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8.8 Ford Exploder adapter needed for 5x5 wheels

6K views 13 replies 8 participants last post by  mrjata 
#1 ·
What do you all think of the wheel adapters to go from one bolt pattern to another?? I am working up a Ford Exploder axle that has a 4 1/2x5 and I need the 5x5 bolt pattern. Are the adapters strong enough to take abuse? Maybe 400 ft lbs of torque? I could use the extra 2-3" of outward spacing to get the width I want.

If they will work, what vendor do you like???
 
#2 ·
Before I converted to 60's, I ran Spider Trax 4.5 to 5.5 conversion spacers to run 5 on 5.5 wheels on the original 44/30 5 on 4.5 axles. Worked fine, and I had no issues with strength. At the time I was running 37's and wheeled it fairly hard. I run 1.25" spacers now on 60's with 40's, and don't expect any problem. I'm running a supercharged 4.0 with about 400 torque through 5.38's, so they definitely stood up to some torque.
 
#3 ·
I'm sure the right ones will hold up but that's just a temp fix to your problem. Wheel spacers are a great idea if you want to risk loosing a wheel and ending up in a ditch for the upside of a wider trac width. they require more maintenance than some will give to them which is most of the problem. I personally will not run spacers on anything on the street. From the people that do run them everyday I hear spydertrax makes good stuff there aircraft grade and guaranteed for life I think. There is a c clip eliminator kit out there that will widen up the width of your Axle. I'm sure you could get them in 5x5 pattern. I have an 8.8 and just run shallow backspacing to compensate for now.


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#5 ·
I'm sure the right ones will hold up but that's just a temp fix to your problem. Wheel spacers are a great idea if you want to risk loosing a wheel and ending up in a ditch for the upside of a wider trac width. they require more maintenance than some will give to them which is most of the problem. I personally will not run spacers on anything on the street. From the people that do run them everyday I hear spydertrax makes good stuff there aircraft grade and guaranteed for life I think. There is a c clip eliminator kit out there that will widen up the width of your Axle. I'm sure you could get them in 5x5 pattern. I have an 8.8 and just run shallow backspacing to compensate for now.

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Ohh... yeah.... IIRC the 88 kit I looked a while back... the shafts had the option for 4.5 or 5... you just needed to decide which stud holes to use when mounting the studs.
 
#6 ·
DmfHiggins said:
I'm sure the right ones will hold up but that's just a temp fix to your problem. Wheel spacers are a great idea if you want to risk loosing a wheel and ending up in a ditch for the upside of a wider trac width. they require more maintenance than some will give to them which is most of the problem. I personally will not run spacers on anything on the street. From the people that do run them everyday I hear spydertrax makes good stuff there aircraft grade and guaranteed for life I think. There is a c clip eliminator kit out there that will widen up the width of your Axle. I'm sure you could get them in 5x5 pattern. I have an 8.8 and just run shallow backspacing to compensate for now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I ran spacers on my 8,000lb super duty for years without issue. Once lock tight'ed and torqued properly, there was no maintenance. This was with towing trailers regularly and making a stupid amount of power. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to put them on a jeep with half the weight and 1/3 of the power.
 
#9 ·
There are many people that run spacers without an issue, I choose not to on my street vehicles. Although cheaper it's still not permanently solving the narrow axle issue, which I can live with till the tons are done. I have a set of 3" spacers on a trailer queen Comanche with 35 15.5 tsls and deep offset wheels on top of that. And they give me no problems. It gets beaten on regularly. Im not saying it will happen to you as long as you do it right but, I'm just not going to recommend them because there's that one guy that doesn't install them right and ends up without a wheel. Which I guess can happen anyways with or without a spacer haha


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#10 ·
There are many people that run spacers without an issue, I choose not to on my street vehicles. Although cheaper it's still not permanently solving the narrow axle issue, which I can live with till the tons are done. I have a set of 3" spacers on a trailer queen Comanche with 35 15.5 tsls and deep offset wheels on top of that. And they give me no problems. It gets beaten on regularly. Im not saying it will happen to you as long as you do it right but, I'm just not going to recommend them because there's that one guy that doesn't install them right and ends up without a wheel. Which I guess can happen anyways with or without a spacer haha

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If your wheels don't fall off because you don't know how to put them on, neither will quality spacers/adapters. I run several sets of them and have with no issue but then again, I'm a bit smarter than a wheel adapter. If we continue to dumb down the world to the lowest common denominator, we'll all be driving bicycles and won't be allowed to put air in the tires ourselves.
 
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#13 ·
I have a pair of spidertrax 1.25" spacers (5x4.5") as well as a pair of generic 5x4.5" ones. I use a pair of 8-lug generic ones on my '93 cummins truck for summer tires. No issues with any of them. I do clean the mating surfaces and use loctite.

One thing with the Explorer axle is its rather narrow. Also, Jeep 5x5" wheels have a lot of backspacing (like ~6.25"). You may need a thicker adapter than you first realize.
 
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