A friend of mine changed out his wheels and tires for some 37's on beadlocks, and I was lucky enough to get the spidertrax spacers off of his JK. Now I could keep my MOAB rims when I put on 35's. The Jeep wheels are hub-centric, so installing a spacer that isn't hub-centric can lead to a wheel not mounting correctly. Kind of like driving on an egg since it will be slightly off to one side. The JK spacers from Spidertrax are just like the older TJ model spacers in quality. Them make these in different lug patterns (JK to TJ and JK to CJ) and two different thickness .These
1.5" 5 on 5" 6061T6 Aluminum wheel spacers, there is 1.75" thick spacer also.
The wheelspacers are anodized in dark blue, which is a double anodizing
process for twice the corrosion resistance. In addition, each wheelspacer
is wheel and hub centric for a perfect fit
Hub Centric Defined: Wheels
are manufactured so that when they are installed on a vehicle, the wheels
are located directly off of the center flange of the brake drum or rotor.
This is done to insure that the outer beads of the wheel are concentric
with the wheel bearings. The result is a much truer, better balanced tire/wheel
assembly. This is very important with modern high tech suspension systems.
I've been asked if wheel spacers are dangerous on a few ocassions. My reply has always been that "Quality" spacers are not inherintly dangerous, cheap ones are definately dangerous. Spidertrax definately falls into the "Quality" category, but like any Mod, if installed or not maintained properly can be dangerous. This is not much different than not checking your lug nuts on your own wheels. Everytime you rotate the tires, double check the spidertrax spacers. Keep the studs clean and maintained. I've only heard of one problem with Spidetrax spacers and that was not a manufacturer issue, but a bad installation.
Additional
Parts:
Tools
Needed:
3/4" Deep well socket
Torque Wrench
Ratchet
Flat tip screwdriver
Needle nose pliers
Floor Jack
Wheel Blocks
What comes in the two boxes. They are sold in a set of two so you will need two sets.
Installation:
1. Block the Jeep and Jack up the wheel that you are going to install the spacer on.
2. Remove the 5 lugnuts with a 3/4" socket or 19mm socket, or star wrench. I generally use the tireshop lugnut stripping tool called an pneumatic impact wrench...
3. Check your wheel studs. There may be a couple of assembly washers installed on them to keep the rotors in place at the factory. Mine had anywhere from 1 to 4 on them. I don't understand the difference in amounts, but they are a pain to get off. The OEM wheels have an indent in them to go over these assembly washers.
The Spidertrax spacers do have an indent on the back to fit over these assembly washers, but I remove them out of habit and having one less thing to deal with during a trail repair.
4. Take a flat tip screwdriver and a needle nose pliers to pull up the tabs and remove them. Make sure you remove all of them, otherwise you spacer will not sit flush against the rotor.
5. Install one Spidertrax spacer on to the wheel studs. Check to ensure that the wheel studs do not extend past the edge of the spacer.
6. Apply a small amount of red loc-tite to each wheel stud.
7. Install the supplied lug nuts. Cone side down on the the wheel studs. Do not use the OEM lug nuts.
8. Tighten using a star pattern. Have a friend step on the brakes while you tighten up the lug nuts. Tighten to 90 ft-lbs.
Note: Do Not use an impact wrench.
9. Reinstall your wheels onto the Spidertrax spacers. Tighten to between 80-90 ft-lbs.
10. Repeat for the other tires.
11. Drive the Jeep. After 50 miles remove the tires and check each wheel spacer by torqueing them to 80 ft-lbs. If any of them move repeat the installation for that wheel spacer.
12. Reinstall the tires.
Before
After
I normally check my spacers everytime I rotate the tires, or if I have a tire off for any reason.
