Rear axle wheel spacers?????

[Ramsey_ElWardani]

I noticed at the CORR races and again the other day looking at a Pro 4 that many if not all the trucks are running "9 Inch" based rearend housings, full floating hubs and then what looks to be a thick (5 inches) wheel spacer. What is the story and why?

Ramsey El Wardani
Not as Smart on Short Course Dirt!

[hoeker]

when CORR went to the 12" wide rear tire rule many of the teams built "wheel spacers" to keep the trucks at the allowed 93" width. just a cheaper way to widen the truck than to replace the rear end.

[negro3030]

how secure are billet wheel spacers, I want them for my daily driver/prerunner but I have heard that they tend to break?

[BAPerf]

how secure are billet wheel spacers, I want them for my daily driver/prerunner but I have heard that they tend to break?

Like anything else, depends on what parts/ methods are used. I have an '04 Ranger with high offset front wheels (think Pro-lite) and centered rear wheels. I use a 2.25" thick 6061 spacer/ adapter (5x4.75" pattern) machined to be centered by the hub not the stock wheel studs. There are some that are also hub-centric on the wheel side, and some that aren't hub-centric on either side. At a minimum they need to be located by the hub, but I would definitely recomend that you get a set machined to match the wheel's I.D. register.

This is definitely not as good as running straight to the hub, but depending on the use and stud strength, can definitely suffice.

[Ramsey_ElWardani]

when CORR went to the 12" wide rear tire rule many of the teams built "wheel spacers" to keep the trucks at the allowed 93" width. just a cheaper way to widen the truck than to replace the rear end.Some of those spacers are really thick, leaving the brake rotor and caliper way inboard and exposed. Interesting to know that wheel spacers that thick will hold up to all the side loading and other forces of short course racing.

[dislocated1]

Here is a pic of a truck from Chula Vista....... I was wondering the same thing about the rear hubs




http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/3056/dscf0359pl8.th.jpg (http://img175.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf0359pl8.jpg)

[JESSE_at_TLT]

The wheel spacers that I saw at Jim McKenzie's shop on a Pro4 truck were about as TRICK as wheel spacers can get. Wish I had a picture to post.

[jeff]

Street use... I've got 1.25" thick spacers on the front of my 2000 Dakota. The spacers have 100,000+ miles of use on them and I haven't (knock on wood) had a single issue. The frame is bent front and rear, the IFS crossmember is crushed in (hard landing) and the spacers don't seem to care. One catch, the last time I got new tires the shop wouldn't install the tire/wheel combo onto the truck because of the spacers. I had to roll the tires out into the parking lot and do it myself. Other than that, thumbs up on the spacers.

Some of the big hp/torque diesel truck pull guys are using rear wheel spacers on their dual rear wheel trucks when running wider than stock "pulling" tires. Some of those trucks are putting 1400-1500 ft/lbs down at the wheels and the spacers are holding together, transmissions are grenading, but the wheel spacers hold up just fine.

Cheap junk is always going to be cheap junk. A properly machined and installed wheel spacer however seems to be very reliable, regardless of what some people may say.
Aloha

[hoeker]

FWIW, scott douglas was one of the guys that went the route of the "wheel spacer" i think the third or fourth race he ran he broke the inner set of studs and it cost him the race. the next weekend he had a brand new rear end under the truck without spacers!

look close these days, many of the guys run custom hubs with different offsets for the wheel, this is a nice way to change your truck depending on track conditions. the rear hub pictured above looks to me like it is a custom hub, built extra wide.

for street use i think i'd be most concerned about the factory studs and wheel bearings. spacers put a lot of extra load there.

[BAPerf]

FWIW, scott douglas was one of the guys that went the route of the "wheel spacer" i think the third or fourth race he ran he broke the inner set of studs and it cost him the race. the next weekend he had a brand new rear end under the truck without spacers!

look close these days, many of the guys run custom hubs with different offsets for the wheel, this is a nice way to change your truck depending on track conditions. the rear hub pictured above looks to me like it is a custom hub, built extra wide.

for street use i think i'd be most concerned about the factory studs and wheel bearings. spacers put a lot of extra load there.


In my opinion, it's not the spacers that add load, it's the increased leverage when they are used solely to widen a truck. In my case, the tire is in the same location relative to the factory hub as it would be with a standard offset wheel. I understand that the person asking about their viability is probably wishing to widen his truck cheaply, and with that in mind, be careful.

[negro3030]

In my opinion, it's not the spacers that add load, it's the increased leverage when they are used solely to widen a truck. In my case, the tire is in the same location relative to the factory hub as it would be with a standard offset wheel. I understand that the person asking about their viability is probably wishing to widen his truck cheaply, and with that in mind, be careful.


I was looking for a cheaper way but I am going to buy a chromoly housing, better safe than sorry...

[sigmatero]

Who sells decent quality spacers? I'm looking for ideas to widen my stock 4Runner axle to match the front. How about stronger wheel studs?