I am about to install a TF BB and want to do about a 34" tire with it. I am having trouble deciding on a wheel so I am thinking of using my stock 18's and a wheel spacer.

I have heard good and bad about them. My local 4wd shop is strongly against them but they seem to be liked on the forum.

What are your thought about them? Are they safe to use? What is the required maintenence for them? Any reason to avoid them?

I would use either the Spidertrax or Teraflex spacers.

I was at Discount Tire today and they will not touch the Jeep if it has spacers on it. This scares me.

Before you jump all over me about the search function, I spent 30 minutes searching before posting. I am sure there are 1,000 threads on this topic, but I could not find them.

 

from the modified FAQ:

Quote:

Q: Are wheel spacers safe to use or do they cause extra stress on your axle or wheel bearings?

A: High quality wheelspacers, the kind that bolt up to your axle first are no more dangerous or cause any more stress to your axles then would a wheel with less backspacing. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about and I have yet to hear a single good or specific explanation as to exactly how they are worse. Just to be clear, the cheap-o spacers (the kind that you can get at PepBoys and are sandwiched between your wheel and axle using the existing wheel studs) are in fact EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. These cheap-o spacers leave little thread for your lug nuts to hold onto and can fail. DO NOT USE THESE!

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...74&postcount=3

 

I ran them for 6 months before I got my new wheels. I have friends that have been running them for years with no issues, and they run them as their daily drivers as well as hard off roading. They are fine as long as you install them correctly.

 

... and, from what I've read here (and it makes sense), as long as you get the kind that bolt to your axle, then utilize new studs to bolt the wheel to the spacer.

GOOD



DO NOT...

I REPEAT...

DO NOT use the kind that simple occupy space between your wheel and the mounting surface. That's the kind of spacer that can be (potentially) dangerous.

BAD

 

I don't feel safe running them on the street. Having said that, I have never seen or heard of a wheel spacer failure. If I were going to run them I would feel safer with running the steel ones. Even better to go with a cheap set of steelies with the correct offset. It will run less than $100 more than the spacers and will be safe.

 

Good Type:






Bad Type:

 

The link below is for the Spidertrax Wheel Spacers. they are the ones I ran as well as the people I know run them too...

spidertrax.com/2007-Up-JK-Wrangler-Unlimited"]http://www.spidertrax.com/2007-Up-JK-Wrangler-Unlimited

You can find them at many places. I got mine from Quadratec.

 

My dad ran them for years on a jimmy he used to have he even fell asleep at the wheel one night coming home from work and side swipped a bridge (the wheels were the first thing to hit) and it bent the axle and did nothing to the spacer he did not even get hurt so i would run them no worries (he ran the good ones too)

 

I ran the Spidertrax 1.5" ones for over 11,000mi until I got my current set up. Never had an issue.

 

Copycat...