Wheel Spacers

[68PowerWagon]

Does anyone know if somebody makes wheel spacers for our trucks? Would like to have a little wider stance. May buy offset wheels down the road but won't have the extra money for that mod for awhile.

Done some searching & found some so now for my next question... does this have negative impact on the vehicle for hauling or towing?

 

[brandonjansen]

Motorsport Tech BORA spacers are what you want. They're a true hub centric spacer machined specifically for your application. I run their 2" BORA spacer with my stock 17's and 37's throughout the winter. My truck is daily driven in the city and on highway, I've hauled 10,000 lbs with then, beat on the truck on the street, taken it offroading. No issues at all. Highly recommended in my book and Lenny (the owner) is a great guy to deal with if you do have any questions.

 

[68PowerWagon]

Motorsport Tech BORA spacers are what you want. They're a true hub centric spacer machined specifically for your application. I run their 2" BORA spacer with my stock 17's and 37's throughout the winter. My truck is daily driven in the city and on highway, I've hauled 10,000 lbs with then, beat on the truck on the street, taken it offroading. No issues at all. Highly recommended in my book and Lenny (the owner) is a great guy to deal with if you do have any questions.

Great! Thanks for the info!

 

[kry226]

Does anyone know if somebody makes wheel spacers for our trucks? Would like to have a little wider stance. May buy offset wheels down the road but won't have the extra money for that mod for awhile.

Done some searching & found some so now for my next question... does this have negative impact on the vehicle for hauling or towing?

You may be able to use them for years with no problems, but to answer your question, the spacers will put extra stress on the studs (shear force), bearings, and probably ball joints too. Hauling or towing will exacerbate this. Up to you, but I would never run a spacer on any vehicle I own.

(Now here come the fan boys who love roller skate-looking trucks to tell me how wrong I am. But they still cannot change the laws of physics.)

 

[R.L.K.]

LOL ! Wow LOL !

I've ran spacers on several different vehicles , one of which we'll over 60k miles . Offroading hauling whatever I wanted . I've never had any issues .

Some pointers to consider:
After a few hundred miles tq check the spacers , if any move repete this process until the tq has stabilized .
Every 6-8 k during normal tire rotation , tq check them again and any time you have a wheel removed for any reason tq check them then as well .
Most horror stories about wheel spacers are due to improper installation.
Get quality spacers hub centric like Brandonjanson mentioned above .

As for kry226's statement above , yes more load is put on wheel bearings and such , just can't argue that ; however, wide wheels with lots of offset does this as well .
Imo quality spacers , properly installed and maintained are a great substitute for much more expensive wheels to obtain the same stance you're after .

Fwiw there are a couple sets for sale in the classifieds here.


Take this into consideration as well Sir , it's been my experience that most people who jump right to running down a product usually have either never used the product and have only read or heard stories , have installed & used cheep products unsuccessfully or improperly installed the product .
So make your decision on folks who has experience with the product you post about .

Hope this helps you Sir !

 

[Underarock13]

I agree unneeded stress.

 

[R.L.K.]

http://www.ramforum.com/showthread.php?t=78976

BORA 1.75" 2012-up RAM 1500 Spacers

These are quality spacers for sale now @ a great price and they should not require shorter studs or trimming of your factory studs .
If you install these spacers for a wider stance you'll probably want some fender flares.

 

[68PowerWagon]

LOL ! Wow LOL !

I've ran spacers on several different vehicles , one of which we'll over 60k miles . Offroading hauling whatever I wanted . I've never had any issues .

First off I have purchased a little more truck than I need. I am only going to be using the truck for what it is design maybe 10-15% of the time. The occasional pulling/hauling for work & a 4,500lb. boat 8-10 times a year. The rest of the time its a daily driver. If those numbers were reversed I have to say I would probably lean more towards kry226's advice.
Still haven't made up my mind but thank you all for the diverse input & advice.

 

[Hootbro]

Not discounting others anecdotal experience, but I avoid wheel spacers like the plague. It is not a matter of if but when you will have premature bearing and/or front end component failure.

If you are a guy that trades in every 2-4 years, you can probably get away with it and kick the can down the road to the next owner. If you plan to keep it long term, just weigh the cost to benefit ratio of having some type of bearing and/or front suspension work done prematurely.

 

[68PowerWagon]

BORA 1.75" 2012-up RAM 1500 Spacers - DODGE RAM FORUM - Dodge Truck Forums

BORA 1.75" 2012-up RAM 1500 Spacers

These are quality spacers for sale now @ a great price and they should not require shorter studs or trimming of your factory studs .
If you install these spacers for a wider stance you'll probably want some fender flares.

Bought an Outdoorsman 2500, it comes with factory flares. Another reason why I thought a wider stance would look good.

 

[Rustycowl69]

many wives would look better with breast implants in the near term, but long term the effects of gravity will take their toll, eventually.

 

[homeguy]

Use red lock tight to put the spacers on. When you go to check the torque, if you torqued them at 95ftlbs set your torque wrench to 90 ft lbs. if you crack the red lock tight it needs to be redone.

 

[R.L.K.]

Use red lock tight to put the spacers on. When you go to check the torque, if you torqued them at 95ftlbs set your torque wrench to 90 ft lbs. if you crack the red lock tight it needs to be redone.

I've heard many opinions on what to Tq wheel spacers to over the years and I've seen heated arguments on this subject.

