Are Wheel Spacers Safe?

I'm dredging this thread because I had a similar question, not so much as a safety concern as much as a concern about the spacers placing additional stresses on bearings and other components. I've heard from several people that spacers place "significant" increased stress on these parts, a notion that was redoubled when I went to a tire store yesterday and the folks there said they wouldn't be able to order or install spacers due to liability of the spacers causing additional stress on various components.

But for spacers like Spidertrax 1.25"s, I can't see how that would be any different from running aftermarket wheels with the equivalent amount of backspacing. So what's the difference?

There are lots of people running aftermarket wheels with appropriate backspacing to prevent 285's (or wider) from rubbing. Are these people having problems with premature bearing wear too, as chris4x4 mentioned about those who run spacers?

I really can't imagine 1.25" of added arm (moment) increasing stresses significantly, but I'm no physicist.

 

i would never run spacers...think of a pencil its easy to break a long pencil but those short pieces you get are a lot harder to break...

as for adapters that have a bolt pattern with studs i do use them to fit late model wheels on my 65

 

IMPO the only ones that are any good are the ones that bolt to the axle, and then have studs on them that you would bolt the wheels to. the other ones just put more load further out on the wheel studs.

exaclty like whats above me is what i am talking about

 

I was always against spacers... until I met the Spidertraxx: stout, solid, precision.

As of now I think they've been on my truck for about 12k miles, no related damage yet. Believe me, I'll be the first to castrate Spidertraxx if they cause my truck any harm, but I don't think that's ever gonna happen.