3rd Gen wheels: Everything you need to know
#49
I thought about that. Take the dog dishes and trim rings off and paint the wheels some sort of light gray or silver. I just can't see sinking over $250 into the adapters. Plus the $250 I'm going to spend on the wheels. I know they look great and they're Dodge, but I could get similar looking aftermarket wheels for less. Thanks for the input, guys.
And because I can't leave anything stock.
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Barney428 (10-05-2019)
#50
I scored a set of chrome clad steel 2008 factory wheels with the factory tires with only 500 miles on them. The kid that bought the truck new back in 08 quickly bought fancy big wheels and monster tires and stored these wheels and tires inside, covered and are in perfect condition. I paid 1000$ for them and HAPPY. Size is 265/70/17, the back space is 6" vs 4.5" on ours so wheel spacers are needed. I going with the same company/guy you got yours from, I talked to him on the phone and he's willing to make anything I need. So here is the needs, like your spacers the 1.5" thick spacers are the right dim. cause we need 4.5" backspaceing for centering the wheel/tire to the bearings, but with these wheels , they are steel so on the surface where the wheel mates with the rotor is not solid like your alum wheels so I'm having him make the spacers from 9" round stock so the spacers will be large enouph to suport the mounting surface of the steel wheels. Remember the steel wheels have raised ridges that make contact with the rotor.
#51
Oh yea I got the crome hubcaps and lug nuts also. I'm having the spacer maker put 1/2" holes in the spacers to mate them to our 1st gen's and give me the 9/16" studs for the 08 wheels.
#53
Here are style spacers that I used.
When I had 1/2" studs with stock lug nuts, I had to use a 3/8 drive socket because the wall wasn't as thick as any of my 1/2 drive sockets, and it barely fit. It isn't a big deal. If you do press new lug studs in, MAKE SURE YOU RE-TORQUE THEM OFTEN for the first few days of driving. Honestly, pull the wheels off and re-torque to the same amount, and repeat until they stop loosening up. You should at least check them anyway, whether you press new studs in or not.
I torqued my wheels to 100 pounds, and haven't had a problem yet. I believe the 3rd gen trucks call for something around 135 pounds, but I didn't want to push those aluminum spacers too hard. If you buy aluminum wheels, it is very important that you torque them all to the same amount, because they can warp otherwise. I don't think that is the case with steel rims though. Either way, I always use a torque wrench.
When I had 1/2" studs with stock lug nuts, I had to use a 3/8 drive socket because the wall wasn't as thick as any of my 1/2 drive sockets, and it barely fit. It isn't a big deal. If you do press new lug studs in, MAKE SURE YOU RE-TORQUE THEM OFTEN for the first few days of driving. Honestly, pull the wheels off and re-torque to the same amount, and repeat until they stop loosening up. You should at least check them anyway, whether you press new studs in or not.
I torqued my wheels to 100 pounds, and haven't had a problem yet. I believe the 3rd gen trucks call for something around 135 pounds, but I didn't want to push those aluminum spacers too hard. If you buy aluminum wheels, it is very important that you torque them all to the same amount, because they can warp otherwise. I don't think that is the case with steel rims though. Either way, I always use a torque wrench.
Shouldn't the spacer manufacturer have provided you some information as to the limits you can torque the wheels onto them, so you could achieve the proper spec for tightening the wheels down to their spec ? Why would you "guess" as to what's the right way to handle this install, vs actually following their recommendations for installation ? I'm perplexed by this. They must have some instructions for you to follow, based upon their own R&D of the product.
You spent a lot of time preparing your truck, which looks great, but I would want to see some actual specs or data as to what these aluminum spacers can endure on a truck as front heavy as ours.
