Last year before installing 2" spacers I did a lot of reading on here on the pros and cons. The most common con was bearing failure from added stress. I talked myself into installing them anyway with some 2011 18" F250 rims with 34x11.50 Nittos. Before that install I did the front spring swap and while my mechanic had things apart he checked hub assembly, ball joints, u-joints,etc. Everything was good. Last Sunday on the way home, my wife was driving while I was catching a nap and I was suddenly awaken to a strange noise coming from the right front, immediately my wife coasted to the shoulder of the road thinking a tire problem or brake, ABS light came on. After evaluating I presumed that the bearing had gone bad, tow truck came to get us, luckily we were only about 10 miles from home. Mechanic called Tuesday to say it was ready to be picked up, $647 later it was fixed not including $60 tow bill. The hub and labor was not bad, it was the seals and washers from Ford that was ridiculously priced, $200 for a Moog Hub with Lifetime warranty and $200 labor. The first thing he said when I paid him was, "those spacers are costly" and I asked, " do you think that's what caused it" his answer was "most defiently"!!!! What can I say?? I've probably put less than 10k miles on truck since I installed spacers. I am reconsidering aftermarket wheels with 4.5 bs now. I know it could have just as well been fair wear and tear also and have nothing to do with the spacers.

 

Aftermarket wheels will become an issue long before the coil spacers. All you did was move the axle 2" further from the frame. The 34's are not much bigger than the largest stock tire. How many miles were on the hub when it failed?

 

Wrong spacers.

He has a 4x4, not a 4x2, so no coil springs.

The spacers he's talking about go between the wheel and axle assembly, pushing the new style wheel farther out.

Stewart

 

The leverage the wheel puts on the hub is determined by the distance the wheel mounting surface ( WMS ) is off of the rims centerline. Wether that is accomplished by way of spacer or built into the rim makes no difference as far as the leverage the hub sees.

Backspacing is a bit diffrent as it measures from the outter lip of the rim to the WMS , it is easier to measure then the centerline to WMS.

If you wanted 4.5" of backspace from the 18x8 factory which has 40mm offset then you could have used a 40mm spacer which would have given you a 0 offset and 4.5" backspace

 

True, but with a 1.5" spacer I would have had to grind off the studs or replace with shorter ones, like others just easier to go with 2".

 

No argument but I have ran aftermarket wheels on a lot of my vehicles since my teenage years with not one issue. My Ex has about 135K, not sure if hubs have ever been replaced. But let me add, I've had other Ford 250s, my work has several 02-04 F250&350 with 300+k miles and never had a bearing hub failure. I know it happens regardless, I'm just curious if it really was because I'm using those spacers on the wheels? I guess we'll never know for sure, but I will be replacing the other side myself before it goes out. Now the decision is another Moog or a Timken hub assembly?

 

Timken

 

Mine just went on my 01 4x4 at 63k. And moog and timken are together on hubs now so no more choosing there. Learned that the other day.

 

Are you saying both are one in the same now or that both now produce a good hub assembly?

 

They are one now. They have them listed in the auto parts store as moog/Timken when i got mine. Also autozone has a 3 year warranty with them too and was the cheapest i could find in store. Little over 200

 

That's good to know. Did it come with the O ring and the 4 mounting studs?
I found Timkens on Amazon for $180 free shipping but it doesn't say if they come with O ring or the studs.thanks

 

Yes mine came with a new o ring and studs. Have to reuse the nuts. I saw that too and i was thinking along the line of a extra 40 for 3 year warranty. Felt like i was a best buy lol

 

That is probably the better deal. Thanks for the info