Another Spidertrax Survey

Who has them? How many miles have you had them? Any issues? Bearings, balancing, alignment etc...
Yes I have them. And I have the well known 55 to 60mph shimmy

 

Cool. I’ve had mine since new and im at 15k now. Im on the fence about leaving them on our taking them off. I need some high mileage guys to chime in. Anyone?

 

Sure did. Loctite, clean mounting surface, torqued to spec, and tires balanced by several different shops, both regular and road force. So ive come to live with the 55 to 60 shimmy as ive read about quite a few others on t4r.org with the same issue that goes away when the spacers are removed. I really like the look it gives the truck though so Id rather leave them on

 

Stock wheels. Do they require the rings to work properly with the spacers?

 

Well i plan on taking the front two off tomorrow and I’ll see what happens

 

i DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY SO MANY PEOPLE ARE USING WHEEL SPACERS. jUST BUY THE PROPER WHEELS

 

I WASN'T YELLING? JUST MAKING A COMMENT LOL JUST DOESN'T MAKE SENSE

 

ALL CAPS IS YELLING IN INTERNET LAND!!!!! Yes after I get the spacers off, a new set of wheels with some offset to them will be on the list

 

I have 1.25" Spidertrax spacers on a 3" lift, with 275s. No shimmy, no issues, no problems at any speed; truck rides rather smoothly, actually. About 2000 miles now on the spacers. Properly installed usually means: Loctite, torque wrench (to specs), and an alignment. If you have a 55-60 mph shimmy, that is most likely due to a poor alignment.

Having said all of that, there's a few changes brewing on my 4Runner. I'm going from the Toy-Tec Boss HD 3" lift to the ICON Stage 6, 3.5" lift, w/a secondary shock and reservoir in the front, and the 3 inch heavy duty coils in the rear. As well, I'm adding the front ARB locker (have the rear ARB now) and re-gearing to 4.88.

My tires are going from K02 275s to Nitto Grappler 295s.

So...we'll see how the spacers handle all of that change.

 

I'm keeping the Toy Tec lift; shop says the Stage 6 has to be rebuilt every 30k miles, and that we can use the Toytec suspension as a proxy while it's being rebuilt (by Icon). Not sure I will actually do that, however; knowing myself, I'll probably be ready to throw on the Fabtec 6 inch lift with 35s. (Almost did that instead of the Stage 6)

 

Just finished taking them off. Took it for a spin and no shimmy. I really would’ve liked to keep em on and the problem be elsewhere but apparently that was it. And again, I promise I did everything to spec. Clean surface, loctite, and torque

 

How old (how many miles) the tires? Is there one (usually in the front) that has some noticeable uneven wear? If so, it's possible that the shimmy is gone because the wear is back to where it was worn (...peter piper picked a peck of peppers...).

Meaning, if this is the case then the spacers pushed out the tires and the worn area now is in a slightly different location, making the shimmy; putting them back to where they were would mean that the worn area is "back home."

May not be the case but best to eliminate all possibilities.

 

About 15k on the tires and spacers. I put them on about a month after buying it last may

 

Bad spacer? Any dings, dents; can you hold them up (or lay flat) and see/look for any slight warping, change in thickness...?

Honestly, a spacer shouldn't cause a malfunction if it is good quality, and installed to spec. I suppose there's always other things like UCAs, ball joints, suspension, and so on that could have slight issues, leading to the shimmy. Really, really hard to say....it's like Joe Pesci said, "How do you get mud IN the tires...?" Haha.

 

Might be mud in the tires. I’ll go check after ive had my grits. Not instant grits, im in the Deep South so....
They were all visually perfect and like i said, as soon as I took em off, the 55 to 60 shimmy was gone pecan. I’ll just get used to how it looks now until I get some offset wheels and I’ll do that when I need another set of tires

 

Gremlins, I guess...

Hope it doesn't happen with my spacers. So far, so good, but we will see how it goes with the suspension and tire swap that I'm doing currently.

 

If you REALLY like them, maybe try putting the rears up front and the fronts on the rears? Its a shot in the dark but it might work.

