Okay, so I'm upgrading the wheels and tires on the Beast... (1991 F-350 SRW 4x4 CC LB 7.3L IDI ATS S5-42) Currently it has some 16" Outlaw II wheels and dead Dunlop Mud Rovers... Anyway, I just got a hold of 24 bolt military wheels with BFGoodrich Baja T/A tires on them, they even have the rubber run flats in them still... Here's a picture of them:


I've pretty much narrowed it down to two different spacers I found. Here are the links to each: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4pc-8-Lug-6-5-To-8-x-6-5-Wheel-Adapters-2-Spacers-9-16-Studs-Lug-Nuts-/261819524508?hash=item3cf5a8e59c, http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-2-8x165-1-to-8x165-1-Black-Wheel-Spacers-9-16-Stud-Dodge-Ram-2500-3500/331317156329?_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109&_trkparms=aid%3D333008%26algo%3DRIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131231133846%26meid%3D19266a61ce5b4af4b06dadd34da7c5b4%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D8%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D121468960113. The ID on the black ones are 0.1mm bigger then the factory wheel's center bore. I know our trucks are lug centric, so it really doesn't matter. I'm trying to decide which one would be better in terms of strength and looks. I'm also trying to decide whether to use open end acorn nuts, or long closed end acorn lug nuts like these that are on the Beast right now. I know the nuts will partially dictate which spacer I go for, but knocking out the studs and installing what I want isn't an issue. The ones that have the longer studs are "allegedly" made in the US, (it doesn't say it in the listing) whether they are or not, I don't know... They have other listings with similar pictures and those say made in the US. I will say this, they do look different then any of the other Chinese specials...

So to summarize... I'm trying to decide which spacer is better and which lug nut style would look good with these wheels. I also just want to make sure two inch spacers will be enough. The back spacing on these wheels is seven inches. The guy I bought these from runs them on his Dodge with 2" spacers and has no problems. He pulls a big gooseneck trailer to pickup all these wheel and tire combos...

 

Personally, I don't believe wheel spacers should be put on vehicles intended to be driven on the road. They don't have a good track record for durability. I especially don't think you should run them on a 1 ton pickup truck.

 

Swap the front to dually hubs and don't use the spacers.

 

I've heard of that before... Does that work well? What about spacing for the rear wheels. Have you installed these before? If so, is that what you did?

 

A guy I know did it on a SAS'd Bronco. It worked really well. He didn't have the dually rear so used spacers on the rear.

 

But if that's the case, why bother using dually hubs on the front, when your using regular wheel spacers in the rear... Why not just run the same spacers up front as well.

 

I would say it's because the front tire assembly has more side force either inside or outside than the rear so having the spacers in the rear might not effect the studs that hold the spacer or the tire on. You could also have the rims recentered.

 

Yeah that makes sense... But all the custom shops in my area have sold tons of spacers for years. They said no one has ever come back saying they broke. That's because they were installed properly... The only reason spacers can and will fail, is if there installed incorrectly... Now granted I wouldn't want to run spacers bigger then two inches, because they put too much stress on the studs. As for recentering the wheels, I know I can, but the cost defeats the reason I got these wheels in the first place... If I were to do that, I might as well just buy a set of brand new Eagle Alloy 058 16.5" x 9.75" wheels from Summit, for $558...

The whole point of getting these wheels was to have bead lock functionality for not much money... I only have $200 into the wheels right now. Of course I still have to get spacers or something... So figure in another $200 or so, so $400 in double bead lock rims is not that bad... Granted I can get pressed centers for $260 something including shipping. But the old centers still have to be cut out and the new ones welded in... If I had a plasma cutter, welder and a gauge to measure run out, I would probably do it, but I don't unfortunately...

 

i will never use wheel spacers, i buy the proper rims. i have seen too many vehicles loosing wheel over the years due to studs breaking because of the added stress from the spacers.

 

Personally, I do not like how balloonish these tires look on 9.75" (most call these "ten inch") wide rims. I think they are currently on 7.75" wide rims?

The tires in the pics below are worn significantly on the outside edges which exaggerates the balloon look.

(I have 2 sets of 9.75" rims that I'm trying to trade for a narrower width.)

I do not watch for them, but the only posts and pics I recall reading of failed spacers were caused by the hub studs being too long causing the wheel and adapter surfaces to not be properly mated.

Will you keep us updated on your experiences in balancing them for the highway and how you feel about all of the weight?

 

Personally I would NEVER use aluminum spacers on a 1 ton.
or spacers of any sort on the front

 

I wouldn't. I would get the matching dually pick up rear 10.25. I was just relaying dually hubs as a much safer option that works very well.

 

As far as I know, the military tires are still 16.5" right? People are nearly giving away rims that size because they are obsolete. You should have NO problem finding some for the price of, or less than, the spacers you listed.

 

The whole point of this is because he wants bead locks

 

I'm not sure where to go with it for now... I do like the idea of running the military double bead lock wheels, but not if it's going to be either expensive, a lot of work, or maybe not very safe... My friend found a post on Craigslist with 16.5" Outlaw II wheels in great condition for $300. (There 280 miles one way though...) I do like the style of those wheels, hence why the Beast has 16" versions of them right now. But to be honest, it's not like I do rock crawling anyway, so whether I have bead locks or not, it will be okay... What I really want to do is run these Baja tires, that was really the whole reason in getting them.

I checked out prices. If I wanted to get a pickup dually rear end and front hubs, that would cost around $308.70... The problem is they don't have a dually 4x4 right now... They do have an ex Uhaul which is exactly the same truck as the War Wagon. But a Chassis Cab axle is narrower then it's pickup variant... I know most of you are against spacers, but that is the cheapest and quickest way to get these tires on the Beast.

So I have four options in order of cheapest to most expensive.

1: Spacers.
2: Dually rear axle and front hubs. (I actually like this idea)
3: Different wheels altogether.
4: Recenter the current wheels.

I called and left the guy with the wheels a message, so I should know sometime tomorrow if I'll be getting those wheels or not. If not, I guess I'll be back to trying to figure out what to do...