Safety of wheel spacers

[snailwagon]

Put different wheels and tires on the pig recently and ran into a caliper clearance problem. To solve this I put 0.25" spacers on. How safe is this? Can a small increase in leverage like this shear the studs? The lugs get about 9 1/2 turns on the studs. There is about 1 turn of threads which is not used. Is this a problem? It is pretty inexpensive to get recessed lug nuts if needed. Opinions? I don't feel like loosing a front wheel in traffic or while dropping off a ledge.

 

[TJDIV]

I've been running 1/4" spacers, first on my 40, now on my 45 with 33's and haven't had any trouble with shearing, nor do I anticipate it.

6 lug nuts holding 9 and half turns.....pretty solid.

 

[Paul_A]

Very solid!

 

[theo]

Just from reading others' experiences here, you should re-torque them early and check them occasionally, especially if they're aluminum.

 

[dmaddox]

I have the exact same spacers, no problems at all.

 

[fj40mayo]

No problems with mine.

 

[TJDIV]

I take it back, the only problems I had with mine were when I didn't drop them off at the tire shop when they swapped my tires, and they put the rims on and gouged out my weights.

D'oh.

 

[snailwagon]

Barely drove the thing and the lugs loosened up a little. Retorqueing is quite important with new rims and Al spacers. The previous owner of my vehicle made sure he/she removed all of the wheel weights with the tie rod ends. Grind it till it fits I guess. I have mini-truck arms and 2.5" BS, so no more of that. Now only if I could actually go wheeling in it without slicing the side lugs of my tires. Fix that one soon.

 

[78 One owner]

I've been running .25" Alum. spacers for 9 yrs and no problems. I was worried about the same things you are at first. Now the only time I think about them is when I take off a front tire, or see a thread like this one. I did put longer studs on though. Got them at NAPA.