Rear Wheel Adapters/Spacers

[LeadDoggy]

I've seen a few photos of rear hubs with wheel adapters/spacers mounted. Looking to add them to my E350 that has the large hub with the axel bolted to the hub. I beliebve that you would call this setup "floating axel". The wheel studs are about 1.5" long.
What are the pros and cons of said wheel adapters?

Thanks
Jim S
LeadDoggy

[adventureduo]

Pro, is that they put the wheel back out to desired width to match the front axle. Cons is that they can crack and can come loose. Just more maintenance is all. We are running them on our SMB and we ran a set on our Adventure Trailer. No problems on the trailer and no problems on our SMB yet. You just have to make sure you keep them tight and maintained. Some people say they put more strain on the axle but i dont believe that, unless you plan to run 40" boggers. Im sure most people will chime in about how their experience has been with them, good or bad.

[charlie56]

FYI
If you search the archives you will find discussions on them. One problem that some people have had is that certain tire shops will not service or change out your tires if you have spacers. If I recall, Jage had trouble with Discount Tire. I had Discount Tire do some work and they told me as long as they are adapters, not spacers, Discount Tire would have no problem. They explained that the difference being, spacers are not permanently mounted (loose) but adapters are.

[Ford_6L_E350]

My 4wd conversion has an F350 front axle with 8 x 170mm bolt pattern. The van rear end has 8 x 6.5" bolt pattern. So, I have adapters to make the bolt patterns the same front and rear. I also have a pair on my Rock Crawler trailer for the same reason.

At the same time, the width of the adapters spaces the rear wheels out 1.5" on both sides. Since I'm using F350 wheels and the backspacing is 1.5" more than the van wheels, the adapters make the rear track the same as the stock van, so no additional stress on anything.

I've checked the spacers a few times, but nothing has ever loosened.

Mike

[LeadDoggy]

What can be done with the stock wheel studs if there are too long for the adapters? The studs do have a short amount on the ends with no threads. Could that extra material be removed?
Going to keep the orginal bolt pattern. Mainly looking into spacing out the rear for a wider stance and stability.

Will be back in a few days as for heading out of town for work.
Keep the replys coming
Thanks again

[adventureduo]

Originally Posted by LeadDoggy

What can be done with the stock wheel studs if there are too long for the adapters? The studs do have a short amount on the ends with no threads. Could that extra material be removed?
Going to keep the orginal bolt pattern. Mainly looking into spacing out the rear for a wider stance and stability.

Will be back in a few days as for heading out of town for work.
Keep the replys coming
Thanks again

They have to be cut down. Fairly common.

[John Kalmbach]

The wheel spacers/adapters work great, provided they are installed and torqued properly. It is CRITICAL that the long axle studs be cut down. If ANY part of the axle stud protrudes past the face of the wheel spacer/adapter, your wheel will not mount properly and the wheel can then loosen, shear studs, and come off.

Installed properly, you won't have any problems. Having the full-float rear axle with two large bearings is a plus too!

Good luck!

John K.

[bluedog225]

Originally Posted by John Kalmbach

The wheel spacers/adapters work great, provided they are installed and torqued properly. It is CRITICAL that the long axle studs be cut down. If ANY part of the axle stud protrudes past the face of the wheel spacer/adapter, your wheel will not mount properly and the wheel can then loosen, shear studs, and come off.

Installed properly, you won't have any problems. Having the full-float rear axle with two large bearings is a plus too!

Good luck!

John K.

What it the best method for cutting down? Grinder or saw? Will it affect the temper? Are there studs of the appropriate length available? I'd rather go with new studs than cut them down.

Thanks

Tom

[John Kalmbach]

SMB would use a small disc grinder/cut-off wheel (about 1/16" thick blade) to remove the excess stud. No problem with effecting the tempering of the stud as they did not get that hot. Install a lugnut prior to cutting to clean the threads if need be.

There might be replacement studs available, but cutting the excess off works really well. You have to be certain the end of all the studs is below the face of the adapter once torqued.

John K.

[LeadDoggy]

Ended up with some 2" spacer/adapters that were custom made to fit the hub and the wheels that I have. Did not have to cut any studs.....