I'm certinly not here to argue , but it seems strange me to torque the spacers less than the recommended Tq of the wheels ?
I've used spacers probably as much as anyone spanning over 40 years . I've always Torqued them to the high side of the recommended Tq value of the wheels and Tq checked them at the low side of the recommended Tq value of the wheels .
My thoughts are the material ( typically aircraft grade T-6 aluminum ) of the spacers are the same or higher grade aluminum than the wheels aluminum, then the Tq value should at least match the recommended Tq value of the Vehicles wheels .
I could see a lower Tq value being required on the spacer if the spacers thickness was insufficient to support that amount of Tq to keep from pulling the stud out for the wheel install or compressing the spacer itself against the hub.
Not sure what Bora's installation instructions say for a recommendation of Tq for the spacer and wheel install , I would follow their instructions.

**Note** The recommended Tq on my 2014 4x4 wheels is 120-140 ft lbs .

I do think this is a high Tq and I do believe 90 -100 ft lbs would be plenty .

 

[homeguy]

I would only torque the nuts to the manufacturer spec as I have seen some break due to being too high of a torque. I understand what your saying. Just if your not wanting to redo the lock tight I would back it off 5 ft lbs just so you don't break the the lock tight


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

 

[brandonjansen]

You may be able to use them for years with no problems, but to answer your question, the spacers will put extra stress on the studs (shear force), bearings, and probably ball joints too. Hauling or towing will exacerbate this. Up to you, but I would never run a spacer on any vehicle I own.

(Now here come the fan boys who love roller skate-looking trucks to tell me how wrong I am. But they still cannot change the laws of physics.)

A proper hub centric spacer will not put any shear force on the studs as the weight is supported by the hub, not the studs. In that sense it is no different than having a hub centric wheel bolted to it. Bolting up lug centric wheels would put the same shear force as lug centric spacers would (not that I recommend either one) but there's a ton of guys that don't pay attention and do run that constantly.
Spacers won't wear bearings or ball joints any faster than negative offset rims will. Sure they won't last as long as a stock setup. But that's part of what you expect when putting aftermarket parts and setups on a truck. The will not wear our near as quick as a lot of guys try to make it out to be.

Not discounting others anecdotal experience, but I avoid wheel spacers like the plague. It is not a matter of if but when you will have premature bearing and/or front end component failure.

If you are a guy that trades in every 2-4 years, you can probably get away with it and kick the can down the road to the next owner. If you plan to keep it long term, just weigh the cost to benefit ratio of having some type of bearing and/or front suspension work done prematurely.

That same thing can be said about a stock setup as well. Eventually bearings and ball joints are going to wear out. It is just a matter of when. And when they do you have the opportunity to replace them with a good, aftermarket part and then it's no longer an issue.
And again, as stated above, there's no difference in running spacers VS negative offset wheels. The results and forces on the truck are the same and neither is as bad as a lot of guys make it out to be.

 

[Hootbro]

............

That same thing can be said about a stock setup as well. Eventually bearings and ball joints are going to wear out. It is just a matter of when. And when they do you have the opportunity to replace them with a good, aftermarket part and then it's no longer an issue.
And again, as stated above, there's no difference in running spacers VS negative offset wheels. The results and forces on the truck are the same and neither is as bad as a lot of guys make it out to be.

The engineering and physics are there to show it put more stress on the bearings and ball joints outside of a stock setup. The question is if there is margins in those components to put up with it?

 

[R.L.K.]

I put 2" spacers on my last Dodge truck at 120 k , ran them for aprox 60 k before I got wheels with -24 ( I think) any way , I sold the truck @ 275 k on original UCA'S and hub bearings .... never had any issues at all . Just sayin ..

Properly installed and maintained spacers can be ran for a very long time . By the way I beat the hell out if my last truck for 17 years hauling and offroading regularly.

 

[kry226]

A proper hub centric spacer will not put any shear force on the studs as the weight is supported by the hub, not the studs. In that sense it is no different than having a hub centric wheel bolted to it. Bolting up lug centric wheels would put the same shear force as lug centric spacers would (not that I recommend either one) but there's a ton of guys that don't pay attention and do run that constantly.
Spacers won't wear bearings or ball joints any faster than negative offset rims will. Sure they won't last as long as a stock setup. But that's part of what you expect when putting aftermarket parts and setups on a truck. The will not wear our near as quick as a lot of guys try to make it out to be.

Disagree. The hub centric whatever does nothing to support the rotational force placed on the studs (shear force is 360 degrees, as in any lateral force placed against the side of the stud). Regardless, additional leverage is placed on the studs, which is the same force placed on the bearings and BJs.

Like I said earlier, a person might be able to get away with spacers for a long time, but in the immortal words of Chris Rock, "You can drive a car with your feet if you want to. That don't make it a good idea."

 

[68PowerWagon]

Disagree. The hub centric whatever does nothing to support the rotational force placed on the studs (shear force is 360 degrees, as in any lateral force placed against the side of the stud). Regardless, additional leverage is placed on the studs, which is the same force placed on the bearings and BJs.

Like I said earlier, a person might be able to get away with spacers for a long time, but in the immortal words of Chris Rock, "You can drive a car with your feet if you want to. That don't make it a good idea."

Tell that to Fred Flinstone! Sorry I just had to go there.

 

[kry226]

Tell that to Fred Flinstone! Sorry I just had to go there.

No problem, man. Best of luck to you in whatever you decide to do.