Wheel Spacers Update

I installed my Spidertrax 1.25” spacers about 15,000 miles ago now. Installed mostly per factory instructions (torqued to 100 FtLb instead of 90).

Checked tightness again today with my tire rotation and still no movement after 15,000 miles. More importantly my truck hasn’t burst into flames, snapped off an axle, or whatever spacers are supposed to cause happen.

Just posting for posterity.

 

Today was the first time you checked the torque of the spacers in 15k miles?

Or just checked the "tightness?"

 

The spec is 83 lb-ft.

Over torquing is not recommended as it can stretch the studs and cause them to shear off.
It can also warp your rotors.

 

No, not the first time. This is my 3rd check.

 

Spidertrax bolts are 10.9+ grade. While I agree in principle, a 10.9+ grade M12 bolt will not shear with 100 ft lbs of torque.

 

What actually has been known to happen is that the studs strip in the alloy spacer. Happened to me and it was a complete pain in the ass to get the wheel off.

 

What brand of spacer?

 

Spidertrax

 

I’ve always done factory lugs to factory spec 83 ft lb and same for the spacer and never had an issue when rechecking after 100-500 miles or so and then checking much later on. Using BORA spacers and no loc-tite.

 

Mine flip over burst into flames after installing spacers, the insurance denied my claim once they saw I posted it on tacomaworld, best of luck

 

There’s 3 main issues that *potentially* can bother people about spacers:

1. the come loose and a wheel falls off
2. they cause extra wear and tear on ball joints and such
3. they get stuck on in some fashion

All 3 are solved by being mindful of a few things:

1. higher quality units (ie spidertraxs) installed correctly and checked properly
2. Sure, to some minimal degree, yes. But so do your aftermarket wheels that you’ll run without concern, so it’s not horrific, just technically true
3. Again, higher quality units with quality wheel studs, anodized to prevent seizure due to corrosion of bare metal together and installed/torqued correctly will nearly eliminate the concern, but it’ll always be at least a small possibility

Quality units really do make all the difference to most folks concerns.

I’m running Spidertrax 1.25” spacers on my current rig and have run them (and others) on many setups in the past with zero issue. From rigs to trailers to toys.

 

I check once a year now, always 83ftlbs.

 

How sure are you about that? Metric ratings are not the same as SAE, a 10.9 M12 is about the same as a 7/16 grade 8 bolt which has an optimal torque at about 83 ft lbs. Anything more stresses it and you are adding unnecessary risk. You're about 20-30% over which means they are probably very close to the edge of breaking

there is also no "10.9+" it either is 10.9 or 12.9

 

One correction here.

He has spidertrax spacers which spec 90 ft lb and OP torqued to 100. Granted he’s still going over the recommendation but you can’t fault him for following their directions. Also 100 ft lb isnt 20-30% over stock torque ratings.

Apparently 8+ and 10.9+ are a thing. I’d never heard of it but after checking their site and google, seems to be a thing.

From their site:
Each Spidertrax Wheel Spacer/Adapter Kit comes complete with 2 wheel spacers/adapters, grade 8+/10.9+ wheel studs (pre-installed), lug nuts, and thread locker. All Spidertrax wheel spacers/adapters are color anodized, using a double anodizing process for twice the corrosion resistance. Proudly designed & manufactured in Loveland, Colorado.

 

The 20-30% is based on optimal torque for an M12 10.9. Some references say 70 ftlbs while most say around 83. Depended on if it’s wet, waxed, zinced etc.

The SpiderTrax instructions for Toyota actually call for 85 ftlbs on the spacer lug and 75-85 ft lbs on the wheel lug and advise to retorque to 75 ft lbs.

https://407909.app.netsuite.com/cor...7654&c=407909&h=d9bfd331cf327ecdd54e&_xt=.pdf

Somewhere along the way SpiderTrax generalized their install instructions. Saying they come with 8+/10.9+ and giving the same torque spec across both 1/2 and M12.

There older instructions for 1/2-20 bolts were 80-90 ft lbs.

They probably did this simply to minimize confusion because people likely pulled up the wrong torque specs.

 

83 lb/ft and no loctite

If your spacer gets loose you don't know how to tighten lugnuts and your wheel would've fallen off anyway

 

Their site sucks. I checked before I said that and the instructions I got said 90 ft lbs.

For the percentage I was going off of factory spec, which isn’t 20-30% under what OP is doing.

 

Could be 25%, could be 10% lol, who knows with these instructions.