Thinking about using wheel spacers. I have the stock wheels and tires on my pickup (31x10.50R15LT). Can you guys give me some opinions? Especially those of you who have first-hand experience with spacers on your own truck? Thanks!

 

Why do you want a wider stance? Spacers can cause stress on the wheel stud and led to premature failure. The optimal way to get a wider stance would be getting a different set of wheels with different backspacing.

 

My personal opinion is that both wheels with a different offset and wheels spacers put the same exact stress on your wheel studs (assuming the wheel spacers and different wheel offset are same). They are effectively doing the same exact thing. I personally have some 1/4" wheel spacers on the front of my truck, not for looks, but because after adding BJ spacers, my tires rubbed the A arm. Some people are very afraid of wheel spacers and have said things like they've seen cracked or broken spacers. I think if you get decent spacers from a reputable company, I would not be afraid to run them.

 

It lowers the center of gravity, better performance cornering. I also like the look of a wider stance.

I hear ya that it can put more stress on the wheel studs. That makes sense to me given the physics. But I'm not convinced it's enough added stress to cause failure. And I hear ya about different wheels with more backspacing, but that can be quite expensive so it's not an option.

I appreciate your opinion. The cracked or broken spacers could be caused by inferior craftsmanship as you noted, or by the driver being especially hard on the truck, or from the truck having inappropriately large wheels and tires in addition to the spacers or any number of things. I'm not afraid as of yet.

 

Your opinion would be correct. I was a flight engineer and have done hundreds of weight and balance calculations. This is a matter of "arm" and "moment". The datum point would be the face of the stock hub, and the arm length would be the distance from datum. The moment is proportional to the arm length, multiplied by a constant factor. So the further the arm is, the moment (force) multiplies. This doesn't matter how many parts are in between. So a wheel with greater offset would have the same effect on the lugs as adding spacers if the change in the position is the same.

I have 1.25" spacers on the back and 1.5" on the front on my 4Runner and it's noticeably more planted on the road. It's already top heavy as it is, and I have no sway bars, so it felt very tippy. The spacers made a HUGE difference in feeling more stable.

 

But at the same time, you may run into issues with the fender and wheel well. I can't speak for that tire size, but I have 35s (310/85/16) and after my first test drive, I couldn't open the driver door more than 2 ft, and had to pull the fender off and bend it back straight. Then proceeded to grind every protrusion in the back of the wheel well, trim the fenders, hammer the rest, and filled in the gaps in the metal with JB weld, then sprayed with undercoating. And I added a 4" Pro Comp lift because I gained full clearance with a neutral suspension, but still rubbed with any bounce at full turn. I have no front bumper so I didn't have any issues there with clearance.

 

I put 1.5" spacers and Bushwacker fender flares on several years ago... no issues...

 

Sounds like you learn from trial and error, friend. Ouch! My tires aren't nearly as large as yours so I'm thinking I'd be fine. I don't want to trim fenders or hammer on the body.

Sweet. Got more pics of sideview?

 

Toyota used hub centric mounting, and you should ensure your shim/spacer/adapter are also this style.

There is a good thread here that explains BJ spacers and covers how to make sure they are fit and properly supported. It's pretty easy to get this wrong but not that hard to get right (by right I mean close to the designed clearance between upper arm and tire face).

PS, pet peeve you aren't lowering the center of gravity you widen the foot print. Similar effect in handling but different physics.

 

this is the only one i could find...

 

 

I'm thinking about going with these 2" spacers from Summit all the way around. Thoughts? Will the wheels NOT rub, even at full shock compression?

Man, that is a pair of CLEAN 4Runners. Nice.

Thanks for the tips! I checked it out.

 

The pinch weld between inner fender and firewall is the first point of contact, hammer it flat especially near the bottom. Next is I think the anti sway bar, easy fix adjust turn stops. After that you loose the inner dust shield and have to trim fenders or flare them..

Not sure what this 86 had on it something over 31' they took off before I bought it.

I only have flattened pinch weld, and only a portion of those.

 

I was hoping to make no other changes beyond adding the wheel spacers. The fact that I'd need to make all those changes tells me that the vehicle was not intended to have a wider stance and I'd be changing the physics of some other parts. And I'm not one of those guys who can spend lots of time in the garage working on my truck. First, it's not something I really enjoy and second, I want to spend that time with my family. Therefore, I may not add wheel spacers after all.

 

I thought you were putting on bigger tires also. I gave the contact points with this in mind. Which of those need to be done for larger tires depends on how much bigger, the driver, usage and wear of suspension. Some get away with bigger tires and required no modifications because they kept the size reasonable, have good torsion bars, do not weight a quarter ton, or drive like they stole it, and the biggest obstacle they ever cross is a speed bump (don't knock speed bumps as minor, if you've driven thru Hudson Colorado you know what I'm talking about)

I've lost track of what model year you have, it might be as simple as putting on second gen 4runner rims to get a little more width. In that case you just need to find them and take them to the tire shop. Should be plenty of alloy rims if you look, the hardcore four wheel guys take them off because they aren't something you can smack with a hammer for a trail repair.

It's my personal experience that garage time is family time. Have a look at Terry's, or space-junk's builds. Family time is what you make it, wether you gather in the garage, in the kitchen at the stove, in the garden, or on the floor with a bunch of craft paper, a board game, and even the television. Hell tea party isn't my sort of thing any more than busting knuckles open but it's still all family time.

 

I love this statement, so very very true. I grew up with a lot of father son time in the garage, and I hope my boys get some of the same enjoyment out of time in the garage with me as I did with my dad.

 

Those are wise words. I appreciate the correction, bro, and I believe you're correct.