Oh Hell - Wheel/Spacer Opinion

[Moto931]

Since it is raining and cold today in Boise, I decided to bold on Rustina's new shoes and low and behold the backspacing is wrong.

The wheel is just barely touching the tie-rod ends, so my question is this: Do I try to get something different in a 15 instead of a 16 with at most a 3.75" backspacing? Or do I order a spacer from Summit Racing and go that route. I think a .250 or .300 spacer would do it.

How much space is recommended between the tie-rod and wheel, or should they just not touch. In theory, they shouldn't flex right there for it to ever be a problem as long as they are not touching. Right?

Here are some pics.

 

[FJforty]

Search for this. It has been argued many times. If you go with the spacers .250 which will work then lug-nut issues are next.

 

[mattcamp]

spacers

some spacers will require longer wheel studs, I had issues with it and ended up getting 2 inch machined aluminum spacers that bolt on to the old studs, torque them to 95 ft. lbs. to be on the safe side, and the spacers have new studs for your rims. they actually give the cruiser a mean looking stance and all issues with rubbing are gone. I am not sure what the long term wear issues will be, but it doesn't seem like they put that much strain on anything.

 

[steffan]

what size/ backspacing are the wheels that you put on?

 

[camcruiser13]

just get some spacers and be done

 

[hedonist]

I run them and love em. i run 1.5" adds three inces to the wheel base

 

[GarageRat]

I run them and love em. i run 1.5" adds three inces to the wheel base

*track width...

 

[camcruiser13]

you could get away with getting some 1/4" spacers, go to checker and get some no biggie.

 

[ducktapeguy]

How much space is recommended between the tie-rod and wheel, or should they just not touch. In theory, they shouldn't flex right there for it to ever be a problem as long as they are not touching. Right?

Here are some pics.

In theory, as long as you don't drive the car it'll be fine, but once you start driving that wheel weight on the inside of the rim will rip off your tie rod boot immediately. I had the same problem and was running a .250" wheel spacer for a long time.

 

[FJforty]

All this depends on how much play is in the wheel bearing and how much flex is in the wheel. I would vote for 1/2 inch from the wheel to the boot as a minimum.

 

[malcb]

that wheel weight on the inside of the rim will rip off your tie rod boot

I would agree with the other post that said 1/2 clearance, allowance for some movement on the bearing or a little ding on that nice shiney rim sometime in the future.

Stick on wheel weight will remove wheel weight issue though.

 

[K2KK]

I had the same issues with my 40. I didn't realize that the po had heated and bent the steering arm to make room. Found out when i changed it to a fj62 steering arm and it rubbed. I got the Spidertrax 1.5 spacers and I love em.

 

[FJforty]

Just so everybody knows, don't heat steering arm components unless you really know what you are doing. If cooled incorrectly they can become brittle.

 

[GarageRat]

Just so everybody knows, don't heat steering arm components unless you really know what you are doing. If cooled incorrectly they can become brittle.

Unless someone has the capability and patience to do a time intensive cooling cycle tailored to the specific material in question I wouldn't reccomend it at all, the crystal structure of any steel component is relatively easy to change and can have big effects on strength. If you're going to attempt it cool the metal as slowly as possible, still air with some sort of heat source or an oven is the best. Shock cooling is going to cause at the very least a partial martensite structure which is very brittle. Same with welding or anything else really.

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

X 2 what camcruiser wrote.

regards,

Alan

you could get away with getting some 1/4" spacers, go to checker and get some no biggie.

 

[ckrustware0045]

I have the Spidertrax 1.5 " spacers to fix the exact problem you have and I like them a lot. Got'em from SLee Offroad.

 

[stuckinnz]

just looked at mine and I have the same clearence and have driven my truck pretty hard without any issue although there are no weel weights on the inside. Unless there was some and they've been knocked off??

 

[mattcamp]

spacers

what size/ backspacing are the wheels that you put on?

I used the 2" spacers (4 inches wider axle total) and my rims are 3.75" backspacing, 15x8 black rockcrawler steel rims with 34x9.5 super swamper TSL's (old style) I think the spacers are on in the pics in my garage

 

[Moto931]

Switching to 15X7 wheel with 3.62" of backspace instead of the 16X8. Not exactly what I wanted to do, but problem should be solved. Thanks for all of the input. Cheers

 

[camcruiser13]

Switching to 15X7 wheel with 3.62" of backspace instead of the 16X8. Not exactly what I wanted to do, but problem should be solved. Thanks for all of the input. Cheers

that aint going to help, itll be worse