Wow!! I've got 1" spacer/adapters on the 8" in my roadster. I was thinking of redrilling the axles for the proper bolt pattern and loose the spacer/adapters. I think you just convinced me!
Was headed for lunch, when i heard a grinding noise, decided to turn around and the the wheel came off destroying the fender, splash apron and running board. When i got home, i checked the spacer on the wire wheel and all the threads were pulled out of the spacer. This was only my second time out of the garage, not a mile away. Just put the car back together after replacing the splash aprons and new running boards, and of course the new paint on them. That was a mint original fender! The wires are coming off and solids will replace them., i have no faith in the spacers any more. The spacers are needed when using F1 brakes.
Spacers, adapters, synonyms for disaster. Glad you are safe, car is easier to mend than our aging bodies.
I have run spacers at over 200, and the car came from the Porsche factory with them. They were about 3", too.
I'm confused. It looks like the bolts holding the spacer to the wheel is still bolted down. Did the lug nuts from the rotor come loose?
Your right, i just went out and had a better look at them. The spacer was bolted to the hub with lug nuts. The 'threads' i saw was from the spacer rubbing the lugs. It is late here now, i will pull the hub cap off tomorrow and see the condition of the wheel nuts that are still in behind the hub cap. I haven't been thinking straight since this happened, the car went in the garage and i haven't even wanted to look at it yet. Didn't mean to mislead you guys.
Let us know, but what it looks like is your lug nuts that bolt the spacer to the rotor came loose/broke and,,,,,,,,,,, well, you know the rest. Seeing how you have such VERY limited travel on them, I'm betting you may have forgotten to tighten them up when you put them on. Sorry, but at least you are OK.
I have ran 2 .500 billet spacer also for 7,000 miles , on rear , Only removed after installing a 670 hp motor , & have custom Rims built by ETwheel. I would like to know also , wounder if it because of the wheel scrub ?
I've never been a fan of spacers plus they are illegal down here. Car fortunately can be fixed and most importantly you are OK
Damn, that's a shame. Understand not wanting to look at it just yet. But when you do look, let us know what happened.
The inner nuts need to be torqued tighter than the outer nuts on the wire wheel. The inner nuts are clamping a 100% solid area of the spacer, that cannot compress. The outer nuts in the wheel, are actually compressing the area of the lug hole, which does act sort of like a domed lock washer. In the pic below, you can see the wear spots on this non-Ford wheel, showing exactly what is touching/not touching the drum, when the lugs are tight. Note that the edges of each lug hole do not touch the drum. That area around each lug is actually flexed inwards, when the lug is tight. That flexing as you tighten most steel wheels, gives that squawking sound, that lets you know it's tight enough. On the spacer lugs that hold the spacer to the drum; those nuts cannot compress the solid aluminum down inside each counter sunk hole. So it needs a higher torque to keep it tight. one other thing on the OP's spacer; the pic below shows that the spacer OD is not quite large enough to properly support the Ford wheel "nubs" (outlined in white). This did not cause a problem yet, but certainly is poor design.
Look at the threads on the studs on the car. Are they good? When you installed the adapters was there any stud sticking through the adapter - should have a couple threads showing.
F&J you've come thru a second time. Now I know why the hub portion of my girl friends wheel's (40's Ford style) got warped ! Most of her wheel's were bought from person's that ran adapter's. The OD nor the ID on the adapter is up to par and will cause hub/index area of the wheel to warp. Thanks B-Bob for posting and sorry to see that your baby got hurt.
When I read the title and saw the bent fender, my first assumption was that you had had a close encounter with a Surrey driver. Scary stuff. I am glad no-one was hurt and there wasnt more damage. Shame about the fender.
You guys are right, it was a matter of the wheel nuts not being tight. I suspect the inner nuts weren't tightened properly and let go. No reason to blame the spacers, all they do is get squeezed between the wheel and drum. No threads to cause a problem. I ran this set-up all last year and had no problems, think this was my fault and the nuts came undone. I also had the same brand on the rear wheels as adapters from late Ford to early Ford. No problems. Yesterday all i could think of was my fender,the wheel wasn't even on my mind. Thanks everyone for the help, i appreciate it. Especially about the torque info.
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