Are these wheel spacers / adapters stock?

BillW

BillW

TJ Enthusiast
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When I bought new tires for my TJ a while ago, I noticed that there were adapters/spacers behind the wheels, Are they stock? I wish I had taken pictures....The one on the left rear had a stud broken off, I had wanted it replaced but the guys must have forgotten to do it....
 
Mike_H said:
Post a pic of the jeep. The little avatar pic looks like you have the 18" JK wheels.
Click to expand...
They are 15" TJ wheels. supposed to be 8" wide, instead of the 7" stock wheels.....

97 Jeep TJ new tires 10-4-2022.jpg
 
Yeah, spacers are not stock. Looks like someone added them to get a bit more backspacing for the larger tire. I would get that stud replaced ASAP or buy another wheel spacer...might be tough to find the exact stud you need.
 
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BillW said:
The one on the left rear had a stud broken off
Click to expand...

This is one of the many reasons I hate spacers. Dumb ass tire shop broke one of my studs mounting one of my wheels. Then they tried to fix it and broke the spacer. Of course, wouldn't admit they broke it.

I like to avoid spacers if possible. One more thing to go wrong.
 
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I like to avoid tire shops if possible. Can't, of course. I just got new tires yesterday, and the gorillas put about 145 ft lb on some of the lug nuts, and pressure is about 38 PSI. First thing I always do is loosen and retorque the lug nuts properly, and reduce the tire pressure to something reasonable.

Sometimes a spacer is the only way to get your tires positioned where you want them. Can't always get the backspacing you want in a wheel you like. I dislike spacers too, but with proper care they're fine.
 
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JK wheels have more backspace than TJ wheels. From this list a 1 1/4" spacer/adapter puts a JK wheel with the same depth of offset as a stock TJ wheel. If that's the case it would seem that the proper thickness spacer wouldn't change the forces on the hub. Is my thinking correct??
 
roverhi said:
JK wheels have more backspace than TJ wheels. From this list a 1 1/4" spacer/adapter puts a JK wheel with the same depth of offset as a stock TJ wheel. If that's the case it would seem that the proper thickness spacer wouldn't change the forces on the hub. Is my thinking correct??
Click to expand...

No.
The spacer increases leverage at the mounting point to the hub.
Imagine a longer spacer for a wheel with even more backspacing.
Not normally an issue at 1 1/4".
I use 1" adapter/spacers to run JK Moabs on my WJ.
 
roverhi said:
JK wheels have more backspace than TJ wheels. From this list a 1 1/4" spacer/adapter puts a JK wheel with the same depth of offset as a stock TJ wheel. If that's the case it would seem that the proper thickness spacer wouldn't change the forces on the hub. Is my thinking correct??
Click to expand...

This is a simple math problem. JK wheels have 6" of backspacing. A 2" thick adapter spacer creates a wheel with an effective 4" of backspacing. There is no difference in leverage on the balljoints and hub between this wheel/spacer combination and another wheel with 4" backspacing and no spacer.

Here are my JK wheels with an effective 4" backspacing...
Screenshot_20230827-090450~2.png
 
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LONGJP2 said:
I disagree about the forces on the hub.
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How does the hub know what creates the backspacing? All it experiences is the final leverage being placed upon it.

You might as well be arguing that there is a difference in leverage between a steel wheel and an aluminum wheel where both have the same backspacing.

Unless your argument is including a difference in the wheel widths between two wheels with the same effective backspacing.
 
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LONGJP2 said:
The original wheel pushed on the hub.
The new wheel now pushes on the hub from 2" farther away, leverage.
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All that matters is the length of the lever ... the distance between the centerline of the tread and the hub face. If that distance is the same with a wheel or a wheel plus a spacer its the same thing.
 
LONGJP2 said:
The original wheel pushed on the hub.
The new wheel now pushes on the hub from 2" farther away, leverage.
Click to expand...

Think harder about my wheel and spacer example and the effective backspacing. Then explain to me how my JK wheels with a spacer and an effective 4" backspacing are exerting more leverage than an otherwise similar wheel with 4" backspacing without a spacer.

You can't, because both of these examples have the same backspacing.
 
LONGJP2 said:
How is there not more leverage at the hub?

View attachment 454306
Click to expand...

Because the hub never moved relative to it's position within the wheel with a spacer compared to the wheel without a spacer. And for the third fourth fifth time, the effective backspacing is the same in these examples. The hub doesn't know what is happening out there. All it experiences is a wheel or a wheel/spacer of the same backspacing that are exerting the same leverages onto the hub.

All the arrow in your drawing does is roughly point to the wheel's factory hub mounting surface. It does nothing to show the forces being enacted on the hub. The spacer simply moves that hub surface inboard. The spacer is simply a part of the wheel assembly.
 
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