Which wheel spacers for disk brakes

[AnotherWs6]

I know that some people have gotten away with running narrow wheel spacers when doing a disk brake conversion with their factory 3 nub wheels. I figure I'd give it a shot when installing my CPP 4 wheel disc kit. I bought a couple of different 1/4 spacers on Amazon and have to say I'm skeptical. They are universal, how do they get located centrally? I've never run a wheel spacer. Can someone please teach me something here? Much appreciated.

[bbbc10]

I can teach you not to run them they break

[andrewmp6]

Honestly new rims are cheaper then what good spacers will cost.And to me id never run a spacer i have seen a few fail and when they do your wheel comes fully off.

[AnotherWs6]

I'm talking about 1/4 spacers, not worried about failure.

Nobody makes a 4 nub, 6 lug rim otherwise I would buy new rims. Not paying hundreds of dollars for used stuff that I have to sand blast and paint.

Can anyone help with my actual question?

[jweb]

If you're going to use wheel spacers they should be hub centric. The cheap ebay ones are not safe.

You can have them custom made to fit the diameter of your hub and the bore of the wheels.

Here: http://www.motorsport-tech.com/wheel_adapters.html

Or Here: https://www.uswheeladapters.com/wheel-spacers/

[AnotherWs6]

Interesting. Looks like some quality stuff, thanks.

If I'm only going a quarter or a half inch do I need to use spacers that include new wheel studs? The ones I bought just have holes, no studs. I'd have to take a hub cap of to see how much extra thread I have now.

[AnotherWs6]

I know some guys have gotten away with spacers on their disc brake conversions, can anyone chime in with what they used that worked?

[jweb]

Originally Posted by AnotherWs6

Interesting. Looks like some quality stuff, thanks.

If I'm only going a quarter or a half inch do I need to use spacers that include new wheel studs? The ones I bought just have holes, no studs. I'd have to take a hub cap of to see how much extra thread I have now.

I would contact one of those companies to see what the recommend. On my old rear axle in my '51 I had to run 1/2" spacers, I just pulled the axles and had 1/2" longer wheel studs pressed in. Drove it that way for 8 years without a problem.

[mongocanfly]

I wouldn't be terribly concerned with running thin spacers as long as the stud length is ok and are hub centric..not to be confused with wheel adapters which is what I think some above are thinking of..
We have a local tire store that won't touch your vehicle if you've got spacers or adapters..to much liability they say

[AnotherWs6]

^^^^^Right, adapters and spacers are different and I do believe there is some confusion here. So yeah, the spacers I bought I don't think are hub centric and have elongated slots for the wheel studs which makes me think, how the H could anybody properly run these.

Maybe it's a question for a different day. Once I get the brakes on I supposes I could use the ones I have for testing purposes only and then buy a good set if they work. And if they don't, it's time to find wheels. Which I really don't wanna do.

[mongocanfly]

If the slot width is the same as the stud diameter there shouldn't be much movement even though the spacers have slotted holes...when installed over the studs it will kinda self center..still not as good as hub centric with proper bolt pattern though..

[theastronaut]

I used a 1.5" bolt on spacer on my '66 after swapping to CPP disc brakes. Got them from Summit for a Toyota pickup, bolt pattern is the same and the hub opening is big enough to clear. The stock wheels were already painted so I wanted to keep them. I used 8" rear wheels so the 1.5" spacers up front pushed the wheels out to match the fitment of the wider rear wheels. Had them on the truck for around 1000 miles before I sold it with no problems. No shakes or vibrations up to 90 mph even though they weren't hubcentric. Circle track wheels are lugcentric... no problems from those guys either.

[AnotherWs6]

Good to know info, thanks. I suppose I could go wider than a quarter, lord knows the wheels are SOOOOOOO tucked in on this thing. My wheels are painted as well and the tires are good so I really dont wanna mess with them.

[AnotherWs6]

Came across this and bumping it up partly for S&G's, and partly for a new question. So I know I read about people using 1/4 spacers to clear their disk brakes and know a lot more now then I did then. So I can find a set of those no problem. (That 17 dollar set of spacers made out of half scrap metal and half plastic aint going on my truck. I've never felt a piece of any kind of metal tha felt so light and chintzy.) Not a problem once you know what to look for.

Now I'm wondering how big a spacer people have run in general. Part of the charm of my aged burb is the awkward stance it has with the wheels so tucked. Curious to see if anybody has pics of stock rims spaced out more than a tiny 1/4. So this is also for S&G's I guess.

[theastronaut]

I had 1.5” spacers with stock wheels and 215/75 tires, dropped around 6”. Pics are a few posts up. Thats as low as you can go with 1.5” spacers, the tires slightly scrubbed when cornering hard. 1” bolt on spacers will probably need the stock studs trimmed shorter so I wouldn’t recommend those.