Aluminum wheel spacer fail on 14bff

[RichLo]

Just an update

I got a Rough Country spacer on ebay for $28 to replace the bad one for the winter. Here are some pics of the RC one and the Amazon special.

The RC is so much better! I was able to get a real 1/2" drive impact socket inside the holes to give it way more uga-dugas than the other one. Once I got the red one on this side I took the other side off and all of the lug nuts were loose! So that's what happened to the failed one. The Amazon special holes only fit a thin wall chrome 3/8 drive socket and I couldn't get enough torque to keep the lug nuts tight.

I was able to break a couple 3/8 extensions tightening up the other Amazon special enough to get through the winter but come summer I'm ordering a pair of $500 steel spacers.

 

[RichLo]

Moral of the story, pay the price up front or pay the price down the road.

If these were on a street driven truck, this could have killed somebody. Buy name brand or dont but them.

EDIT: Just so people know this truck never leaves my driveway and never gets above 5mph. I tend to 'Just get it done' on this truck but some things like this I cant ignore and I will get those steel spacers ASAP. I just hope that I can show somebody to NOT get those cheap spacers for their road vehicle.

 

[someotherguy]

Moral to the story that I heard was if you use spacers, be sure they're properly torqued.

Richard

 

[Supercharged111]

Moral of the story, pay the price up front or pay the price down the road.

If these were on a street driven truck, this could have killed somebody. Buy name brand or dont but them.

EDIT: Just so people know this truck never leaves my driveway and never gets above 5mph. I tend to 'Just get it done' on this truck but some things like this I cant ignore and I will get those steel spacers ASAP. I just hope that I can show somebody to NOT get those cheap spacers for their road vehicle.

You plow at 5mph? Wimp!

 

[letitsnow]

Ha! I have caught air in my Rzr, while plowing.

 

[RichLo]

Moral to the story that I heard was if you use spacers, be sure they're properly torqued.

Richard

The Amazon specials cant be properly torqued since the holes cant fit anything bigger than a 3/8" drive thin wall chrome socket. I broke 2 extensions last night torqueing them and I'm sure they still aren't where they're supposed to be.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

How many ft/lbs are you screwing them down too? Too much on the aluminum and you'll egg out the hole.

I run Stahl steel spacers on my Suburban.

 

[RichLo]

You plow at 5mph? Wimp!

HaHa.

Plowing with speed and momentum breaks things like plow mounts and bends rams. Plowing with torque and traction loosens lug nuts

 

[someotherguy]

The Amazon specials cant be properly torqued since the holes cant fit anything bigger than a 3/8" drive thin wall chrome socket. I broke 2 extensions last night torqueing them and I'm sure they still aren't where they're supposed to be.

Indeed. An issue that woulda been noticed when you first installed them, right?

Really not trying to pick on you. A lot of smack gets talked about spacers, but buying good ones and installing them properly are critical items on the list. Sounds like you got cheap ones that aren't capable of being properly installed.

Richard

 

[RichLo]

Agreed, that should have been a red flag to send them back and get better ones.

I dont use spacers very often so I guess I just didnt think lug nuts could just come loose like that. Never had anything like this happen before and figured they were 'tight enough' when I first put them on.