I have a fairly stock 2009 JK 4 door. It has factory 17" rims and no lift kits of any kind. I noticed the other day that my jeep would look more aggressive if the wheels were out a little farther, making the jeep a bit wider.

I've seen a lot of wheel spacers out there and was wondering if adding them on would screw me up? It looks like most people add them because of their lift and the contact between the tire and sway bar.

Any info on their worth and value?

Do it chollo! Kick 'em out way far!
Solid axles are fine for it. It's the IFS fools who should steer clear or suffer the obscene consequences. Meh, I did it anyway.

Lift that limo already ;)

X2 on the spacers. I ran them on my XJ and have them on my TJ currently. On the XJ in particular it helped widen the stance and (real or only perceived) helped give me more stability.

Once you get them and put them on, take your wheels off and tighten them again really good aftera bout 200 miles, then again after another 200 miles. Initiall (especially the aluminum ones), they won't tighten completely the first go around and will work themselves loose. After the second tighten, you are good to go.

I put red loctite on mine

I run them on my wheeler. Used to be front and rear. Now just front (new rear axle) also ran them on the rear of my 2500 HD GMC (personal reasons).

After install and 25-50 miles, remove the wheels and re-torque the spacers. Check again after about 200 miles. Then again everytime you take the wheels off to rotate, check brakes or whatever...... I do mean torque.... as in torque wrench..... keep em even at about 90-110 ft/lb.

ask alan what happens when they aren't tight

;)

it is terribly exciting to watch your left rear tire pass you doing 45 on I-17. It was also a great learning experience to carry a bottle jack as a hi-lift has a hard time lifting your flexed out rig high enough to put the spare on. Good news is, when the left rear axle and brake drum are resting on the ground, it's easy to reach the spare tire on the roof rack. : )

Skatchkins wrote:I put red loctite on mine

If I put RED loctite on them, do I still need to pull them off after 200 miles for retightening? I mean, doesn't the RED loctite keep them "tight"?

Yes. It's cover your butt lawyer speak to say "check them at X miles."
...so do it.

Skatchkins wrote:Yes. It's cover your butt lawyer speak to say "check them at X miles."
...so do it.

Yup, just double check the tightness after 200 miles and I check them after every hard core wheelin' trip after that.

So, the actual goal is to inspect them to see if they might have loosen, right? I mean, it's not like we're expecting the aluminum spacer to shrink and create some wiggle, right?

Correct

Had problem with mine. The studs got nasty pretty quick.
Went out to Bob's Saturday to do driveway man stuff, he working on his '53 and I on the Xterra.
Had the wheels off to de-squeak the UCA bushings and clean out the Colorado dust.

Put the wheel back on and uh oh, lug nuts halfway on and can't get anymore.
Uh oh, won't come off now.
Uh oh, snap.
So three of six threads went janky.
One stud broke, other three unusable.
No problem, take the spacer off and put wheel straight on until I get it sorted out.
Uh oh.
Red Lock-tite and other corrosion.
First attempted, stud unusable.
Second stud lug halfway off, then stops.
Asses.
Quietly try to put that one back on to clear wheel.
Put wheel back on.
3 out of 6 ain't bad.
Drive home from Bob's

I have them on the ZJ so I don't hit control arms when turning... no problems with them yet, but I haven't had them on long or have I tried taking them off lol

Skatchkins, how long have you owned this set of spacers?

It would appear just over a year

I'm way late in responding here, sorry :)

Spacers do a good job, but a couple things to know, I use thread locker blue on the inside lugnuts and have never had one loosen. As far as fulcrum pressures damaging anything, it wont, running spacers places the pressure translated from tire to hub in exactly the same place that it is with rims with less backspacing, keeping that in mind, unless your running really nice aluminum rims, you can get a set of steelies for about the same price as a set of spacers and cut down on 20 lugnuts :)

I have been running aluminum spacers for several years now on my daily driver. When you use aluminum against steel, corrosion (white rust) is guaranteed. About once a year, I coat all my studs with Thread Eze. Blue Loctite is good, but does nothing to address the potential for corrosion. As for Thread Eze, some agree using this on wheel studs, and some don't. If you don't, don't do it. If you do, you know it works well! I wheel hard, and commute nearly as hard, never a single problem with lugnuts getting loose on their own, and they ALWAYS come off smooth and easy. A very light dab on each stud goes a long way. It works great around the back lip of the front hubs too, for when you have to pull an axle. Just a friendly tip.

Either way though, I like spacers.

DaYeep wrote:I have been running aluminum spacers for several years now on my daily driver. When you use aluminum against steel, corrosion (white rust) is guaranteed. About once a year, I coat all my studs with Thread Eze. Blue Loctite is good, but does nothing to address the potential for corrosion. As for Thread Eze, some agree using this on wheel studs, and some don't. If you don't, don't do it. If you do, you know it works well! I wheel hard, and commute nearly as hard, never a single problem with lugnuts getting loose on their own, and they ALWAYS come off smooth and easy. A very light dab on each stud goes a long way. It works great around the back lip of the front hubs too, for when you have to pull an axle. Just a friendly tip.

Either way though, I like spacers.

Great description and answer. Thank you I will try this

O_M_Jeep wrote:keeping that in mind, unless your running really nice aluminum rims, you can get a set of steelies for about the same price as a set of spacers and cut down on 20 lugnuts :)

I like this idea better. But, where do I find 17" steel rims for $50 each? The closest thing I can find are Cragars for $90 each and it has a "0" offset, 4.5" rear spacing.

Any suggestions?

BTW: What is the factory rear spacing on the 17" rims?