Question about wheel spacers....

Simple question...

I recently replaced my front wheel bearings on a 2009 Tacoma 4-door short bed TRL. I expressed my interest in wheel spacers and the mechanic said they destroy the life of bearings. Is this true? I think wheels that pop out a little look super dope and always wanted them. Between my armor, front bumper, rock sliders, leveling kit, and larger mudding wheels and tires... I've already dropped down to approximately 13 MPH... I can't afford to either loose more MPG or create more maintenance problems.

Sooo.... what's the deal with spacers?

 

it does add more stress but at this point its a trade off. I added wheel spacers recently and aside from what your asking it rubbed like crazy and that was with a cab mount chop, removed mud flabs, cut liners, mashed in pinch weld but the think that got me was it was rubbing on the cab mount which I already chopped and it was rubbing bad so I removed them.

These were 1" Bora spacers. Maybe 1.25" would have been better. Either that or get wheels with less back spacing which essentially does the same thing.

Are you running stock and want to add spacers or aftermarket and then spacers?

I am also running 11-13 mpg on a good day so I feel your pain. Heavy ass tires, steel all round, lift etc will kill your mpg but thats not why we did it in the first place ya know? I wish it was better so those long wheeling trips were not so costly.

 

Your mechanic is correct.
The farther out you move the weight away from the bearing center the more stress is placed on the bearing. A small change makes a large difference in the strain on the bearing. Spacers will greatly shorten the life of the wheel bearing. Ideally the weight is centered over the bearing.

 

If you are running larger tire sizes, buying the right offset or spacers is a necessity to prevent rub. Some here have experienced wheel bearing failures even on stock wheels so it's not a guarantee stock offset will prevent failures.
I do suggest to always go with the wheels with the right offset vs. spacers just to eliminate an extra item that can cause vibes or failure. If replacements are needed, always upgrade and never go cheap in this area especially if your truck has extra weight from aftermarket add-ons and see some offroad trails. I recommend ones from Jerseybuilt Hubs.

 

My advice regarding wheel spacers: DON'T

 

ran them for 2 years. no issues at all. i should add also that my truck saw a lot of off road use as well when the spacers were on.

 

I second this.

Also pushing your tires out past any fender flares will create maintinence hell for your paint job (and in some states is illegal).


Plus... it looks stupid lol

I wouldn’t do it if you don’t want to add more PITA for yourself.

 

Thanks for all the advice.

I just missed rub with my current tires... I've been driving it for years with a 1.5 leveling kit in the front and 1 in the rear. About two years ago, I pulled the kit and upgraded the front and rear shocks to Rancho's... nothing crazy like Fox.... but it was what I could afford. I didn't know about offsets, I just relied on the California wheel guy knowing exactly what my Tacos turning tolerances were.

 

Are offsets the same thing as wheel spacers?

 

Exact same thing. More offset is essentially moving the mounting point further back in the barrel of the wheel to expose more lip. A wheel spacer does the exact same thing

 

Got it, thanks for the reply.