Wheel Spacers

nagyiii

Original poster
Member
Apr 26, 2014
73
Who's got them, and where did you get them? Why did you put them on? What vehicle are they on? Got pics?
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
Many many pictures in the Build Thread area of offroadtb.com

You can search on Ebay or Google for them, but there are many unscrupulous or incompetent vendors out there. Mark McMaster (http://theliftmeister.com/public_html/theliftmeister.com/) is the vendor many folks use, to support his support of the platform.

I'm very very surprised you'd ask why we put them on. To fit bigger tires, of course, without the tire hitting the upper ball joint mount. Have you done the simple thing of bending over to LOOK at the geometry down there?
 

nagyiii

Original poster
Member
Apr 26, 2014
73
My main concern is clearance. I just upgraded to 17" wheels with 255/65/17 Goodyear Wranglers, I have about 5/8" clearance from the ball joint. It would put my at ease to put on some 1 1/2" bolt on spacers to get the extra clearance. Agreed?


Thanks for the link Roadie!!
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
You can safely run with 1/4" clearance. It's not as if a tire stays distorted by the time it rotates around to the top near the ball joint. Those tires are 30.1" nominal. Folks don't need spacers until they go over 30.5". I wouldn't worry at all, and I worry a LOT about other stuff.
 

paul2005tb

Member
Nov 26, 2014
299
Massachusetts
Is it generally not recommended to grind the upper ball joint seat down a 1/4 of an inch ? Would that compromise the strength of the ball joint seat?

Is there any advantage to going to 1.25 in spacers if I never plan to run a tire tread wider than 11in?
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
I don't have the answer on grinding, as I haven't done that.

Spacers would widen your track width, which can provide a little more lateral stability. Also I personally think it looks a little better as the wheels are tucked in a bit far in my opinion. I like them being a bit more flush with the wheel wells.
 
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HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
No advantage to the 1.25 but 1.5 means no stud grinding so that is advantage to some.

You could run 1 inch if you were trying to skinny up the track width.
 
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paul2005tb

Member
Nov 26, 2014
299
Massachusetts
I guess the question is this : If I am not interested in tire widths beyond 11 inches, do I gain more fender clearance for a taller tire with the 1.25in spacer ?
 

Robbabob

Member
Dec 10, 2012
1,096
Seems to me, you gain fender clearance by putting on a stiffer spring.

If this is a BS answer, feel free to delete the post, Mods.
 
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paul2005tb

Member
Nov 26, 2014
299
Massachusetts
Robbabob said:
Seems to me, you gain fender clearance by putting on a stiffer spring.

If this is a BS answer, feel free to delete the post, Mods.
Ill provide what I have learned so far on this board from roadie, hardtrailz and others: Yes you do gain upper/topside fender clearance with a stiffer spring. But consider the front and back side fender interference, a spacer to allow the tire to clear the upper ball joint seat moves the wheels outboard. By doing so we increase the horizontal arc of the tire through the steering range of motion. As an extreme example if you installed a 6in spacer and a large enough tire you could steer the back side of your front tire into your front door panel.

For this reason it might be worth considering if 1.5in spacers are always better than 1.25 in spacers. I am asking myself, do I only need enough spacer to insure that the tire clears the ball joint.


Right now Im leaning towards going with the 1.5 in spacer because that seems to be the standard with the guys that know the most and it does give an overall 1/2 in wider wheel base. But I am trying to determine if the 1.25in in spacer would actually allow me to have a taller tire without fender interference and if so how much. I need to do some calculations.
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
I ran 1.3 for years. You really will not notice the .25 inch difference. You will be better and have the clearance by running higher backspacing wheels which can move the tire more than a 1/4 inch easily..

What tire, wheel are you looking at?

I chose to literally use a hacksaw on the fenders to fit the tires i wanted at the All Truck Nationals so I have never been one really concerned about fitting with stock clearance, but I have ran more combos of offroad tires and wheels than anyone and have seen how they move and what they hit.

You have to watch ball joint, fender, bumper, frame, firewall once you get large enough. It is all give and take.
 
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paul2005tb

Member
Nov 26, 2014
299
Massachusetts
HARDTRAILZ said:
What tire, wheel are you looking at?
Right now Im staying with my stock 17in alloy rims :

My options in the order are:

1) 1.5in bolt on spacers.
2) 1.25in bolt on spacers.
3) .5 in slip on spacers and install longer lug nuts and grind ball joint knuckle to suite once I choose my next set of 32-33in tires.
 

HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
With stock wheels I would likely just go with the 1.5 and have no other grinding n such.
 
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paul2005tb

Member
Nov 26, 2014
299
Massachusetts
Just bought my 1.5in wheel spacers from MarkMC. Put the fronts on today, the rears go on tomorrow. The 1.5in is the right way to go. Im glad I didnt settle for less.

Wow !!.. I have stock tires and lift but I feel that now with the 1.5in spacers the vehicle performance/rides as it was meant to ride. Or as it should have been designed to ride.

That stock narrow track was for the birds.

I took it around and exit ramp just a little faster than I ordinarily would just to feel the difference and it was like night and day. The car was so much more stable and it felt like it stuck to the road like the tires were on a rail !! Every TB should have these spacers. For the love of safety please get spacers on your TB!!

It is a better investment than even the lift, and I love my lift.

I opted to stay with the 6x5 OEM bolt pattern partly because my stock rims were in great shape, and I had plenty of tread on my tires.
 
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Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
They look good too as I mentioned before. No sunken look anymore.
 
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Tiggerr

Member
Jun 6, 2013
1,324
Perrysburg, OH
Has anyone used the spacers on a lowered 360? I like the idea but am worried about rubbing the fender lip. Little wider track wouldn't be too bad plus then maybe I'd be able to find some wheels for the damn thing lol.
 

David Powe

Member
Nov 3, 2015
2
Friendswood, Texas
Forgive my ignorance and hearsay, im new here. I have heard that spacers can cause premature hub bearing failure. How long has everyone been running spacers (in miles) and has anyone had any bearing failures?
 

fletch09

Member
Nov 20, 2011
1,982
Forgive my ignorance and hearsay, im new here. I have heard that spacers can cause premature hub bearing failure. How long has everyone been running spacers (in miles) and has anyone had any bearing failures?


been running MarkMc's 1.5 spacers with his 3" lift for approx 40,000 miles, no hub bearing failures so far. (knock on wood) total miles on TB 77,xxx.:twocents:
 
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HARDTRAILZ

Moderator
Nov 18, 2011
49,665
I prolly have 80K miles with adapters on and I do not believe anyone could actually prove the hubs go bad quicker with spacer/adapters. I have replaced a few hubs but I am running double the weight of tire and rim and far wider plus beating the truck off rocks and trails and sinking it in mud and water, so no bearing could survive.
 
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