to wheel spacer or not?

vintageroy13 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:57 am

so i just recently finished my lift and got new tires and have been contemplating getting spidertrax wheel spacers or not. i would love to see pics of with and without and opinions of what people think the pros and cons are. any help would be great.

dirt pig · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:37 am

If you've already installed the lift and tyres; and there is no rubbing anywhere at full lock (Left or right), then I wouldn't bother adding wheel spacers.

The Pluses are :

Increased track (wider ) - improved stability reducing the chance of rollover.
More clearance between wheel rim and brake assembly- More efficient cooling of the disc?
Increase the distance of the tyre and torsion bar at full lock. (this means that you can go a slightly wider tyre)

The minuses:

Chance of creating rubbing on the inner guard at full lock (depends on the width/profile of the tyre)
You can possibly make your vehicle unroadworthy by making the tyre/wheel protrude out past the edge of the vehicle(Depends on local bylaws- Refer to your local government body) Thus affecting possible insurance claims.

vintageroy13 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:18 pm

yes the lift is installed and there is rubbing on both sides on the a arms when i turn the wheel fully. that is why i am contemplating installing wheel spacers cause i would rather rub on a piece of plastic and not the a arm.

KJWildman · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:43 pm

didn't get pics of the front for some reason but heres the back
Before

After

those are 265/75-16 Michelin LTX A/T tires
sorry about the second pic, it was getting dark

RAYMAN975 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:46 pm

how reliable/safe are these? i know spidertraxx is a good name. i was considering getting them. it would be much cheaper than getting the moab wheels. plus on the moabs i wouldnt be able to use my 235-85 because its too narrow for an 8" rim.

i just hate the fact of having 40lug nuts instead of 20. i understand if you torque them correctly and use loctite on the spacer lugs, they will be ok, but i can be paranoid

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:14 pm

i installed new lug nuts and loctited them and haven't had a problem in 30k

ran them in a much more brutal application for about 90k with probably 60k being off road and never had a problem, key being to loctite and torque them correctly to begin with

they can cause increased wheel bearing / axle wear but so can alot of things

Neatus · **Posted:** Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:08 pm

I had some for a while and it made it look great. I took them off though because when turning sharp they made it rub terribly....

LostRenegade · **Posted:** Tue Nov 03, 2009 11:33 pm

I just picked up a used set and installed them. So far so good. I am getting some rubbing up front, still have to work on the plastic with a heat gun and a hammer to reform the plastic.

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Tue Nov 03, 2009 11:44 pm

this is what your jeep will look like if you get big enough spacers

if you are just getting spider trax it'll look like this

[IMG]http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll306/ajr5195/CIMG0577.jpg[/IMG

pro's. better handling, better stability, better looks.
con's. twice as many lug nuts, need someone to hold the brake to tighten them after taking them off, some say they are dangerous (i never had a problem or one nut come loose.. ), illegal in some states.

my advice- buy some cheap steel wheels with the correct offset. saver,easier, and cost the same as the spacers. that's what i ended up doing.

Xodius · **Posted:** Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:54 pm

2006 KJ wrote:

this is what your jeep will look like if you get big enough spacers

if you are just getting spider trax it'll look like this

[IMG]http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll306/ajr5195/CIMG0577.jpg[/IMG

pro's. better handling, better stability, better looks.
con's. twice as many lug nuts, need someone to hold the brake to tighten them after taking them off, some say they are dangerous (i never had a problem or one nut come loose.. ), illegal in some states.

my advice- buy some cheap steel wheels with the correct offset. saver,easier, and cost the same as the spacers. that's what i ended up doing.

What rims are those? Do you have a closer pic? Looks good.

KJWildman · **Posted:** Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:07 pm

Pulling that pic out again?

Newbs will be full of questions on this one! :lol:

Those 35s do look sweet tho'

dcsveen · **Posted:** Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:19 pm

theres no way that you could have run those 33's :shock:

im assuming you just put them on for fun???

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Thu Nov 05, 2009 12:45 pm

dcsveen wrote:

theres no way that you could have run those 33's :shock:

im assuming you just put them on for fun???

hahah i know i know... the 35's were just for fun.. i could run them if i had a football field to make all my turns and only drove on flat straight paved roads haha. they are mickey tompson sim-lock's i believe... the other ones with my spidertrax spacers are just stock 05-06 renegade wheels.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:26 pm

how much track width overall do you lose when lifting with say OME coils? you of course notice the biggest difference in the rear because it doesn't get narrower with the lift

i never put mine on the ground without spacers so i never saw how much narrower mine would have been

rescu2000 · **Posted:** Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:48 am

One more note. If your tires are prone to picking up rocks, the spacers can cause another problem. Rocks being tossed into the sides of your jeep. I know, because my MTR's and spacers are doing that on mine. I hear rocks hitting the doors and even the side glass. I'll probably pull mine off right now just for that reason.

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:35 pm

rescu2000 wrote:

One more note. If your tires are prone to picking up rocks, the spacers can cause another problem. Rocks being tossed into the sides of your jeep. I know, because my MTR's and spacers are doing that on mine. I hear rocks hitting the doors and even the side glass. I'll probably pull mine off right now just for that reason.

i noticed that too.. sometimes you get a nice 'WACK' but i like how it gives the outside of the jeep a nice coat of mud while offroading

to wheel spacer or not?

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