So I just got new rims on my truck and at full crank to the driveside I barely rub. I know that I don't need much as far as spacers go so I'll be running 1/2" spacers up front.

I'm just wondering how S.D. front ends like wheel spacers? More importantly, how do wheel bearings like spacers?

How large of a spacer are you running? How long with or without new problems have you gone?

Largest safe width?

I'm researching a little because a friend of mine also got new wheels/tires and the dumb A$$ didn't even think about backspacing
when buying the new tires. He rubs a lot harder than me and I'm thinking about helping him order some 1.5" or 2" wheel spacers. Ideas?

 

anyone have input?

 

I used 1.5" wheel spacers on an older Powerstroke I once had.

Here's what they do:

They take the effective centerline of the tire outward which places extra stress on the ALREADY stupid underengineered front wheel bearings. They also place extra stress on the upper ball joints as the wheel acts like a lever pushing inward towards the frame.

As far as 1/2" spacers go, I wouldn't worry. However, DO NOT use the spacers with holes that just go between the wheel and the rotor. That places a ton of stress in a shear type arrangement on the factory studs. I don't know if you can get bolt-on spacers in that small of a thickness.

 

In general, bearings under load will wear quickly if the wheel offset is changed from a neutral balance. I got a new set of Dexter axels on my 5er a few years ago, and the warranty had bold print stating that the trailer wheels couldn't even have as much as a 1/4" offset without voiding the warranty.

 

At the moment I have a 12mm negative offset and I'm adding 1/2" spacers. Will that bring the wheels to a neutral balance?

 

No on the neutral balance ?, your still going to be doing all the things that Cleatus/Cody said. If your going to run spacers make sure they are the ones that bolt to your lugs and then the wheel bolts to the spacer. They are still doing the same ill effects but you wont shear off your lugs that way. Duramax trux that are lifted are all like that in the rear. They have to run spacers anytime with a lift in the rear due to all the madness up front from a lift.

 

I would avoid spacers at all costs especially on a truck like a super duty. A super duty is quite a bit heavier than a normal vehicle, plus the added weight of any kind of payload or towing. If you can avoid them do so, just get rims that will fit the truck with out them. The also wear the wheel bearings out a lot faster than normal, not to mention other wear and tear of the components. Also like others have said avoid the ones that will put extra stress on the lug nuts, they will shear if you use the wrong ones.

 

Compare the front brake rotor of a single rear wheel Super Duty with that of a dual rear wheel rotor.
It's merely a machined four inch spacer (FOUR INCH SPACER) integrated into the rotor of a DRW.
On the rear, same thing, only the axle hub has the four inches of spacing on the DRW.
The rear-end of our SRW F-350 is NO different from my DRW F-350 from rotor to rotor (both Dana 80s). From the rotors out is different but only the 'axle hub spacer' or whatever it's called.

My .02

 

I will interject here again and say that the ALUMINUM wheel spacers I was using were used to bolt 49 inch Iroks to an F350 CC/LB with a Powerstroke. The truck weighed 9200 lbs. EMPTY. The spacers were 1.5" thick.

I had a wheel bead (not the tire) fail on me at 70 MPH on the left front. The truck stopped in 164 feet WITHOUT using the brakes (didn't want to roll it) because of that ONE flippin' tire that was flat. I couldn't move the truck under it's own power when it stopped....that's a lot of force!! The wheel spacer never flinched. I'd run them again in a heartbeat!

 

Well actually I believe a F-350 SRW is 10.5 sterling not a dana 80 like DRW. But the wheel spacing from the factory is different it was engineered to be like that and not add additional stress. Plus we are talking about spacers all around not just the rear end. My best friend had wheels spacers on his car so he could fit different rims, and they caused nothing but problems, I spent many a nights changing wheel bearings. I personally would not use them under any circumstance, and buy properly spaced wheels, but each to his own.

 

The front spacers are somewhat negligable on a dually, and Im pretty sure the only reason they are there, is so you can run the same wheel front and rear. (only one spare) If you notice, the offset of the dually wheel actually makes the wheel in the normal location, and doesnt cause the adverse affects of offsetting the wheel, because the wheel is still were its supposed to be, its not putting more leverage on things. Similar things happen with the rear. The spacer on a dually rear is to make the load of the wheels still centered on the bearing, and not causing excessive wear.

 

Jet, not to be an ***, but the wheels used on a dually are different. I don't know why, but they use that spacer to make the axle width wider, and then use a wheel with a TON of positive offset, to bring the tire width back in to a normal track of a superduty. I guess it's just so you can interchange wheels from the rear in a bad situation, or what?

 

Here's the bottom line. I went with the little 1/4" cast cheapo spacers. The ones that slide right on... I even doubled them up to 1/2"... The rubbing stopped completely... However, the steering wheel has a slight shake.

Not sure if it's an uneven mounting surface, it the balance is off, or what??? but they're coming off this morning. I'd rather rub a little bit than drive down the road thinking something is gonna blow up.

I just hope that I didn't push a wheel bearing over the edge. I believe they're original @ 150,000mi.

Anyways....

 

Benny, all chevys are not that way....knuckle lifts are the ones that push the front tires out extremly far so that most people resort to spacers

 

Santacruz-i think you made a good decision to take the wheel spacers back off. I dont think I remember reading it in here or not but you can also drill and tap a small bolt into the knuckle on the drivers side so that the wheel cannot crank all the way, hence eliminating the rubbing. Do a search on it, i remember seeing something before because i need to do it to mine. I have the same problem, it rubs on the drivers side leaf at full crank to the left.