I had wheel spacers on my jeep years ago before I upgraded my wheels and tires. I was always worried about "death wobble" but it never happened.

Good luck.

 

I don't think im gonna put them back on anytime soon even if I knew they would be perfectly balanced. Its already getting 90 degrees down here with 100 percent humidity so it not fun removing and putting all 4 back on. But eventually, ill get some wheels with a little offset to get that look back

 

Not on our 4Runner but have had them on our FJ for close to 20,000 miles with no problems or shimmy.

 

BECAUSE SOME OF US LOVE THEIR STOCK (IN MY CASE TRAIL) WHEELS.

I needed them because anything wider than a 255/80r17 tire on my Trail required either spacers or a different offset wheel with the UCAs I run. I love my stock trail wheels so the choice was easy.

If you really look into it using various forums and resources online you find a very small number of spidertraxx spacer failures with the majority of those being attributed to the installer getting torque happy and going well over the recommended numbers.

 

Pray tell, what's a "proper wheel"?

Honestly, vehicle modification is a personal endeavor based on what makes the individual happy. Have spacers, don't have spacers; have 35s, don't have 35s; paint it green, yellow, pink, or black...your choice.

That's the beauty of living in a country where we are not forced to live by a set of nationalistic rigid rules, created by a god-king's vision of how we are to live, and enforced by armed militants loyal to the leader.

 

That's pretty deep, but i'm with you man.

 

Glad I found this forum and this post string. Going through issues with my balancing right now. Before adding spacers or any mods to stock runner, changed OEM tires to Nitto Ridge Grapplers about 18 months ago. Had severe shakes immediately and took it to another NTB location and rebalanced. They told me they were way off on weight and not done right 1st time. Rebalance did the trick.
A month later added spidertrax spacers, properly cleaned, installed and torqued. No issues and ran smooth for about a month until the vibration started. Had alignment and balancing done at Toyota. Shake still bad and getting worse at low and high speed but 50-60 was the worst.
Had suspension, alignment and spacers checked at my local Merlin's where I have a very good long-term relationship and trust them. Could find nothing wrong but shake still there.
Over months the shakes got worse. As I had planned to get a lift kit, decided to get that done and realignment afterwards. Shakes still there.
Had balancing done again, minor change but still shakes!
Finally went to NTB and had the Nitto tires physically checked for any deformation etc. Found multiple flat spots but we could not pin the problems on any specific issue bjut the spacers and lift were discussed. Tossed the Nitto tires with at least 15-20K left on them, and put on General Grabber A/TX LT275/70R17 that I had already planned after the lift kit because the Nitto's sucked in the wet, Grabbers fitted and balanced.
Straight out of the gate I had bad shakes. Had them rebalanced at NTB 2 days later and questioned what adaptor they used? They admitted they don't have an adaptor for the hub centric 4runner wheels so they arranged for me to go to another NTB shop that has the proper lug nut adaptor, however, that location told me they won't guarantee any results with the spacers on!
So, I agreed to let them take the spacers off and I'd see how it rides. I've some long highway travelling out of state this weekend so I'll see how they feel. If the shake is gone, I'm going to refit the spacers after I bring them to a local machine shop and have them checked for conformity etc. If they're good I'm putting them back on to see if the shake is back.
I'll let you know the result in the next few weeks.
I really like the planted looks with the spacers but I'm not prepared to put up with the crappy ride or shake the crap out of my suspension joints. What you feel at the steering wheel is only some of the intense vibrations in the suspension!

 

Definitely thankful for finding this article! I had just purchased the 1.25" Spidertrax spacers for my 2020 but now I'm not sure if I'm going to install them. Called ORW here in SD who's about to do my ICON stage 7 install and they do not recommend spacers either as it adds another point of failure on the hub but also recommended getting a rim with an offset to accommodate the stance and larger tire. Just like was offered up earlier in the string.

I also planned on continuing to use the stock 17" rims until I was ready and had $$$$ in the bank for new ones. Will 285/70/17s fit the stock rims without tire rub with no spacers?