Front shackles on a front spring ? or do you mean that you extended the mounts lower, such as what Jungle offers for our trucks ? I didn't think front shackles were something that would be considered safe in our type of front suspensions. From an engineering standpoint, I would think front shackles offer too much "wiggle room" for the springs to move around, eventually causing bushing or metal fatigue in the front mounts. Front shackles are not the proper fix for your ride height issues. Rear shackles are trailers, and wouldn't do any harm, but front shackles, IMO are not the right way to handle a bad set of front springs. and a real prescription for suspension failure.
#54
The spacers are aluminum, and so are the rims. The spacers are way thicker and heavier than the rims are, and they're not cast or forged, they're billet. I'm sure I could torque them to 135 if I wanted to, but I've been torquing them to 100 for years and they have never moved.
About the shackles, I was referring to the stock shackles. The stock ones are on the shelf, and the longer ones I made are in their place. I have since made a set of drop hangers for the front link of the springs.
About the shackles, I was referring to the stock shackles. The stock ones are on the shelf, and the longer ones I made are in their place. I have since made a set of drop hangers for the front link of the springs.
#55
The spacers are aluminum, and so are the rims. The spacers are way thicker and heavier than the rims are, and they're not cast or forged, they're billet. I'm sure I could torque them to 135 if I wanted to, but I've been torquing them to 100 for years and they have never moved.
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The reason I'm not (nor ever will be) sold on the "spacers" idea is because of failures I've heard about in the past, such as a fellow cummins owner in this thread:
https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...l-t305238.html
Granted, it appears that the installer overtorqued the lugs and used neversieze on the threads, but I still would be hesitant to use spacers on our (heavy) vehicles due catastrophic failure when they let go...
For this very reason, the old adage
"if you want something done right, do it yourself"
comes into play for our fellow cummins owner. He mistakenly let someone else do the install when if he had done it himself, and used a torque wrench, and DRY TORQUED THEM TO MANUFACTURER SPEC, installing them as dictated in the installation instructions. He might not have had the same results.
This is the exact reason why I asked you what the spec was from the manufacturer of the spacers. It's critically important to know vehicle specific torque specs that you weren't provided. You started an "everything you wanted to know about" thread about your wheel install....but couldn't provide me (or anyone else) with what was crucial l to know about the installation. Not trying to sound like a bastard, but to me the most important part of the thread wasn't conveyed.
Reality is, people shouldn't just "wing" this stuff, otherwise they could wind up damaging their rides, killing someone else, or even cause their own deaths in an accident.
Buying spacers with installation instructions, which would have provided the research and development done by the manufacturer, would be the best route for someone thinking about installing these on their truck.
For the record....
Most of the aftermarket products out there are generally safe to use... if installed as they were designed to by the manufacturer, and not just slapped on my some local monkey that works in a local garage, as the guy with the dully ultimately found out.
Nice looking truck, BTW....and I'm glad you figured out what spec worked for your truck.
#56
10-4. I don't believe the manufacturer gave torque specs, otherwise I would have followed them. I have no doubts that the spacers are strong enough. I understand they do not go as fast, but we use the same style spacers on our combines at work. The combine spacers see more torque, shear and stress than my spaces ever will. I do understand your point, and how we shouldn't just cobble things together. This is why i retorqued often to make sure that the nuts weren't backing off.
#57
10-4. I don't believe the manufacturer gave torque specs, otherwise I would have followed them. I have no doubts that the spacers are strong enough. I understand they do not go as fast, but we use the same style spacers on our combines at work. The combine spacers see more torque, shear and stress than my spaces ever will. I do understand your point, and how we shouldn't just cobble things together. This is why i retorqued often to make sure that the nuts weren't backing off.
#58
I'm running spacers on all 4. I can't remember now, but I think they fit on the back without spacers. They would look kinda stupid though, cuz they would be tucked way under the truck. The rear end is already narrower than the front. If I were to do it again, I would probably put 2" spacers in the rear to bring the tires out a little more.
#60
I was thinking of trying just that if I ever swapped a Dana 80 in my White crew to replace the 4.10 geared Dana 60 that is surviving back there right now.