Wheel spacers

[Dru843]

I was going to put the spacers on myself but my parents only allow me to pay for professional work on my car. The only guy I could find around town had outrageous prices. After conversing with my parents they told me to sell them. And unlike most kids these days I listen to my parents.

[DirtyBacon04]

Wow. Well, very well then. Just a random guess, but I'm gonna go ahead and say your dad isn't a mechanic. If your parents allow you to change a flat, then there is no difference in the procedure for installing a spacer, just one more set of lugs to torque.

I'm not a parent, that i know of, but if i were, I would certainly be encouraging my child to learn how to do their own maintenance. Perhaps some of the old farts with adult children can chime in here.

[Dru843]

They encourage me to be knowledgable about vehicles but don't think I have the credentials to work on my own. I help out my buddies on their trucks. However, you're right he's not a mechanic.

[djthumper]

What will they let you do to the vehicle yourself?

[dvanbramer88]

Yea.... about that. What credentials? You need exactly this: A sack of wrenches, a brain, and a pair. We let Jordanee slide on the pair part.

I took my motor apart and put it back together at 16. With zero experience. Just some advice here and there from the neighbor. And I've put 45,000 more miles on it since.

I'm not a parent either, but this should sum up my stance on the doing your own work discussion. About a month ago, i made my sister change the oil on her Jeep. Just so she knew how and could do it on her own. The rest of my "beliefs" are, tools are cheap and I have more time than money. The ability to turn a wrench on things you own to maintain them is part of being an informed and well-rounded individual. The less you rely on the skills of others the more of a man you are in my book.

That's about all I can say without being mean. Sorry your parents are the way they are. Also, this is a forum full of DIYers and self sufficient people. When guys on here can't buy something, they make it themselves. When their truck breaks an hour from pavement, they don't call a "professional" to come save their ass, They grab their tools and fix it. This is the type of people on this board.

[RyansTBLS]

I've ran into some serious anti-lift anti-spacer people, that think it isn't safe. Of course these are the same people that buy consumer reports plastic POS imports... That being said, you can do what I did and do everything backwards Skid plates, lighting, storage. recovery gear, communication equipment, all while I use and abuse my current suspension and tires. Once they wear out...time for a lift!
Personally for me, my parents were thrilled I was tearing apart my vehicle, learning everything about it, and buying me the tools and so forth. As far as professional installers go... my brush guard was professionally installed. When I took it off to put on MDB's radiator skid, I discovered they hadn't put all the bolts on, so it was bending part of the frame everytime it tapped anything. It's now mounted properly and reinforced with MDB's skid. Someday I'll cut it and weld it to a steel bumper For most dirt roads, all you really need is MDB's radiator skid and oil pan skid, with and All-terrain tire. Helps to build up some handling on some dirt roads as well. And parents can't argue with the added safety those three add. With any luck, your parents will see you adding the skids, and get bitten by the mod bug as well!

[Dru843]

I'm not saying I don't have the ability but they bought me the tb so I have to listen cause in all technicality it's their vehicle. I would love to do the work myself but unfortunately that's not really an option for me. My parents would rather have their friends who are mechanics do the work

[The Roadie]

I've ran into some serious anti-lift anti-spacer people, that think it isn't safe.

I've heard that as well. They say studs will break more often because "you have twice as many to break!".

Yeah right. How often do studs go around breaking if they are properly torqued? Never.

It's all in statistics and cost/benefit ratio. I wouldn't mind replacing my hubs after every ten trips, if I got more than $25 worth of pleasure out of every trip.

[TBYODA]

I've ran into some serious anti-lift anti-spacer people, that think it isn't safe.

I've heard that as well. They say studs will break more often because "you have twice as many to break!".

Yeah right. How often do studs go around breaking if they are properly torqued? Never.

It's all in statistics and cost/benefit ratio. I wouldn't mind replacing my hubs after every ten trips, if I got more than $25 worth of pleasure out of every trip.

The only time I have had them break is when I was trying to remove the nuts and I can only recall of three in my life time.

[Trail X]

Antiseize helps immensely with that problem.

[TBYODA]

Antiseize helps immensely with that problem.

Yep use it all the time, this happened shortly after shop put tires on my wife's Plymouth horizon. It had steel rims and they used air gun and torque the shit out of the of the nuts. Was working on brakes at the time. After this time I always asked from the shops to use a torque adapter or hand torque.

[Cable810]

Someone called my name!?!?! I had the shop put the spacers on when they did the tires. Yes I could have put them but I didn't. I sold it to my parents that I needed the Spacers to fit the bigger tires. End of story and the rest is history.

BTW I would NEVER lift our platform and add bigger tires with out adding wheel spacers. The ride is MUCH better and it doesn't feel like it wants to tip over with every turn I make IMO

[drburke]

That's my problem right now. 29.5" tires, 6.5" of lift, I feel like ragdoll in a thunderstorm.