What do you all think about SpiderTrax?

[cmitchell12]

Just curious to what everyone thinks about the 1.25" spacers for the 4th gen? I am wanting to put a leveling kit, and these wheel spacers on to be able to run 265/70/r17 mud tires, but have read that the wheel spacers are dangerous for on road use. Is this true? I do not want to switch to aftermarket wheels to compensate for the offset. Thanks for any info

 

[zopperman]

here we go again...

 

[Az636]

here we go again...

:lmao::snacker:

To answer your question, they're not dangerous. as for the mud tires, you shouldn't need them to clear the UCAs

 

[anotherrunner83]

Just curious to what everyone thinks about the 1.25" spacers for the 4th gen? I am wanting to put a leveling kit, and these wheel spacers on to be able to run 265/70/r17 mud tires, but have read that the wheel spacers are dangerous for on road use. Is this true? I do not want to switch to aftermarket wheels to compensate for the offset. Thanks for any info

just look through the lift and tires central photos. you'll see that a lot of us run them. all of the tires size and lift combinations you could want will be in there. it's a sticky at the very top of the 4th gen forum page.

be warned, you may (will) get a few piss and moan responses to this thread. this has come up several (hundred) times and some of the senior (by number of posts) members don't seem to understand that folks are new to a site and don't always know where, or how, to search for information they are looking for. take it as a grain of salty and just laugh at the salty bastards.

 

[470SNC]

they're fine, if I would do spacers I would def. go spidertrax, I ran 1.5s on my FJ for about 100k miles, and the wheel bearing went out towards the end of the run, thats the only downside, your wheel bearings will be stressed

 

[wnelax04sr5]

they're fine. the only people I've ever seen or heard of having issues are the ones that put them on wrong. theres some guy on here who is convinced if you put them on you'll die within minutes and the world will drop out of orbit. the rest of us who have used them for years and 10s of thousands of miles can vouch for the fact that they are safe and work without much maintenance, if installed properly

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Keep in mind a couple things:

-Wheel Spacers are often the cheap poorly machined/drilled glorified washers most people use on their front wheel drive rice rockets to fit improperly matched wheels to their car.

-SpiderTrax and similar parts are more accurately "Wheel Adapters" (though Googling "Wheel Spacers" brings up a LOT of similar products to SpiderTrax) and unlike wheel spacers physically bolt to the hub like a wheel and have a second set of lug studs at the ends. Essentially you are bolting on an extension to the hub, where as wheel spacers just hang loosely and reduce the amount of lug threads available for the nut to grab (which is why they are unsafe.)

-SpiderTrax is a sponsor of many hardcore off-roading teams who beat their vehicles severely, if their product weren't up to snuff; I doubt professional rock-crawlers would use them on their rigs.

-As long as you follow proper installation instructions and occasional torque checking of the wheel adapters, there should be little to no issues caused by the wheel adapters. While there could be a minor increase of load on the wheel bearings, it would be little to no different from installing a wider/farther offset wheel in comparison of leveraging forces.

Wheel Spacers of various styles:

These just flop over the studs and in most cases are not even bored to match the hub so they don't sit properly and/or need centering rings.

These are SpiderTraxs installed on a Tacoma hub:

Note that they are bolted onto the existing factory studs and are machined to match the hub bore, then there are new studs to retain factory stud length and strength.

 

[ebg18t]

What are spidertrax?

 

[BlackWorksInc]

What are spidertrax?

The Spidertrax Store

Brand name of style of wheel spacer/adapter commonly used by J120/J150 owners.

 

[Cornelius]

While there could be a minor increase of load on the wheel bearings, it would be little to no different from installing a wider/farther offset wheel in comparison of leveraging forces.

Thank you! I feel like beating my head against a brick wall every time someone warns me that I'm gonna toast my wheel bearings and I have to explain this. Very well put.

And to the OP: I've used Spidertrax for the better part of a decade and had over 200k miles with them on my Tacoma and never once had an issue -- wheel bearings or otherwise. Fantastic and safe product, in my opinion.

 

[Champ306]

I got em. love em. no issues after 4 years. too many weird people on the inner web.

 

[scottblink23]

Just curious to what everyone thinks about the 1.25" spacers for the 4th gen? I am wanting to put a leveling kit, and these wheel spacers on to be able to run 265/70/r17 mud tires, but have read that the wheel spacers are dangerous for on road use. Is this true? I do not want to switch to aftermarket wheels to compensate for the offset. Thanks for any info

As others have mentioned, if you go with Spidertrax and they are PROPERLY INSTALLED, you will have no issues and you will love them.

 

[mountain mike]

They are also a good company. I had an issue with a stud on one where the threads got chewed up. The shop I bought them from sent them back to SpiderTrex for me and they fixed it for free. I didn't even pay shipping.

 

[Metalmantr]

What are spidertrax?

The trail that an arachnid leaves behind?

 

[rubbertoe]

A quick question for those currently running these:do you use red lock-tite on the spidertrax new stud threads as well , or just on the ones from hub to spacer ?

 

[ebg18t]

The Spidertrax Store

Brand name of style of wheel spacer/adapter commonly used by J120/J150 owners.

I was being sarcastic in my question.. This question unfortunately appears every week and yet we continue to reinvent the wheel.

 

[wnelax04sr5]

I was being sarcastic in my question.. This question unfortunately appears every week and yet we continue to reinvent the wheel.

pun intended?

 

[Sandyvan28]

Spidertrax offroad

Hey guys- so I’ve read through the 100 threads with good and bad reviews of spacers but I have yet to see anyone talk about how they are when stressed on the trail. Forget the highway driving, if I’m 50 miles out do I have to worry about these things sheering off providing they’re installed properly?

 

[Bluesky 07]

Hey guys- so I’ve read through the 100 threads with good and bad reviews of spacers but I have yet to see anyone talk about how they are when stressed on the trail. Forget the highway driving, if I’m 50 miles out do I have to worry about these things sheering off providing they’re installed properly?

I just installed Spidertrax on my '07 SE and can't imagine them shearing in any circumstance. They're beautifully machined out of anodized aluminum and bolt onto the stock lugs with nuts tightened to 90 ft lbs and red thread locker, but most importantly, as explained in J.A.'s outstanding write-up, they're hub centric so the lugs aren't taking the load:

"A hub-centric wheel uses a chamfered center bore that fits onto a corresponding raised section of the hub, centering the wheel perfectly. When the lug nuts are tightened, the weight of the vehicle is supported solely by the fit between the wheel's center bore and the hub. The wheel bolts or studs then serve simply to hold the wheel onto the hub, and are loaded only in tension, where they are most strong. If the studs were required to absorb vertical forces, they would be loaded in single shear which is the weakest arrangement for a fastener."

Obviously this is nothing more than one guy's opinion, but if your Spidertrax end up separated from your 4Runner, they're likely just still attached to whatever other piece came off first. ;-)

 

[The Yin]

Many years of use

I've had mine on my 4Runner for years and +30k miles with no issue. I've only taken them off a few time to clean or when doing other work. I've only done moderate off-roading (2wd here).

IF they are installed per the instructions then they are just as likely to sheer or brake off as any wheel would be. The one time I've read and seen pictures of someones failed Spidertrax, it was because the lugs on the factory hub broke. The though was that the spidertrax lug nuts where either over tighten when installed, or installed backwards. At any rate the, failure was with the installation and not the product.
The argument that some make against these is the fact that it adds another point of failure. This is true for any add-on to any car. So with that in mind, be sure they get installed correctly. If that is still a concern for you, then there's still the option to get wheels with a different offset. However, those need to be installed correctly also :heh: