Wheel Spacers - Aluminum or Steel ?

[Sharecropper]

Skinny -

The outfit in Texas who is producing my steel spacers said to NOT use Loctite on the spacer bolts so they can be re-torqued correctly without the Loctite influence on the effort required to reach the 140 foot pounds of torque. I think I understand this, still thinking about it.

I intend to position the Centromatic balancer outboard of the spacer against the back-side of the HMMWV wheel, thereby allowing for easy replacement in case of damage or malfunction.

 

[Skinny]

Excuse me for not knowing my correct Loctite numbers up front...

I would think Red even though would keep them from coming loose at all would make servicing them near impossible and unable to retorque at all. Blue would probably hold well but would give you inaccurate readings during retorque. I believe green is one that fastens but can move. Could be wrong though, green may be for permanently welding two surfaces together like a bearing race to a shaft...that would be bad.

If you intend on rotating your tires every three thousand miles and torqueing the spacers, you may be better off with no liquid fastener.

 

[Csm Davis]

FYI I wasnt addressing you I was only asking those with experience and knowledge for an opinion in stress on the stock studs.I wasnt commenting on the plans you may or may not have for your truck.

I will address your reply enough to just say I think your wrong reguarding the difference on the dually hub to whèel spacer comparison, Im not going to go into it but will just agree to disagree with you.

With reguard to HMMWV wheels I can see the interest some people have for them and a route I have seen taken to use these wheels on cucv trucks and civilian trucks is to have the HMMWV wheels recentered.

Sorry bud but every 2000 F350 4x4 had a 5" spacer on a standard D60 and they haven't had a problem with the spacers coming off but they do tend to get stuck and not want to come off. And to others who say spacers are illegal, then how did ford get away with it?

 

[Bunkerbuilder]

GM trucks had these spacers as well but Im of the opinion that comparing factory offsets on a dually hub and the aluminum spacers are comparing apples to oranges, Not commenting on the OP and what he should do, what he does is his business.

Sorry bud but every 2000 F350 4x4 had a 5" spacer on a standard D60 and they haven't had a problem with the spacers coming off but they do tend to get stuck and not want to come off. And to others who say spacers are illegal, then how did ford get away with it?

 

[98G]

When putting bigger tires on the rear of duallys, spacers are frequently used. I've seen enough pictures (on cumminsforum.com) of shattered aluminum spacers to convince me to shell out the extra cash for steel, and to try to avoid spacers in general as much as is practical.

 

[RobertoGatos]

Do NOT use aluminum spacers with HMMWV wheels

 

[porkysplace]

Sorry bud but every 2000 F350 4x4 had a 5" spacer on a standard D60 and they haven't had a problem with the spacers coming off but they do tend to get stuck and not want to come off. And to others who say spacers are illegal, then how did ford get away with it?

Factory engineering is different than aftermarket parts , they roll off the line with a federal safety sticker.

 

[Skinny]

First off on a dually, the front spacer is only there to enable using a matching dually rim with an incredible amount of offset. They kind of cancel themselves out and retain the designed scrub radius and kingpin inclination angle. I think most (can't say I know what the new Ford arrangement looks like) are usually a cast steel piece that is fastened to the hub with bolts or with some type of pressed through stud arrangement. It is not like you are using the dually front hub and then sticking a pretty standard rim on top of it, that would make it stick out pretty far. I think the OEM's are getting away from it because they are engineered to be a precise fit for that application and are arranged to transfer weight properly using the center hubcentric lip rather than just the studs.

 

[dstang97]

There are cheap aluminum spacers and good ones. The ones I bought are the good ones. I have had zero problems with the ones I bought off a vender over at pirate4x4

 

[Another Ahab]

5 pages already in two days, and only just now running across this thread.

It's hard to keep up around here, sometimes:

- Subscribed.

