wheel spacers....the good, the bad, and the ugly....

[sn4cktime]

1.5" SpiderTrax, front and rear.  Helps with inner fender rubbing when stuffed.  Unit bearings and balljoints are still good - for now...  But I'm pretty sure the 35 x 12.5's being 110lbs each screw up my rig's parts more than the extra 3" width.

[w squared]

The amount of wear put on bearings and balljoints is the same regardless of whether you have a wheel that has 4.5" backspacing, or use a wheel with 6" backspacing and add a 1.5" spacer.

The increased wear is simply due to leverage. It doesn't matter what method is used to reduce that backspacing - it's just a matter of how far "out" from the bearing the force is exerted.

I don't run spacers myself, but from the reading I've done, there are two things that I've seen to watch for.

#1. Get a quality spacer that comes with lugs on it. The ones that try to fit between your wheel and the hub are not something you want on your rig. The pic that swampsinger posted is an example f the type that I'd look to run.

#2. Torque wrenches and loctite are not optional. They're required. Then agian, torque wrenches should be used ANY time you put a wheel on, spacers or no.

[hps4evr]

when installing the wheels spacers. please make sure the surface they are sitting against, like the brake rotors or drum, is clean and flat. as well remove the clips that surround the lug nut studs on some of these vehicles. they will make the spacer sit crooked and cause many a headache later on. as other mentioned, torque them down, use locktite on the factory studs holding the spacers on.
it comes down to how much you like your current wheels. and what back spacing you allready have. if you need a wider rim then wheel spacers cant help you there. if your rim and tire combo is fine, you just need an extra inch or so of width then spacers it is.

[JackstandJohnny]

The rockcrawlers are ~$60 USD each, so $360 CDN for 5 as opposed to $240 for 4 Spidertrax spacers shipped.

For the $45 difference I'll take the wheel and hub centric design of the Spiertrax

its all good buddy................ just remember, YOU can take your wheels and wheel spacers off when we do your unit bearings why i sit back and drink beer.........

just so yo know how much of a bitch they are i won't roll in the air tools till AFTER you ahve the wheels off
blahahahahaha, don't worry should be quick. clean your jeep up real good though. i don't want mud falling on my face when we start hitting $h!t with a hammer

[WhiteOut]

Ok, the wheels and spacers are torqued to spec so they will come off easy and a bit fo heat will get the locktite to loosen up.