Wheel spacers
- Thread starter J Ski
- Start date
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drewactual
Full Access Members
those things will break your heart, man.... better to get a wheel with the negative offset/backspacing you need rather than use them. they're not safe.
jeff kushner
Full Access Members
I would warn against them too. I like the look of the rear wheels sitting out a bit...just looks good to me so I understand the desire but then I had to go and do a couple of hours of research. That's where the wheels came off the Expedition so to speak! <LOL>
From everything I read, the increased wear on the bearings alone would keep me from installing them. Evidently, Ford does not over-engineer the rear hubs to handle the kinds of loads that spacers would subject them to and they fail in a number of areas.
I don't ever tell anyone what to do or not to do but I would suggest that you spend some time doing your own research and see what you find.
You could try a google search like this:
"Wheel spacer problems on Expedition?"
You'll be surprised at the number of issues that crop up.
jeff
From everything I read, the increased wear on the bearings alone would keep me from installing them. Evidently, Ford does not over-engineer the rear hubs to handle the kinds of loads that spacers would subject them to and they fail in a number of areas.
I don't ever tell anyone what to do or not to do but I would suggest that you spend some time doing your own research and see what you find.
You could try a google search like this:
"Wheel spacer problems on Expedition?"
You'll be surprised at the number of issues that crop up.
jeff
Hawaiianbasshead
Full Access Members
Damn, I got 1.5" lug adapter/spacers on mine to run some 33x20s I got cheap that're 6x5.5". I don't like it safety wise but I did over torque them when putting them on by hand for sure. I'm hoping to put the right lug pattern wheels on with no spacers soon as I can... best of luck in your adventure!
jeff kushner
Full Access Members
Why would the lift make any difference? I am asking because I really don't know...I thought lifting just centered around longer struts/shocks and springs. How does that affect or what effect does that have on the axles?
jeff
jeff
NikoBelic
Member
Yeah don't do spacers.. they are bad for your health. Get off set wheels.
drewactual
Full Access Members
I had the same.... hubcentric same pattern/lug 2" (chose 2" to avoid the biggest known issue of lugs off hub slapping interior of spacer body as opposed to the 1.75" i really wanted)... these were 8 lug's for the superduty.... they were both hub centric and wheel centric set custom turned, which is to say they sleeved over the hub on the inside of the spacer/adapter and the wheel sleeved over a protrusion on the outside of the spacer/adapter.
i torqued them perfectly... I used red loctite.
i heard a squeak one day from my drivers side front wheel while driving first to pick up daughter from daycare, and then home... it got progressively worse over a 20 mile ride... turning into the daycare neighborhood and coming off highway speed i stuck my head out the window to better hear- just in time to watch a lug fly off..... there were three remaining, and one broke between two fingers when i was setting up to take them off.... i left the truck there and went home for torch (red loctite), impact and compressor, as well as hydraulic jack...
the issue with mine wasn't so much the spacer/adapter as it was the cheap chinese lugs they used in them... if you or anyone else is reading this, dump those things and get a good set of American made lugs with proper stamps on the bolt head... that will eliminate 95% of the issues. next up, always use loctite (blue is likely fine, but i had red on hand so that's what i used), next up- proper torque... the MOST important, though, and this DID contribute to my issue: Make sure they're thick enough to completely conceal/cover the OE hub lugs. I had indentations however slight on each wheel where the hubs lugs were slapping them. that bad juju. it was enough to vibrate red loctite loose and give enough wiggle room for the weight rest on the now not-so-well-torqued lugs alone... clamping power (lug centric) is almost as good as hanging power (hub centric), but only if the clamping torque is to specs.
now the spacers that fit over factory OE lugs and sandwich between them and the outer wheel face? ........ those are a deathtrap. yo may get by with it indefinitely on a ricer or other light and under-powered vehicle, but up the torque-to-wheel? add some weight? they will break and fall out, and you now have lugnuts unseated the same measurement that the spacer is thick.... and I'll take the odds you flop in 100 yards or less in such a condition....
just my .02....
