geminiroq

Hey guys....

My buddy told me something that made sence but at the same time didn't.

He told me I should get 1/2 to 1 inch wheel spacer all the way around.

He was telling me it would give my 4runner a better stance and handle better?

Is this upgrade worth it or is it just Bullsh#t?

I have a 87 4runner turbo with stock rims and 31 inch tires.

Any and all help would be appreciated.

Thank you....

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

wheel spacers or "search" on here, this is not anything new

There are pros and cons of wheel spacers.

Anything under 1" is a waste of time IMO as those 1/2" "spacers" require longer wheel studs which is kinda pointless to do for the trouble.

This is the type of wheel spacer you want.


http://www.wabfab.org/products/wheel...eelspacers.htm

geminiroq

Thank you....

874runnersr5

Im to lazy to research up,

what are some pros and cons that you can give me from the top of your head?

Ive herd that sometimes they can snap if not toqred properly ?

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

A few issues at work. With the thicker spacers, you end up with 6 lug nuts holding the spacer to the hub and 6 more lug nuts holding the wheel to the spacer. So twice as many points of potential failure. If one or more of the inner lug nuts get loose, you have no way of checking those with the wheel installed. So you need to remove the wheel, check the spacer lug nut torque then reinstall the wheel and torque down those lug nuts. Because of this, those inner lug nuts don't get checked all that often in most cases.

I've run both types of spacers and never had a problem with either the thinner spacers with longer studs or with the thicker spacers with separate studs. I do periodically remove the wheels to check the inner nuts for tightness (never had one loosen on my '85 yet).

I run two sets of wheels/tires on my rig and the spacers allow me to change the track width depending on the combination I am running. When I have my 6" steel rims w/ 10.50 wide tires on, I add a spacer to push the wheels out wider for better stability. When I put on the 8" rims w/ 12.50 wide tires, I can remove the spacers to maintain about the same track width with the wider wheel/tire combination.

iamsuperbleeder

on a side note; spacers will tend to add a little more force on the wheel bearings because of leverage; simple physics... I think someone brought that up in a recent thread...

I'm not saying don't use them, I've used them in the past myself, the wider type as pictured, and never had any issues, but it's somthing to consider...

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

No real difference on the wheel bearings whether the added width is from a spacer or a wider wheel/tire or a wheel with less backspacing. But yes, you are adding leverage due to the added width, no matter how that width is added.

I've never had a wheel bearing fail on my truck due simply to overloading like that. Have lost a few due to seals leaking gear oil into the bearings, washing out the grease and then having them run dry. Even lost one rear bearing on my '85 right after I bought it and bottomed out had on a hard to see railroad crossing. That was with stock wheels/tires and ended up tweaking both axle shafts and a bearing or two.

toyota4x4907

I think you guys mean the spacers will add extra stress to the ball joints...? maybe its the wheel bearings as well. Am I wrong about the BJ's?

Jay351

No, it will add extra stress on the wheel bearings. Now your wheels are farther away from the original track, this creates leverage on the wheel bearings. Nothing really that bad, just check them every so often.. re-pack/replace as needed..

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Actually most everything in the front suspension and axle. All the stuff that pivots off the ball joints (or solid axle knuckle bearings) during steering will have added loads on it from the extra width. Same with the things hanging off the spindle and wheel bearings, more leverage on those bears and more potential load. But makes no difference whether that width is from a spacer or a wider wheel or a wheel with less backspacing that sticks out wider than stock.

And I have observed ball joint wear on my Dana 60 front axle. It uses ball joints instead of knuckle bearings and on the Ford F-series pickups that axle was designed for, the wheels are deeply offset wheels for dual wheel application. As such, the wheel/tire almost fit around the ball joints and there is very little leverage on them, thus they are not terribly beefy considering they are used on a 3/4 or 1 ton pickups. But I wore out one set on my little 4Runner in a few years. And this was running wheel spacers some times and 10" wide, 2.5" backspaced rims with 15" wide tires the rest of the time.

Yopar

iTrader: (2)

FWIW I'm running 1/2" aluminum spacers on the front of my truck in order for the rim to clear the upper ball joint. I had to put in longer studs (Dorman part #610-073 -thanks 4crawler). With the stock studs, I had about 5 thread turns on the lugs and didn't feel that was safe, so I installed the longer ones.

Not sure I'd install spacers just for the extra width. It might be easier to get that extra track width with a different rim offset/backspace.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

I've run everything from 1" to 2" spacers on daily drivers. If installed properly, you won't ever have any problems.