wheel bearing and sould cause them to wear out faster, I dont know. At 75 bucks on the low end for them, unless you are running them as in my case you swapped in a different rear axle and lost a bout 5/8 of an inch per side, they will do you of lil good.



Patrick
 
Pro- minimal width gain.
Con-there are a plethora of failures that could happen, have happened, and WILL happen if you dont stay right on top of them. AND theyre overpriced.
I take the same stand on wheel spacers as I do on large Lift-blocks. NOT a good idea.
 
Mine is a Neutral view point.

If you need them use them.

Beware, that yes there are more lugs to ensure are tightened.

Bearing wear will be the same as using a rim with less backspacing. You are moving the center of the tire out from over the bearing, thus increasing more leverage on the bearing.

The only really good way to go wider is to use a wider axle. Rims and wheel spacers are band-aids.

Erik
 
I've never seen this much negative about spacers anywhere! The truth? They are just as safe as any wheel if you get 6061 billet spacers, legal everywhere (even if they weren't who can see them?) and they are cheap if you know where to get them. I got mine from www.OffroadOverstock.com for $79 a pair. Spacers get a bad rap because some boneheads don't torque them down...just as many boneheads don't torque down wheels and they come off...you don't hear folks saying wheels are dangerous do you?
 
I'm running one and a half inch spacers on my rig. I don't see the difference between the spacer and a wheel with less backspacing. I used spacers because I wanted to use the OEM rim and take them a little farther so they don't rum by LCA and to just fit the 33's in the rear. (Without the spacer the tire got stuck with the spring).
 
Nothing wrong with them except price.
I think they got a bad rep due to the old cheap spacers that didn't bolt to the spindle, just being held on by the wheel. (They didn't have their own lugs)
 
I thought wheel spacers caused a lot of bearing wear due to pushing the bearing load away from the center of the bearing. steel wheels from crager are about $35 each, with different backspacings. Seems like a better way to go so that you aren't replacing bearings a lot.
 
hippymill said:
I thought wheel spacers caused a lot of bearing wear due to pushing the bearing load away from the center of the bearing. steel wheels from crager are about $35 each, with different backspacings. Seems like a better way to go so that you aren't replacing bearings a lot.
Click to expand...

I don't think a bearing knows the difference between a wheel or a wheel+spacer if the backspacing is the same.

hasta
 
Ronbo said:
I don't think a bearing knows the difference between a wheel or a wheel+spacer if the backspacing is the same.

hasta
Click to expand...
Exactly.
Whether the tire sits farther out due to a less BS wheel or a spacer makes no difference.
For this same reason I wouldn't use spacers. Getting new wheels with less BS is cheaper than spacers.
 
But if 3.25" BS is the least amount you can find in a wheel, and you want 2" of BS, you need the spacers and the wheels.
 
as a physics teacher, I would beg to differ. The wheel spacer acts a lever because the weight is directed to the hub at a distance equal to the wisth of spacer. Different backspacing moves the tire out farther, while directing the weight directly to the hub, without the lever lenght of a backspacer. The idea is that if there is 500 lbs of weight on the wheel, the spacer places that weight farther from the hub, and the bearing, because the weight is transferred to the bearing at the hub.
 
I run them, cause I am using my stock rims. If I hadn't already mounted my tires on those rims, I might have bought new rims. But $70 to have them remounted plus the cost of the rims... no thanks. I also like the look of a larger tire on the stock rim.
 
hippymill said:
as a physics teacher, I would beg to differ. The wheel spacer acts a lever because the weight is directed to the hub at a distance equal to the wisth of spacer. Different backspacing moves the tire out farther, while directing the weight directly to the hub, without the lever lenght of a backspacer. The idea is that if there is 500 lbs of weight on the wheel, the spacer places that weight farther from the hub, and the bearing, because the weight is transferred to the bearing at the hub.
Click to expand...
As a mech engineer I say no, the lever arm is the same. A wheel with 4" of rim sticking past the hub (call it front spacing) has the same length lever arm as a wheel with 2 " of front spacing + a 2" spacer.
The lever arm length depends on where the force is applied (figure the center of the wheel OD) and where it is eventually attached (the hub).
This distance is the same in both scenarios.
 
i run wheel spacer and beat on them reguarly no probs to date 6 months of abuse. kid4lyf is right on with the discription. and as others have stated torque them down correctly check them and you will have about as much problems as you will with any other rim.
 
kid4lyf said:
As a mech engineer I say no, the lever arm is the same. A wheel with 4" of rim sticking past the hub (call it front spacing) has the same length lever arm as a wheel with 2 " of front spacing + a 2" spacer.
The lever arm length depends on where the force is applied (figure the center of the wheel OD) and where it is eventually attached (the hub).
This distance is the same in both scenarios.
Click to expand...

Somebody needs to go back to school, The Physics Teacher is right. Try a free-body diagram.

P.S. ME here too.
 
baldwinwb said:
Somebody needs to go back to school, The Physics Teacher is right. Try a free-body diagram.

P.S. ME here too.
Click to expand...
I did.
I'm right.

Maybe it'll help if you look at it this way.
Put a wheel with 2" backspacing and a 2" spacer, bolted together, in front of you.
Now put the other wheel, with 4" backspacing, next to it.
Lever arm wise, they are identical.
The force on the tire is in the same place and they connect to the spindle in the same place.
 
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