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Wheel Spacers - experience?

engineXI

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I have been looking at wheel spacers and there is a ton of info out there and much of it contradicts the rest. I watched a pretty good video on it but at the end I felt like it was more of a sales pitch and it wasn't jeep related.

I wanted to hear from jeep owners about their experience with wheel spacers.

Such as:
What material is best
With threaded bolts or not
limitations on space (does this impact anything?)
is there anything that needs to change other than the spacer (and assuming the larger tire size)
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WilhelmSR

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I ran them on my JK for 7 years on stock wheels with 35's with hard off-roading and never had an issue. Match bolt pattern.

Ran spidertrax
 

zw470

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I ran Spidertrax spacers on my JK and my 4Runner. Wouldn't hesitate to use them on my JLR if I needed to.
 

Carlton

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Spidertrax and Synergy are the top two brands. I have ran both with 40" tires with no issues. Don't buy cheap spacers. Stick to one of those brands and you will be fine.
 

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What are your thoughts on these Quadratec ones?
Spacers
I've had them for a few months now, even went wheeling at Badlands. So far so good, but the park patrol guy at Badlands really thought they were a bad idea and said he'd seen them fail.
Are wider wheels with a 4.5" backspacing a better solution?
 

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Zandcwhite

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keep them torqued and use blue loctite when you install them. We’ve had 1.5” spacers on the Jeep for over 20k miles with 37’s and hard wheeling. I’ve had 2” spacers on my ram for 60k miles and haul and even tow the Jeep on the trailer. Properly installed and torqued, they are no different than a wheel with the same backspacing.
 

aldo98229

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Limitations:
  1. You double the number of lug nuts. Instead of 20 lug nuts, you now have 40 lug nuts you have to worry about keeping properly torqued, and half of them you can neither see nor check with the wheels on
  2. Add unsprung weigh, which deteriorates ride and handling. Of course this becomes a moot point the moment you add a set of 90-lb MTs... 😫
  3. Some tire shops have policies that refuse work on a vehicle with wheel spacers. Years back Discount Tire refused to rebalance and rotate my tires after they found that the Jeep had wheel spacers. Has to do with liability concerns
Other than that, it’s all peaches.
 

DadJokes

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I investigated spacers last year and being around vehicle and aircraft maintenance for years, I can’t imagine myself not inspecting for signs of failure. venture4wd on YouTube is still running his Teraflex 1.25” spacers of unknown manufacturing origin for 120k miles(180k on Jeep JKU), many of those off road and on washboard roads. I will nspect the spacers, inspect all visible studs and lug nuts, & properly torque my lug nuts with a calibrated torque wrench every tire rotation.

Here’s a business that makes their Bora spacers in Nevada. You can call and custom order them in various widths. IF you use the common stock wheels (not sure about the Mopar beadlocks etc) the narrowest spacer you can go with us 1”. The factory length studs installed in them protrude into the wheel’s hub .410” with a 1” spacer. 1.5” spacer would be the minimum for an aftermarket wheel.

https://www.motorsport-tech.com/about.html

They were around $235 shipped if I recall

I’ve not decided how often I will remove the spacers to inspect non visible areas. I have a very light coat of anti-seize on the backs to keep them from sticking to the rotors. I’ve went with orange Permatex thread locker because it’s advertised as the strength of red thread locker but removable. Perfect for this application.

The machining quality was excellent and they use OEM studs at the proper length for JL’s. I also liked that they are black. Not a loud blue or red color that doesn’t match.

Spidertrax seems to have a great reputation as well. I’m not sure where they’re made but people are happy with them. Are they available in custom ordered widths?
 