 

[Another Ahab]

In response to the other considerate SS members who replied to my question - I have ordered steel spacers so there will be no "failure points". By the way, the steel spacers cost four times what the aluminum spacers cost. But I don't care because I am spending my daughter's inheritence money. In a crazy sort of way, the spacers aren't costing me anything.

You're funny.

Don't suppose your daughter is a member on here, is she?

 

[Lawrence of Arabia]

I have only used Aluminum, but i have to say, be sure they are American made. I bought some non American made and had issues.

 

[shepherm]

Wow lots of reply with little info..

I have 2" aluminum spacers on my M1008 and they seem to work. There are a few people that have had them come loose but the same can be said with aluminum wheels, right? They have a torque spec and you have to torque them after so many miles just like all aluminum wheels.

My process was mount spacers and wheels torqued to 120 ft-lbs drive 150 miles and re-torque and repeat. The second time the there was no more movement, and I removed each nut, one at a time, loctite and torqued to 120 ft-lbs again.

One problem I did run into is my socket would not fit in the lug opening on the spacers. I purchased a different set of lugs that worked great.
I needed this type (uses smaller socket)
http://cdn3.volusion.com/abwf3.4vz39/v/vspfiles/photos/1104-2.jpg?1352828700

These are the type which did not work
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/...COyWwuyvKIVZ_4_kT6-oF8Lw2vj7bweVQE5GllwaJclrK

YMMV

 

[Another Ahab]

My process was mount spacers and wheels torqued to 120 ft-lbs drive 150 miles and re-torque and repeat. The second time the there was no more movement, and I removed each nut, one at a time, loctite and torqued to 120 ft-lbs again.

Blue formula?

 

[shepherm]

Blue formula?

Yes sir.

 

[skysix]

1031 with custom width 1.75" steel spacers on the rear from Fred Goeske at WheelAdapter.com. 22,000 miles on them with about 7200# on the rear axle. No issues at all. Wifes Tahoe has aluminum 2" and I have to recheck the torque every so often - not a big deal, do it at each oil change. Went with steel on the CUCV as it has more load on the spacer, gets abused more, and serviced less regularly.

(Front is DRW axle running OEM dually rim, rear is 14-bolt running SRW OEM rim until I get the ute tray built and a D70HD swapped in and can run duals on the rear. Makes the track exactly the same front and rear.)

 

[RobertoGatos]

There are cheap aluminum spacers and good ones. The ones I bought are the good ones. I have had zero problems with the ones I bought off a vender over at pirate4x4

I have only used Aluminum, but i have to say, be sure they are American made. I bought some non American made and had issues.

The 1.5" aluminum wheel spacers we used were custom made in the USA by Motorsports Tech for this application, hubcentric and all that. No higher quality aluminum wheels spacers available as far as I know. Failed as shown, where they deformed after mounting and dismounting the wheels a few times. Probably wouldn't have had any issues with them but they're downright dangerous to use with any wheels like HMMWV's that have those little bumps on the backside wheel mounting surface.

 

[Another Ahab]

The 1.5" aluminum wheel spacers we used were custom made in the USA by Motorsports Tech for this application, hubcentric and all that. No higher quality aluminum wheels spacers available as far as I know. Failed as shown, where they deformed after mounting and dismounting the wheels a few times. Probably wouldn't have had any issues with them but they're downright dangerous to use with any wheels like HMMWV's that have those little bumps on the backside wheel mounting surface.

Thanks, RobertoGatos; looked in the link, but got tangled up in 6 pages of varied content:

- Can you please tell me what page (or post) of that link shows the failure?

 

[shepherm]

Thanks, RobertoGatos; looked in the link, but got tangled up in 6 pages of varied content:

- Can you please tell me what page (or post) of that link shows the failure?

I'm guessing he is talking about post #107..

RobertoGatos- Are you saying they "failed" because of the indentations or is there something else?

 

[Another Ahab]

I'm guessing he is talking about post #107..

RobertoGatos- Are you saying they "failed" because of the indentations or is there something else?

Got it. And must be it, you're right.

Thank you, shepherm.