Question about gap with tires and UCAs

Hello everyone. Looking for some advice after my recent lift and new tires.

I put on a lift with 2.5 inch coils in front with 1.5 add a leafs in the rear. Also I added 295/70r18 on stock trd off-road wheels.



If you look here you see it’s incredibly close to the uca’s.


I only really plan on doing some light off-roading no rock crawling or anything like that and I’ve already been on some rocky and bumpy dirt roads and they don’t seem to rub as far as I can tell.

my question is, do I need to get some wheel spacers and if so what does everyone recommend?

 

You are more than likely fine. If you're worried about rubbing, mark the UCA with a paint stick and check it after driving around a while. I have about the same clearance as you and have been fine for over two years. The clean spot on my UCA below is from my fingers feeling around for the clearance, not from the tire rubbing it.

 

Thank you! I will definitely will try that. Have you done any off-roading with it like that too?

 

Yes I have. I’ve fully flexed out the suspension on mountain trails and haven’t had any issues with rubbing. I’ve visually checked the clearance at every tire angle at full stuff and full extension and it doesn’t really get any closer than it is in that pic. I suppose it could vary some with different alignment numbers, but as long as you don’t have negative camber (which you shouldn’t, anyway) it should be fine

 

Nice looking truck btw, and welcome to the forum!

 

Awesome this is exactly what I’m looking for! No negative camber although it said that the caster is completely maxed out, which I’m not 100% what that means or if it will cause any issues.

Thank you! I recently upgraded from a Tacoma and I am loving the tundra So much more.

 

You’ll be fine with maxed out caster, it just pushes the tire forward in the wheel well, away from the cab mount. It’s actually preferred to max it out with a leveled front cuz the truck handles better and you won’t need as much of a cab mount chop to fit bigger tires.

 

Das a very sexzy truck my friend. Job well done.

 

Ahh okay. Well that is good to hear. Thank you so much for your help.

 

Thanks! It is only just beginning.

 

I had almost the exact same set-up some months ago....but done with TRD Pro Fox front and 1.5" shackles in the back. I doubt too that you have any problems as is, but I installed 1" BORA wheel spacers just to be sure...and liked the wider stance too. Here's mine before I changed over to the BBS Pro wheels and made a few more mods:

 

Very nice! one day ill get some new wheels, but i actually kinda like the stock ones still. however its still on my list for new wheels.

 

Your truck looks good and I like the look of the stock OR wheels too with the 295/70 tires. I just can't leave well-enough alone and liked the BBS Pros just a little better. If I lived up north, I would have kept my OR wheels as a winter set. The only other concern I had with my tires running close to the UCA is rubbing if I started running low on air pressure for any reason. The wheel spacers fixed that concern too but did cause a little more rubbing on the inner well, but that was easily fixed.

Best of luck on your mods.

 

Do you have any pictures down the side of the truck to show how much the tires stick out with the 1” spacers?

 

Yup... Tire tread is flush with the fenders, but tire sidewall protrudes beyond just a little. I run 295/70 R18 Cooper Discoverer AT3 XLTs. I should add that I ran 1.25" spacers before the BORA 1" spacers and it was amazing how much more crap was thrown on the side of the truck with just 0.25" more.

 

Jack up the truck to full droop and check. The arc of the suspension travel will push the tire out as it travels upwards right?

 

with those 1" spacers, did you have to trim the studs on the truck to get them to sit flush? also, I forgot to ask did you do any off-roading with the spacers on? I hear a bunch of horror stories about them breaking studs and whatnot.

 

The studs stick out only on the rear hub about 1/8" using the BORA 1", but if you have wheel "pockets" like on the OR or BBS Pro wheels, then there's no need to trim and these wheels will accommodate. I think if you ask most of the off-road experts on this site, they will tell you spacers are perfectly fine and no safety worries provided you use quality spacers like BORA or Spidertrax and be sure they are installed properly. I think most "horror stories" originate from cheap spacers and/or bad installations. Here's a photo when I installed mine:

 

Ah okay Thanks again!

 

You have increased the shearing stress on the oem lug bolts with any brand of spacer or any negative offset. You simply cannot apply the same force further toward the end of a lever, in this case lug stud, and not change the stress at the fulcrum point, in this case the hub. Simple physics! Will it work, yes, to a certain extent. It will fail long before a zero offset if tested.

 

I won’t argue the physics behind your comments, but anything will fail given enough force. Yes, all things being equal a setup without spacers will create less stress on the lug bolts than one with spacers. However, is the added stress of adding a 1” spacer enough to worry about? I doubt it. If so, BORA and Spidertrax would have gone out of business a long time ago. Also, I can’t see how adding wheel spacers is any different “stress wise” on the lug bolts than increasing the wheel offset, which is probably done much more often. To me, the main point is that the risk is low and many have proven the use of wheel spacers in off road conditions without negative effects. I ran a set of 1.25” spacers on my ‘07 4Runner for over 5 years and never a single problem.

 

The point is, saying it will be fine is spreading misinformation. You can say it might be fine depending on the usage. And the truth is the additional axle length actually adds stress to many components of the entire truck. It doesn't terminate at the lug studs! Bottom line... Shorter axle is stronger, like it or not.

 

Totally true. My challenge has always been this, what is rougher on the lug studs, a -12 offset lug centric wheel or OE wheels on hub centric spacers.

 

Easy, choose the wheel, fewer components, much less risk of failure. Less weight=less cetrifugal force also.

 

True some wheels are lighter, however many aftermarket wheels are heavier than oe alloys

 

Sorry op, anyway, you will be fine with tires and ucas. Btw more air pressure would probably close the gap not less because its going to expand the tire a little bit.

 

Always got pros and cons with nearly everything! Life is a bowl of cherries, every damn last one completely rotten!

 

Given the context of the question, I don't think I am spreading misinformation.

I never stated that a shorter axle wasn't stronger - I agree it is. I never argued that wheel spacers don't add more stress - I agree that they do. However, based on my research and personal experience, I don't agree it's spreading misinformation to state that "I think" that using a wheel spacer is fine in the context of the question being discussed. I'm fine if you and others disagree as I still respect your opinions. My main purpose for posting on this site is to try and help others where I can and where I've had some experience, same as many others have helped me. Of course, this means I will be stating a lot of my thoughts based on personal experience. I try my best to be careful and not to lead anyone astray. I hope @Ebeast is smart enough to know that I certainly don't know all the specifics of his planned application. I have provided my opinion for whatever it is worth and the person(s) reading my reply can decide if they think I'm full of sh&# and research/decide for themselves what is best for them. On the other side of this equation, I also don't think it is fair to shine a too hard of a negative light on the use of wheel spacers as I think they have their place and are widely and successfully used by a lot of members on this site.

 

It's all good, just sharing my knowledge, and you are sharing your experience. But others may need factual information to make informed decisions on the subject. Facts are simply useful data. If facts shed negative light then all I can say is sometime the truth hurts a little bit, still doesn't change the facts.

 

Fair enough. Facts don't hurt me. Please share your facts about BORA and/or Spidertrax wheel spacers failing (or Tundra suspension components failing with these wheel spacers) when used in off-road and/or other settings. I'm certainly interested in seeing these facts. Thanks.