Technical Wheel spacers, input needed

Bummer!

Probably because it's easier to screw things up by using them, rather than correct things.
And it would be very difficult for an inspector to determine that they were being used correctly, and were of high quality.

 

There's a guy on You Tube, who posts fairly frequently; usually pretty silly posts, like using FOUR, FOUR INCH thick spacers on each side of a 4WD Ford pickup truck, all stacked together. Seek and ye shall find. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I did and The sweet spot on scrub radius is 2” and could be either positive or negative.

The scrub radius works with the toe adjustment and the road force causes a loading of suspension components in one direction by the scrub radius. The effects follow a bell curve and As scrub radius lessens and approach “zero” the steering becomes less stable. The loading direction of suspension components can switch while in motion causing asspucker.
Increasing scrub radius beyond 2” has some less than desirable effects and also on a bell curve. The road force into steering components increases and the toe adjustment MUST increase to compensate.

Obviously I couldn’t have seen every car, but I’m convinced threads about alignment issues discussing toe adjustments really are about various scrub radius. Some of these hot rod pics appear to have excessive scrub.


Some serious miles have been getting onto that truck with my design suspension. Setting points for caster, camber and antidive were just a matter of doing it. Correction of bumpsteer required floor pan modification. The biggest Fight and most challenging part was getting the scrub radius right. SOB I lost some brain cells on that one. Why??? Because it’s that important, worth the effort, and makes that big of a difference.
The guy swears to me that his 54 Chevy truck rides, handles and steers better than his wife’s new caddy. Now the wind noice and rattles and vibration (NVH) isn’t even comparable but that’s not what we’re talking about .

 

I was coming from the perspective that if the “spokes” of the wheel are moved further away from the centerline of the tire, there is an increase of stress in the system. Granted, the resulting stress on the spindle/bearings would theoretically be the same, but there is an increase in stress in the rest of the system.
Imagine a wheel with 2 feet of back spacing and a 2 foot spacer. There is increased stress in the wheel.


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OK
A friend of mine put alloy Corvette wheels on his 96 Chevy pickup, these wheels are the ones with a yard of backspace.
He had a custom set of "spacers" made that were actually adapters (one set of studs, one set of through holes), even though both bolt patterns were the same.
Yes, they work fine but I think that is due to the fact that they eliminated one surface that can "slip" and had stock length studs and he is fastideous on maintenance.
I can't completely visualize what the OP has for wheels or what he wants to accomplish but I still don't think he has an ideal setup.

 

@DDDenny

I tried to explain it earlier, but will do again.

The car currently has the factory wheels on it. The factory wheels have zero offset. The wheels I have have a 2 inch offset. The car is OT, but as was mentioned before, I'm trying to do one thing, put the tire back where is was originally. I could get by with 1.75 spacers, but the wheels I have, come with a 2 inch offset.

 

"I was coming from the perspective that if the “spokes” of the wheel are moved further away from the centerline of the tire, there is an increase of stress in the system. Granted, the resulting stress on the spindle/bearings would theoretically be the same, but there is an increase in stress in the rest of the system.
Imagine a wheel with 2 feet of back spacing and a 2 foot spacer. There is increased stress in the wheel."

I agree with you, there is more stress in the wheel.

 

Spacers aren’t the greatest things up front.
But,,,, every big ass dually pickup runs some big ass spacers up front. They are massive heavy duty things too.

Moving the track width back to stock is better than moving the track width away that’s for sure.

The best thing to do is get the best bolt on spacers that you possibly can, made from the best materials available. If there’s one place not to skimp it’s going to be a bolt on wheel spacers. The thing to watch is how much material is left after the machining is done.

I ordered a custom set once and they were nice but seemed to be reworked universal. I sent them back with a sketch of what I wanted and they came back exactly like what I wanted

 

Personally I wouldn’t run a spacer of any thickness. Spacers on the front wheels isn’t safe at all. I have seen too many spacers break apart

 

Unfortunately, the opening post didn't have enough info about pushing the wheel out or keeping it in the same place. So we got a half-page of off the point replies. Then we finally got a little clearer info which produced another half-page of defending earlier comments, etc.
A wheel spacer is fairly robust and it's easy to make a good one. That's not to say that there aren't some bad ones out there plus there also are "idgets" that walk among us who could break a cannonball if given the chance. Just use quality studs, lugs, etc. and torque them evenly. If you're the type that tends to lose sleep, do a few extra maintenance inspections. You want to enjoy your drives without white knuckle syndrome.

 

I agree, but thought I clarified it enough 3 posts later, but maybe not?

 

You did fine,
It simply requires reading it. That’s a lot to ask some days

 

Those are the type I have had on rear of my truck for 8 years. Mine are 1 1/2” I think. No issues

 

I'm not laying blame, either with you or the replies. I'm just doing some forensics after the fact about the reactions.
As usual, I'm agreeing with 31 Vicky. Often enough, my own brain freezes on the opening post, then I may slip up comprehending any follow-ups.

 

I have a E350 van converted to dual rear tires with 4" spacers that are hubcentric, meaning they pilot on the brake hub. I have used the same set since 1985 on three different vans. I have an off topic car, 9" ford rear, with 7" of backspacing and 2" hubcentric spacers I have used since 1989 through two sets of tires and over 40,000 miles with no problem. Hubcentric, proper lug bolt torque, and good maintenance.

 

I'm not a fan of wheel spacers but if you feel you have to run them check with these guys https://www.uswheeladapters.com/ Most of their spacers are pretty well made to order in house for the specific application the customer has .

 

They do make a very nice spacer.