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Should I use wheel spacers with my lift?

RC-cola

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Hey everyone newb over here so go easy on me :)

I'm wanting to put a 2.5" suspension lift on my 2020 Willy's 2 Door. I was thinking of also adding some wheel spacers to give it a more balanced, aggressive stance (aka, not looking like it's on tiny tires). I'm keeping the stock tires A) because I like 'em & B) I can't afford to replace them right now. They're 33's.
It's hard for me to visualize how this is all going to look completed. The wheel spacers will likely be 1.75" cause they don't seem to make 1.5"s for the 2020s.

Has anyone done anything similar? Have any pics?
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DadJokes

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I ordered 1” spacers from here, the manufacturer of Bora.
https://www.motorsport-tech.com/bora.html

I measured the pockets on the back of the stock Rubicon upgrade wheels and the pockets are roughly .750” deep. The factory studs will prude through the spacers only .410” so if you want to run factory wheels with these narrower spacer specs, you can. If you plan to run aftermarket wheels later it seems that 1.5” would be the minimum width to not have the factory studs protrude through the spacer at all but I would verify with another user.
 

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Hey everyone newb over here so go easy on me :)

I'm wanting to put a 2.5" suspension lift on my 2020 Willy's 2 Door. I was thinking of also adding some wheel spacers to give it a more balanced, aggressive stance (aka, not looking like it's on tiny tires). I'm keeping the stock tires A) because I like 'em & B) I can't afford to replace them right now. They're 33's.
It's hard for me to visualize how this is all going to look completed. The wheel spacers will likely be 1.75" cause they don't seem to make 1.5"s for the 2020s.

Has anyone done anything similar? Have any pics?
Normally I’d advise against wheel spacers but if you’re going to keep the existing wheels and tires for now, I don’t think it will be a big deal to use the spacers for a little while. If and when you upgrade the tires to something larger, move away from the spacers and get a wheel with proper offset.
Here are some images of my JLUR with the Mopar 2” lift (sits closer to 2.5” with no weight) and stock 33” tires on stock wheels (no spacers). I agree that it looks disproportionate without moving out the wheels a bit. These photos were taken just before upgrading to 37s.

Jeep Wrangler JL Should I use wheel spacers with my lift? CD237FA6-3294-4306-89C0-9B4653EE1EB0
Jeep Wrangler JL Should I use wheel spacers with my lift? A0671F16-D1DB-4A14-B088-CFFCADB4BAE3
 
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RC-cola

RC-cola

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Normally I’d advise against wheel spacers but if you’re going to keep the existing wheels and tires for now, I don’t think it will be a big deal to use the spacers for a little while. If and when you upgrade the tires to something larger, move away from the spacers and get a wheel with proper offset.
Here are some images of my JLUR with the Mopar 2” lift (sits closer to 2.5” with no weight) and stock 33” tires on stock wheels (no spacers). I agree that it looks disproportionate without moving out the wheels a bit. These photos were taken just before upgrading to 37s.

Jeep Wrangler JL Should I use wheel spacers with my lift? A0671F16-D1DB-4A14-B088-CFFCADB4BAE3
Jeep Wrangler JL Should I use wheel spacers with my lift? A0671F16-D1DB-4A14-B088-CFFCADB4BAE3
Thanks for sharing that photo! makes me think that 1.75” spacers might not be too much afterall. On a Jeep with no lift I think that’s too big of a wheel spacers but might be ok on a lift.

and yeah it’s not a forever thing but I likely won’t replace the tires until their life is up.
 

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Watching the last 4 years of Venture4WD on Youtube was confidence inspiring to me in regards to quality hubcentric wheel spacers. He’s gone over 110k miles on his and he does off road and rough roads for much of that. It’s enough to take it’s toll of wear and tear on his ‘13 JK. He makes his living off YouTube and up until the last few months, his JK was his only home. Now he has a Winnebago Revel van too as a periodic home base.
 

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As long as they are hub centric and quality brand theres honestly no worry of running them. Ive been running 2” spacers in the rear for 40k miles hauling ass and taking rough trails. They havent loosened or look wore down or anything. Oh and they have been used on my 37s and 35s their whole lifes
 

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Any updates on your Jeep? Did you use the wheel spacers w/ lift on stock wheels?
 

DadJokes

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So far so good. No damage I can see but did have a so called Jeep shop do a rotation and they hammered them with torque sticks instead of using a socket and torque wrench like I asked them. Pissed me off. Come to find out they didn’t install or just forgot to use thread locker on my track bar so the adjuster clamp lock bolts came loose. Probably on lots of washboard roads I told them I’d be on. Ruined the track bar. Needless to say I won’t be going back again despite them doing a great job on my regear. They previously did a shoddy locker motor (Ox locker) install too. Two bolts bolt instead of four holding it in. Sorry for the rant lol.

The Bora 1” spacers are good.
 

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Any updates on your Jeep? Did you use the wheel spacers w/ lift on stock wheels?
Hey there, I am new here, I have a 1980 CJ5 and I am thinking of wheel spacers... any advice?
 

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Hey everyone newb over here so go easy on me :)

I'm wanting to put a 2.5" suspension lift on my 2020 Willy's 2 Door. I was thinking of also adding some wheel spacers to give it a more balanced, aggressive stance (aka, not looking like it's on tiny tires). I'm keeping the stock tires A) because I like 'em & B) I can't afford to replace them right now. They're 33's.
It's hard for me to visualize how this is all going to look completed. The wheel spacers will likely be 1.75" cause they don't seem to make 1.5"s for the 2020s.

Has anyone done anything similar? Have any pics?
Wheel spacers will not instantly demolish your Jeep and, depending on how and where you drive and how much stress you put on your axles and joints, there might be reasons for you to use them. If you're just mall crawling, you'll be fine; however, Canada does have nice wild places, which is why I like it.

So, no, don't use wheel spacers unless you have to as a last resort. Using them increases the leverage on the suspension and puts more, often unnecessary stress on everything connected to the end of your axle shaft and knuckle. Study this video () to understand the way the system works and how tire size, backspacing, and wheel spacers effect it. It's not the easiest concept for anybody and, although he knows and is gifted with the engineering, McGean is clearly not used to explaining things to mortals. But, persevere and you'll eventually get a feel for the drawbacks of wheel spacers.
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