Wheel Spacers, be smart with them

so first things first, it is my fault this happened, I didnt 100% make sure the bolts were at torq specs after changing my rear drum shoes and for going out onto an extremely bumpy trail with 35 psi in my tires....

ok so onto business, so for anyone wanting wheel spacers for their* taco, be careful with them. Make sure they are at required torq specs and I would recommend checking before going offroading. DO NOT (of course common sense should kick in here) get offbrand spacers, go with name brand, ie. Spidertrax, allpro, etc. They are VERY reliable and very well built...but in this instance, it was my error for the wheel coming off.

I wanted to create this thread to just warn people about the dangers of not properly tightening bolts, airing down, and not flying through trails at 35 mph...there is a reason for those requirements.

The reason the wheel came off was because of the spacer nuts not being tightened properly onto the factory studs and they all decided to unscrew themselves (I thought they stripped off from the studs). The spacer itself, wheel and axle are perfectly fine and so are the nuts, so no damage other than my fender being smashed in a little

I was very lucky I was on a soft dirt road and the back left wheel came off, if it were one of the 2 front wheels...the truck could have easily flipped at the speed I was going and that I didnt damage anything else other than my back left fender (which I was able to muscle back into place). So in the end be careful out on those trails and make sure your nuts rolleyes are all tightened properly.

 

I had something similar happen to me, except a thief couldn't get the lock off so he left me without 5 lugs on 1 wheel.

 

Good post bro. I almost lost one on my Jeep one morning driving onto base. Thankfully my buddy was behind me to let me know my wheel was about to slide off. The wheel was torqued to the spacer but the spacer wasn't torqued to the drum. I could blame my buddy since he did that side but I should have followed up.

Thread lock wouldn't be a bad idea. Also checking them. 10 minutes a month isn't much of a big deal. I always check after I get my wheels rotated or balanced. I run Spidertrax on both rigs.

 

go figure lol, I just so happened to have a family friend that lives very close to the trail I was on and that she was a 22 year auto mechanic with seriously every tool I needed. If the happens to me ever, Ive got an entire set of extra locking lugs in my glove box

 

i lost a wheel on the highway once. not very fun

 

I need to invest in some thread lock and either weekly or bi-weekly check the nuts on the spacers, I dont want this EVER happening again

I bet, im just glad this happened on a dirt road not going faster than 35 mph, I couldnt imagine what would have happened if I was doing 70+ on the highway

 

dam dude glad your ok...scary shit bro

 

thanks man, it was pretty scary considering that truck could have flipped. luckily I just slid to a stop and nothing got damaged

 

glad everyone and everything is fine.

now on to the important stuff, time for a HC rear bumper and glad the plasi derp is ok

 

haha ya, all my pastiderp is ok , ive been actually thinking about waiting for my mid travel setup and instead of purchasing my Icons first...thinkin about getting an ARB airlocker for the rear first

 

im gonna say go with some wheels first, keep your offset ditch the spacers. then suspension, and do an elocker axle swap.

 

Damn that sucks but at least it wasn't worse

Also a couple months back one of are service trucks had a spindle break on the rearend my coworker said he felt it drop and seen the duallys with the axle shaft roll past him

 

I dont remember the offset that my M/T Classic IIIs have, but the BS is at 4.5, that should still be fine for the UCA. I gotta find me a rear end first if Im gonna do that

 

Ive got mt classic lock II with -30mm offset. They stick out stuper far

 

nice, I just looked mine up, they have 0 offset, so theyd only stick out about an inch further than stockers...i spotted those moto metals...and I likey

 

I say ARB locker before tires. You can have the gnarliest tires but if you have one tire up in the air spinning like crazy, you still won't go anywhere (or one tire a foot deep in sand ). A stock locked is often better than MT with LSD

 

hahaha ya true, im just debating whether to go with the rear axle swap or spend $$$$ and go ARB....and thanks again man for comin out there and pullin me out lol , I seriously did push my luck out there

 

Shit happens. I wouldn't do it if I didn't think you would do the same for me.

 

Damn glad you and the truck are ok. You gonna be good for the 22nd?

 

yup, if you ever need help just holler at me