1stGEN'93

I have kind of a silly question I suppose, but the thought crossed my mind making me wonder if one could take spacers from a dually and put them on to make clearance for 3rd or 4th gen wheels? Try not to make too much fun of me haha, but I just don’t like the idea of what most people put on as spacers. I off-road my truck so I don’t really trust the aluminum and the steel ones are EXTREMELY expensive. This seems like a cheaper option if it would work.

1STGENFARMBOY

you can run 3rd gen wheels with a 1/2 inch spacer on just the front to miss the tie rod end, they will fit the back

oliver foster

I run 1 1/2 aluminum spacers on my white '85 12V crew cab on 37's and my '89 12V RC, both run 3rd gen aluminum 17 inch rims
I just run them on the front of my crew cab as the rear axle is a wider axle as it is a SRW Dana 80 from a 2nd gen I swapped in.
The RC has spacers all the way.

1stGEN'93

What spacers do you run? I don’t want to be like some people you hear about that have the lugs shear off or have spacers crack. Also, how do you keep them from coming off while driving from vibration? Medium strength loctite?

oliver foster

I forget the name of the company, but I bought the last pair off Amazon.
I did use medium duty Loctite and my daughter and I re torqued them several times until they stayed at 120 LB #s.
I will check them all again this winter on my off season wrenching I do on my 1st gens to get them ready for the next summer of driving.

u2slow

I have a set of stock dually spacers and started measuring. So you take a ~6" backspace wheel and add a ~4" spacer. Now you've essentially got 2" backspace on a 7½-8" wide wheel. The arc that will swing when you steer is huge. You need more lift for a given tire size than if your wheel is more centered (i.e. neutral/zero-ish offset). You also need to bore the spacer out for the D60 hub... and then you have to wonder how much weaker they are.

I run 2" aluminum spacers with 9/16" studs (rotor & spacer) and 3rdgen steelies. I don't worry about it... and I use the truck quite hard at times. I run a 2ndgen rear diff, so no spacers needed on the rear, and already has 9/16" studs too.

1stGEN'93

Sounds like it wouldn’t work well, which is what I figured. Just not sure if I trust spacers or not. I’ve heard of people having the lugs shear clean off. Especially on the rear. I can not afford a Dana 80 to swap into the rear, so I’ll probably just stick with stock wheels for now.

oliver foster

I have a Dana 80 in the rear of my crew cab as well so I just run spacers in the front on that truck.
The RC has 2 inches spacers all the way around.

There are lots of Dana 70 rear axles from Cummins 2nd gen trucks that can be swapped in cheaper and easier than doing the Dana 80 swap.

u2slow

Using spacers successfully isn't rocket science. Clean threads, clean surfaces, loctite, torquing, etc. You have to look at the individual situation. Adding a 2" spacer to a 6" backspaced OE wheel almost 'zeros-out' the offset so there's actually minimal leverage on the factory studs. Also, relying on 25-30yo undersized (1/2") studs on a cummins truck is a bad idea.

Yup. The 2ndgen D70 is dirt cheap because everybody wants the 80. 13" slide off drums are nice.