Wheel spacer question

[limechallenger]

Seems to me that adding wheel spacers to our wheels is like moving the weight further away from wheel bearings causing damage to the bearing in the long term. Any opinions on long term affects on the hub bearings?

 

[CHeYeNNe71]

Many run them, but no different then running a smaller to negative offset. Over time, yes bearings might not last as long.

 

[Rick3478]

You mean like increased off-center and angular load reducing life of the bearing? Totally agree, though I don't have any physical measurements or statistics to throw at it.

 

[limechallenger]

I don't have them , but always thought that could cause a problem down the road!

 

[CHeYeNNe71]

I've ran them numerous times on my Jeeps and 4th Gen RAMs.

 

[Ready Go]

I imagine an engineer could calculate this for us, but I feel a 1" +/- spacer isn't going to significantly change the load on the bearings. IF the spacer was say maybe 6" somehow..for sure the load would cause the bearing to fail much quicker.

I'd say the biggest concern would be making sure the spacers have "true" surfaces! Machined billet would eliminate this..cast spacers would be a no go for me.

 

[Fantastipotamus]

Here's an engineer-written article explaining some of the forces/effects (and his opinion) of the changes:

Our Suspension Engineer Talks About The Effects Of Wheel Spacers And Wheels With Different Offsets - The Autopian

My fellow Autopians, you know those wheel spacers that people use to make their tires stick out to give the car a wider stance? Do you think those are a good idea? Let’s forget for a moment about the fact that, on many “stanced” cars, they are one pebble away from ripping those fenders off […]

www.theautopian.com

 

[akostaac]

I’ve installed them on all my Rams and never an issue. Had them on my 2006 , 2015 which I owned for 6 yrs lifted, my 2021 and my 2022.