alright, i went through a whole bunch of old threads looking for advice on wheel spacers and looks they they are a bad idea because they are hard on wheel bearings. my best bet is to get new wheels but how do i know how much offset i have/need?

 

the huge problem with buying wheels for these trucks is the hubcentric issue. If you don't know, this is where the weight of the wheel rests on the axle hub as opposed to resting on the lug bolts (lugcentric). Some folks say that if you put lugcentric wheels on a powerstroke then you won't be able to get them to center properly, and you run the risk of snapping lugs and losing a wheel. I don't know how much weight there is behind this theory because I have never heard of this happening and I know alot of people to aftermarket wheel upgrades.

As for backspacing, take your stock wheel and place a straightedge across the back of the rim so that it rests right on the edge of the bead. Then measure from the straight edge to the mounting surface of the wheel. This will give you your backspace measurement. When you go with wider wheels, the backspacing needs to stay the same, but the offset will be different. Offset being how far offset the mounting surface is from the centerline of the rim.

If you get a rim with a smaller backspacing than the stock rims, then you will run into rubbing your tires on the leafsprings, swaybar, or frame rail at full wheel lock. With a wider rim and larger tires, you will run into rubbing on the bumper, and inner fender well as you cycle the wheels side to side.

I did a couple quick searches and couldn't find the stock wheels to see the backspacing measurement. Your local ford dealership would have that information if you called their parts counter though. Here is a video to help illustrate and explain a little better what I have said here...

YouTube - powerstrokehelp's Channel

Hope that helps ya bud, and he illustrates on there the same way I said to measure the backspacing. Although he had his straightedge on the tire, it has to be resting on the actual bead of the rim for an accurate measurement though.

 

OBS trucks are lugcentric

 

well guess who feels like a dumb@$$.... haha, I have always been told that they were hubcentric. Guess maybe I should stop just believing **** that people say on these forums and take what they say and check it out for myself. Anyway, that's still the way you check your backspace measurement and those are the problems you will have with backspace being out of whack either way