sdgmcdon

I just bought my first wrangler, call me a noob, I am...a 2011 4 door rubicon. Wife wanted the jeep as it is a convertible suv, I wanted for the same reason, but also wanted the off road capabilities and thus talked her into the rubicon.

Long story short after paying for it it was agreed that I wouldn't do any mods for the first year (enough money spent already on the jeep itself etc). I told her "the tires were an upgrade" leaving It to interpretation if that is factory upgrade or otherwise, thus I got away with that one putting 285/70/17 duratracs on it immediately after picking it up from the dealer.

Now though, even though Americas Tire company assured me they wouldn't rub...they do...a lot.

So, either I do the proper thing and get new rims with the proper backspacing and get my ass locked in the dog house for a long time (she would notice), or I hide my mistake and get spidertrax spacers to resolve the problem...

Considering this is a DD and off roader with the wife and kidsnin it all the time, I am a bit weary about the safety issue...looking for best arguments for and against spidertrax spacers. Let me have it!

toymaster

Sounds like you need to build an extremely nice dog house, 'cause there ain't not way you aren't spending money on your new ride (i can tell).

YES, well made spacers are safe. Obviously you know rims are the proper way to go. In this situation I'd buy the spacers, buy new rims in a year (with other mods) and sell the spacers on this forum. There is always someone who wants to run larger tires on here.

sdgmcdon

That's what I am thinking too...she is perfectly fine with me doing a crap load of mods on this jeep, lifts, winch, motor mods, snorkel, tires, rims etc (shes even ready to do the cold air intake on it herself now after she's seen the mpg gauge on it) but not in the first year (again, enough money spent on it in the first place)...a year from now I have the go ahead to mod it (a little at a time, not poof 10 grand) so I could resolve this then, but then till then I'm RUBBING A LOT!

rubi08unlimited

a set of steel black rock wheels can be had for a few dollars more than spacers. I went the spidertrax way with the same exact size duratracs you're running and it solved my rubbing problem on the sway bar at full turn. I sold the spacers and added a few dollars and got the Black rock steel wheels to run as winter wheels.

As far as the safety, all spacers are not created equal. Spacers have a bad name because some spacers are just ring spacers that mount over your existing studs, pushing you wheel out at the cost of less of your lugs making contact with the studs. The spidertrax spacers are high quality and although you now have 10 lugs to tighten, the combination is super strong and I have no issues with running that setup. I've been running High lifter wheel spacers on my quads which are the same style as spidertrax for over 10 years with no issues ever.

Good luck with whatever path you choose.

Jerrod710

There is a thread on here I believe is titled "Got f'n tboned" and he said his spacers held up with no breaks or damages to them and I think they were Spidertrax. His axle was either broken or bent or both and Spidertrax held up so I don't think there is a safety issue.

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sdgmcdon

I know, but problem is she would notice the new rims and my ass would be grass...unless they look like stock, I'm a dead man unless I go spidertrax...if you know of any with the right backspacing that look even remotely similar to stock I'd love to know about them.

sdgmcdon

I've heard that too and pretty sure I already read that thread...problem is I keep hearing others saying they think they are flat out dangerous (no examples mind you, hence my question and desire to keep this thread going) and those saying zero issues seem to regularly cite "regular checks and maintenance" and while from the advice of those posters I would check them regularly, if they "require" regular checks to be "safe" then as a DD they are not safe in my opinion...if I need to take "special care" or face possible death or killing a pedestrian etc for a mod on my jeep, then that's not a "safe" mod in my opinion.

XBlacky08X

I just ordered spidertrax spacers for my rig. I did some research, and the impression I am getting is that the spidertrax are a perfectly safe spacer when installed correctly. If you use red loctite upon installation, and re-torque them every oil change then you "should" be fine.. My jeep is my daily driver as well.. Going with a 2.5" Teraflex BB with 1.5" spidertrax spacers so I can still utilize my stock 17" rubicon rims.

sdgmcdon

Just about the same opinion here as well though I have heard and read elsewhere that using loctite is pointless due to having to re-torque...seems reasonable that you wouldn't want to essentially glue your lugs if you have to check them regularly to ensure they are tight which is only doable by re-tonguing them to check.

Red Dog

There safe as long as they are installed correctly.