Spacers are bad m'kay!

I have had 1" spacers on my 4Runner for a few years. They were hand torqued when installed and checked when My tires were installed and again when rotated. I haven't off-roaded in a year and haven't done anything unusual to hurt it.

Everything was fine until last week. My wife and I were headed to the store and I felt a weird sway in the back end so I immediately pulled on to a side street when I heard a loud bang. It felt like a couple of loose lug nuts so I started shaking tires. I got to the left rear and wow it was very loose. I checked the lugs and they were tight so maybe a couple of the spacer lugs worked loose.

I pulled out the crappy bottle jack and as I maxed it out the tire fell off. All six wheel studs had sheared off. I'm glad I stopped when I did so no one got hurt by a runaway wheel and I didn't trash my vehicle.



No loose nuts on the spacer. In fact all six are still snug in their place.



My wife called AAA (first use in 12 years) and I requested a flatbed. We used his good jack to lift it up a little higher so we could barely get three of the lugs on enough to pull onto the flatbed and in my driveway.



Now the fun began. I had never opend up these disk/drum combos and quickly found out what a PITA they are. You have to remove at least one shoe to get the out the wheel studs and the new ones in. There is no room to use normal brake shoe tools. It was pretty easy to pound out the old ones with a small sledge.



To pull on the new ones I used a large nut and some washers with my Dewalt 18V impact gun. It actually has more power than my Huskey air impact with 150psi. I got 5 on before it just got too hot and all 3 batteries were dead. Call it for the next day.



The last one however got stuck half way and decided to strip itself backing it out so bad I had to cut it off and go get another 2 (1 extra) studs and lug nuts. I managed to get it all back together but the center spring on the shoe was a giant pain. I finally figured out to put it together first the slide the shoe under it.



Since I only removed one shoe I had to rotate the axle a few times to turn it 180*. I had to step on the brake to get it out of park. I had forgot about the loose caliper and it popped out from doing that. I gave up for the night. I will finish on day 3. It's also been in the mid 90s so I only started an hour before dark each day.



I used an old trick to get the piston back in place. A 5" c lamp and a piece of scrap steel. Easy as can be.



I then pulled the other 3 spacers. It's all back together but the track is now a little narrower.

 

sucks bro. good looking 4R though

 

Were they hubcentric?

 

I've always wanted to throw some spacers on but don't think I can have 100% confidence while driving the family around.

 

I am bummed this happened to you.

I can only speak for high quality Spidertrax “hub-centric” spacers. I have had nothing but success with them on 4 different rigs (2 FJ’, 2018 Supercharged Tundra, and Ny 2019 Tacoma- currently own one FJ and one Tacoma) I put a combined total of 68k miles on them between all of the rigs with zero issue and regular off road use. I have heard nothing but great things regarding Spidertrax and have read great things about their performance and longevity in “4WD Toyota Owner Magazine.” (Which is why I decided to go with them) Just like any modifications, you risk failure but can mitigate risk with high quality parts.

I would only recommend “hub-centric” spacers and of course Spidertrax which is made here in the USA. (I have ZERO affiliation with Spidertrax btw...)

 

Those are not hub centric spacers. They should look like these with the raised center ring. That is most likely your reason for failure. Stick with a trusted brand, those look like chinese Amazon specials. These are Spidertrax, but there are others that are worthy. But for sure never run lug centric only on these trucks.

 

Haha I had to look that up to see what it was. No they were not hub-centric.

 

Bummer... well... now you know and the lesson could have been 100x worse. Count your blessings... (not that you aren’t) AND... what’s the next mod? Plenty of fun projects and adventures ahead! Great looking 4R

 

Damn sorry to hear. I took mines to Moab and they’ve been fine. Something to look out for

 

I guess Spidertrax. They aren't as expensive as I was expecting. It just looks sad with the sucked in tires. Next mods are waiting for it to cool down. Rock lights and lower my light bar and make a curved lexan cover/windscreen. I have the parts in my garage.

 

You can also get different rims that will do the same thing without having to run spacers.

 

Missed it by ___ much.

Spacer needs to be hub-centric to the vehicle hub, then the wheel has to be hub centric on the spacer.
Five, half inch studs shouldn't be the only thing holding the weight. If so, its likes bending a coat hanger. With every tire rotation the studs flex up/down. A few million flexes later, it work hardens the metal and then just snaps. Hate to say it but nothing says the other 3 sets of studs haven't been tweaked on just as much.

 

Very good point... I wouldn't even know how to inspect those, other than looking for any type of thread loss/strange wear... I would make changing the other 3 a priority on my list.

 

So whos to blame here. the goof that used non hub centric spacers? Or the studs that got bent back and forth like a two dollar hooker

 

Can we please stop blaming the hookers!???

 

What? Who turned this into a Friday thread?

I had never heard of hub-centric until @daltondrose pointed it out. I ordered a set of Spidertrax.

 

You are welcome SPIDERTRAX!

 

Whoever “checked” the spacers lug nuts when rotating the tires may have very easily torqued to hell.

 

That could have been much worse! Good thing you stopped to check.