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Zandcwhite

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Limitations:
  1. You double the number of lug nuts. Instead of 20 lug nuts, you now have 40 lug nuts you have to worry about keeping properly torqued, and half of them you can neither see nor check with the wheels on
  2. Add unsprung weigh, which deteriorates ride and handling. Of course this becomes a moot point the moment you add a set of 90-lb MTs... 😫
  3. Some tire shops have policies that refuse work on a vehicle with wheel spacers. Years back Discount Tire refused to rebalance and rotate my tires after they found that the Jeep had wheel spacers. Has to do with liability concerns
Other than that, it’s all peaches.
I think the unsprung weight is a moot point as most rims you'd buy for the added backspacing will be wider and heavier than the stock rims, not to mention most people adding spacers are also adding heavier tires as you noted. As far as maintaining torque, they are loctited and although I throw a torque wrench on them every rotation, I've never gotten any movement. An extra 45 seconds per wheel fits in my schedule ok. The large corporate tire shops are the only ones I've ever heard say anything, and I prefer my small local shop anyway. Spacers aren't for everyone, but they work just fine in my experience.
 

Terminex

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Been using spacers for many years on many applications including both jeeps. Using the synergy spcers for the last 2 years on 2 JL’s.

make sure that you use quality hub centric spacers only.

+1 on using a little anti sieze on the back of the spacers. I have seen too many spacer installs that could not be removed later due to the 2 different metals bonding themselves together.

be sure to follow the spacer manufacturer specs regarding the appropriate torque for the spacer to the factory studs, and then the wheels to the spacer studs.

while Jeep wheel specs are 130, many spacers are 110.

also remember that these specs are without thread locker. (Adding thread locker may be a good idea, but dramatically reduces the friction when tightening)
 

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Zandcwhite

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Been using spacers for many years on many applications including both jeeps. Using the synergy spcers for the last 2 years on 2 JL’s.

make sure that you use quality hub centric spacers only.

+1 on using a little anti sieze on the back of the spacers. I have seen too many spacer installs that could not be removed later due to the 2 different metals bonding themselves together.

be sure to follow the spacer manufacturer specs regarding the appropriate torque for the spacer to the factory studs, and then the wheels to the spacer studs.

while Jeep wheel specs are 130, many spacers are 110.

also remember that these specs are without thread locker. (Adding thread locker may be a good idea, but dramatically reduces the friction when tightening)
Some spacers, including the ones I run, ship with blue loctite, so clearly their recommended torque includes the loctite being used.
 

DadJokes

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Been using spacers for many years on many applications including both jeeps. Using the synergy spcers for the last 2 years on 2 JL’s.

make sure that you use quality hub centric spacers only.

+1 on using a little anti sieze on the back of the spacers. I have seen too many spacer installs that could not be removed later due to the 2 different metals bonding themselves together.

be sure to follow the spacer manufacturer specs regarding the appropriate torque for the spacer to the factory studs, and then the wheels to the spacer studs.

while Jeep wheel specs are 130, many spacers are 110.

also remember that these specs are without thread locker. (Adding thread locker may be a good idea, but dramatically reduces the friction when tightening)
As to threadlocker affecting torque values, the manufacturer of that particular threadlocker should give direction. For the orange, Permatex says no torque compensation is required.
 

Terminex

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Some spacers, including the ones I run, ship with blue loctite, so clearly their recommended torque includes the loctite being used.
That is great to hear. Thumbs up to manufacturers who know what they are doing.
 

Terminex

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As to threadlocker affecting torque values, the manufacturer of that particular threadlocker should give direction. For the orange, Permatex says no torque compensation is required.
Can you share the link where you got the info that the permatex orange does not need a change in torque? That is a game changer. I cannot find the manual right now, but if i remember correctly loctite recommends a decrease of 20% when using their liquid thread lockers.

thanks!
 

DadJokes

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Can you share the link where you got the info that the permatex orange does not need a change in torque? That is a game changer. I cannot find the manual right now, but if i remember correctly loctite recommends a decrease of 20% when using their liquid thread lockers.

thanks!
Google Permatex Orange Threadlocker and there should be a link that should have the “TDS”-Technical Data Sheet download. It’s on the right side, I believe on the second page down.
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