Aluminess Tire carrier issue

[vandiesel]

I just installed my new tire carrier that I got from JoeH. It is setup for the older bolt pattern wheels. I have 305 65 18 tires on Ford factory rims. Even if the bolt pattern was right the tire hits the frame of the carrier. I was thinking of getting a wheel spacer with the bolt pattern conversion to do double duty of pushing the tire back and fixing the bolt pattern. Is there some sort of bracket or fix that I might be missing?

Thanks,

Brad

[BIGVANS]

Yea, the old one is 6.5 and the new one is 170mm. You may try a “wheel spacer/ pattern converter” like they use on the rear axle of the conversions. You need the tire to contact the frame of the carrier to keep it from vibrating and cracking the mount. The spacer stays bolted to the rack and the rim bolts to the spacer. Measure the thickness of spacer you need (You may need to trim down the studs on your rack for thinner spacers). Maybe try calling around to find the “Adapter/Spacers” in the thickness you need.

http://www.hendersonslineup.com/prod...et-of-two.html

[JoeH]

Dang, that sucks Brad. Sorry to hear it's not quite working out.

When I checked with Aluminess they said the solution to a different bolt pattern like (8 x 170mm) or a larger backspacing would be to cut the lugs off and bolt an adapter plate to it.

The bolt pattern changes depending on the 4 wheel drive conversion. Older Quigley conversions were 8 on 6.5" bolt pattern which is the same as the new Sportsmobiles. Current Quigley conversions along with Northwest Quadvan and some others use the 8 on 170mm bolt pattern.

edit to add: I believe the Ford factory wheels have more backspacing (6.5"?). So you were going to need a spacer to take up that space anyway. There's some good info in this thread and also a nifty solution by Ford_6L_E350 viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2377&hilit=tire+spacer

[c7train]

I had the same problem. Call Aluminess and they will send you the adapter plate and the spacers, I think it's about 40.00.
Best,
C.

[vandiesel]

Thanks everyone. Joe I love it no worries.

Brad

[OttoVolcomSMB]

This might be ridiculous but could you flip the wheel/tire around so that it wouldnt hit the carrier?

[vandiesel]

Maybe but the bolt pattern is wrong.

[OttoVolcomSMB]

Oh yeah. Oops my mistake.