Wheel Spacers and Red Threadlock

[blnewt]

I have never and would never use any thread locker on wheel spacers. And certainly not red. I think it’s included or recommended as a CYA for the lowest common denominator end-user who will never check the torque or inspect their stuff, and who will go a long time before rotating the tires or taking the wheels off for any reason.

Having a nut go loose on a spacer is not any more likely or unlikely than having a nut go loose on a wheel. The only difference is you can’t see or otherwise easily check if a nut is loose on a spacer. So follow proper procedures and stay on top of maintenance. Retorque and inspect the spacers after the first 50-100 miles and every tire rotation after that.

Never used Jeep spacers but have used spacers on road cars, never used any loctite, and AFAIK it was never recommended to do so.

Once I started reading about Jeep (and I assume other 4x4 applications) there was a lot of talk about using thread locker, maybe it's more common in these vehicles, but I agree 100% with @scrape , proper inspection/confirmation of torque at the time/mileage mentioned above is the way I've always done it, and FWIW never had to re-torque any spacer nuts, always held torque from day 1.

The only thing that sucked w/ the spacers I used was the soft metal nuts used w/ the spacers, very easy to round off if you didn't have your socket 100% flush and it must be a 6pt.

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[Tangokilo]

I have no experience with wheel spacers, but am a 30 year+ Aerospace Engineer. At work - essential - work load low... bored reading the threads. Red Locktite is meant for permanent use that you never want to remove or loosen and expect removal to be with great difficulty, like engine flywheels. Blue Locktite is meant for use where you do want to be able to remove the parts. Blue would be my choice as changing out wheel studs is a real pain... up thread some have found red to work fine though. Either will make re-torqueing (after it's set up) the lug nut's difficult and will affect torque readings on a torque wrench. If when checking torque you do actually move the nut - you just destroyed the holding ability of the locktite application. If the nut moves when checking torque you should reapply fresh locktite. Best Regards, Tom

 

[rustyshakelford]

I use blue. You’ll need to remove them to remove the rotor for example and I don’t think a properly torqued spacer should ever need red (high strength). There not really any different than the wheel, when torqued properly and periodically checked they are excellent

Brett

 

[JDBull7]

I have no experience with wheel spacers, but am a 30 year+ Aerospace Engineer. At work - essential - work load low... bored reading the threads. Red Locktite is meant for permanent use that you never want to remove or loosen and expect removal to be with great difficulty, like engine flywheels. Blue Locktite is meant for use where you do want to be able to remove the parts. Blue would be my choice as changing out wheel studs is a real pain... up thread some have found red to work fine though. Either will make re-torqueing (after it's set up) the lug nut's difficult and will affect torque readings on a torque wrench. If when checking torque you do actually move the nut - you just destroyed the holding ability of the locktite application. If the nut moves when checking torque you should reapply fresh locktite. Best Regards, Tom

Great info, thanks. I wish I read this yesterday as I checked everything last night after about 80 miles. I ended up using the blue loctite and out of all 20 lugs only one lug moved when I re-torqued. I didn't reapply the locktite though. Guess I'll do that at the next check.

Thanks,
JD

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