I'm hoping so... I've spent 3 years now following you guys and wondering why I never seemed to have the traction that y'all did. I think I may have solved that puzzle.

 

That looks good, let us know how you like the spacers, i will probably be going to 285s but i do not like after market wheels and shaving the upper control arm does not sound appealing

 

Okay... so, we spent a lot of time on the trail today. I have good news and bad news.

First off, these tires rock. They are SUCH an improvement over what I was running before, its incredible. Highly recommended.


Bad news... I'm not a fan of the spacer thing.

I a set on the front end late Friday night and wanted them off before I got within a mile of home on Saturday morning. Yes, they stopped the issue of the tire rubbing on the frame, but they threw the front end out of balance. By the first time I got up to 30mph, I knew that I was going to take them off and find other ways to deal with the inherent rubbing.

I'm sure that the quality of the physical spacers themselves are such that the piece is round - that's not the problem. It's that they're out of balance. The mounting holes in the spacer are countersunk, and the nuts provided are tapered, so the spacer sits square on the wheel. But, the mass of the object itself isn't symetrical. Whether it be from a mechanical defect in the casting of the raw block of material, or something else, the vibrations were bad. Bad enough that it was making my rearview mirror vibrate at an _audible pitch_ (i.e., harmonic resonance) at 50mph.

Yeup... not a fan. And as such, I can't recommend that people run them with a good conscious.


Sorry folks.. I too was hoping for a better outcome.

 

where did you get the spacers from?

i wonder if all spacers are like this. i can't recall other accounts of this vibration, but it's definitely something or me to consider as i'm looking at spacers to solve some the frame-rubbing issue.

 

how about getting the tires balanced now? will that fix it

 

Marlin.

Well, only if I get them balanced while they're mounted on the truck. In theory, you could mount a spacer to a wheel while it's off the truck, then have the assembly balanced, but if I ever pull the wheel again, then I'd have to put it back on the same position as I took it off. That's a 1/6 chance without marking the wheel.


There was another issue... I had a problem on the ride where I had to pull one wheel. Pulled the wheel, fixed the issue, put the wheel back on and... Hmmm, one of the spacer studs is trashed to the point that I can't get a lug nut on it. The first two threads are "laid over" onto the bolt. Can't be a crossthreading issue from when I put the spacers on Friday night, since the whole stud would be trashed. _Shouldn't_ have been an issue when the lug nut was removed. I wasn't the one that went put the nut back on, but the other 5 were fine, but even if it was started to be crossthreaded, it really doesn't _look_ like it, the end effect is different. Dunno, maybe it is. I'll have to look at it this morning.

Anyway... It wasn't a good experience overall.

 

Nice, looks good, I know your S/Ced, but did you re-gear as well? If not, how was the power loss, noticeable? I really want to jump up to 285s, but I don't want to re-gear. Lookin good,

 

Did you evenly torque the wheel spacers using the star pattern, and then do the same for your tires? This is very important. Also, do not over torque them, it will warp your rotors.

 

No, I'm running on the stock 4.10s. With the S/C plus the additional toys (headers, exhaust, misc) the power loss isn't too noticiable, but it's there. I'd say that 285/75's are the largest I'd think of going without regearing. 305/75's would probably be too much. The tire diameter is very close to the same, but the additional width would cause more rolling resistance which would make the power loss more apparant.


Yeup and yeup. And... yeup. (thanks)

 

Nice, thanks for the info. I'm gonna try to do my tires, and ISR/Intake at the same time, so it might not as noticeable. I did my muffler at the same time as my 265/75s, and it actually seems slighlty quicker. Thanks again for the info,

 

Here're some pics of the trashed thread on the spacer... Click for larger versions:


Note how it looks like the thread wasn't even there to start with.

 

Tires kicked some butt on Saturday.

 

Thanks man. I definitely made it through some stuff that I KNOW I wouldn't had been able to without them.



As an addendum to my comments above about the spacers... I pulled the spacers off and all of the vibrations are gone. Something else I noticed is that the truck is decidedly less wishy-washy when swaying from side-to-side at 60mph. That was something (else) I noticed coming home through some curvey roads last night.

Marlin wants a 10% restocking fee. We'll see.

 

I run these same tires and cannot say enough about them.

Before the 285's I also ran 265/75 BFG MTs. I tried the spacer thing and had the same problem. I only ran them for looks though. So when I went to the 285's I knew I would need to change the rims also. The LC rims seem to be the fix for a lot of us here. 285's on LC rims and no frame rubbing and just a very slight bit of rubbing on the pinch weld in the front(whichis now folded over and not an issue).

I know these rims are bit on the costly side but are perfect for 3rd gens and this tire size.

Looks really good on your stock rims though! I really like the aggressive look and performance of MTs. I also am 4:10 and do not plan on regearing as it is not at all a problem even without the Supercharger.

 

i run cheapo ebay 1.5" spacers on all 4 wheels and never have any of the feelings that anyone complains of or describes.

 

Marlin update...

Constant busy signals... No reply to either of two emails to two different people across the last 3 days.

 

I had a really hard time getting thru last week to as leaf spring questions... took 4 or 5 tries.

 

I have had the same issue when trying to get them on the phone. I tryed all day once and everytime got a busy signals. When you do get someone on the phone they take care of you.

 

how did i miss this thread??

The tires look awesome! Im waiting to get some $$$$ so I can get some BFG MTs on different wheels. LOL

 

sigh... well, this is day 5 at a brand new job/company, and the last thing I want to show up is a bunch of attempted long distance phone calls.

I can understand they're busy, but... I'd think that an email subject of "Order #34935, RMA request" should get some response.

I'll make it happen... I have other uses for my $180.