wheel spacers

For those whom are running wheel spacers- How do you like them? Are they practacle or do they just make your XJ look Kewl? are 2 inch spacers 2 big? Im running 4.5 inches of lift with 31 10.5 tires. Thanks for the help
Cheers

wheel spacers are great if you like changing hub or wheel bearings alot. i have changed about 5 now on my friends cars that are also 4x4's. they put more stress on the bearings leading to failure alot faster. but that's just my opinion about them. i would rather laugh at people with screwed up bearings on the side of the road than to be one of those people getting laughed at.

DurbElites said:

wheel spacers are great if you like changing hub or wheel bearings alot. i have changed about 5 now on my friends cars that are also 4x4's. they put more stress on the bearings leading to failure alot faster. but that's just my opinion about them. i would rather laugh at people with screwed up bearings on the side of the road than to be one of those people getting laughed at.

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So whats the difference between that and running a set of 3.25" backspaced wheels??I dont care for spacers but.....

I had wheel spacers on my MJ when i purchased it. It had Canyon rims with 1" spacers. What a pain in the butt hole it was. They require a special thin wall socket to remove the nuts. Not so bad around town, but a pain when you are miles from civilization. I chose to just get new rims and forget the spacers. I currently have 7+ inches of lift with 35 x 12.50's on 3.75 bs and they look and work great. Not worth the trouble and they are illegal in most states.

Seems like lower backspacing would apply the same stress.

I used them for about 4 months. The only reason I took them off was because I got different rims. If I hadn't bought different rims, I would still be using them.

RCP Phx said:

So whats the difference between that and running a set of 3.25" backspaced wheels??

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Nothing. I can't comment on how I like them yet, but I just got some Spidertrax 1.25" spacers so I can use my factory aluminum wheels. It will have the same effect as running wheels with 4" backspacing.

I run a set of 1 inch spacers up front. Makes the front 2 inches wider than the back, which really helps turning around trees and the like. Wheels come off just like normal and the spacer stays on the 44 hub/rotor when the axle needs to come out.
My is a trail only XJ however.

mjr has been running 1.25" spacers with moab wheels wrapped in 35" creepy crawlers for a very, very long time with no ill effects, and he probably wheels 40-45 runs a year.. he's not chewing up unit bearings, not breaking lugs..

*shrug*

ymmv, but i would not hesitate to run them.

i have 2 in spacers and no probs yet and they look good 2

For the extra track width and stability on the trail, changing bearings once every other year is a lot cheaper than replacing the whole jeep when it rolls over. I like my wheel backspacing around 1.5-2".

muddshutter said:

Not worth the trouble and they are illegal in most states.

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SPOBI
Which states? Are you referring to spacers or billlet adapters?
Ran 1.25" billet wheel adapters with 32's and 33's for 5 years in Utah with annual inspections and never had an issue.

I have been running 1.25 Spidertrax spacers with Rubicon wheels. Ive had these with 33s for over 40k and never had a problem. I had a time that I went through a few hub/unit bearings but I think looking back the problem was with the bearings themselves. I switched manufacturers and have yet to blow another one.(2 years) I always locktight the lugnuts and make sure the mounting surface is clear and clean when mounting the spacers.

Personally I would not use a spacer over 1.5" thick, or to have a total BS of less than 3.5"-especially with the D30. Nor would i use spacers that are not hub-centric, at least with 5 on 4.5.

I'll mention it just because no one has yet in this thread...

New wheels with the backspacing you want are often cheaper than buying wheel spacers.

And...

There's no difference in stress or wear on the hubs between running a quality billet aluminum spacer that bolts onto your lugs, than a wheel with the equivalent backspacing. But due to the cost, I'd only run spacers if there's a purpose, such as you really want to keep the wheel style you have but want a wider track, or as in my case I have Warn's front hub conversion that spaces the front wheels out about 3/4" on each side. The track difference between front tires and rear tires doesn't bother a lot of people, but I chose to add 1" spacers to the rear wheels only to more or less equal the track of the front wheels. With 4" BS on the wheels and 1" spacers, my virtual backspacing is 3". Its perfect for my rig IMO. YMMV.