I want to use my stock steel wheels but the 31x10.50's rub the LCA's at full turn. What are the pro's and con's to wheel spacers?

 

I had the same problem. I have used 1.5" spacers for the last 2 years with my stock aluminum wheels wrapped in winter tires (31/10.5/15) without issues. I would suggest getting backspaced wheels though. I use back spaced steel rims with mudders in the summer without the spacers. Hope this helps.

 

pros: no more rub, cost less than rims, easy to remove if you want to.
cons: more strain on the hub studs, greater risk of failure off road.

I've got 1.25" spacers but I'm trying to save for a set of rims with proper back spacing. The rims are far better and safer. If you can go rims instead of spacers, do it.

 

A good set of spacers will cost as much as a decent set of rims. Roughly $250 for the spacers and you can get some soft 8s or other steelies for that much. If you do run spacers make sure you have them torqued well and often and locktight isn't a bad idea either. Stay away form the cheapo e-bay spacers, the quality isn't there and they have been known to break.

 

Using spacers increases the distance from the hub thus increasing the effective lateral force on the studs. Probably not a problem if you are driving on the street but if you plan on doing any serious wheeling then I think you are increasing your chances for a part failure. Another option is, if you are running steel wheels or have a set laying around, is to take them in and have the backspacing on them changed. Back when I was racing drag cars there was a guy in my area who would re-work wheels for about 35 bucks a wheel. He could add backspacing or offset, he could decrease the width of the wheel, you name it he could do it. At the end of this post I included a link of an example of someone who does this. This guy I think only does widening but there are people out there who do all of what I mentioned.

http://www.stocktonwheel.com/wheel_widening.htm

 

the other problem with spacers are getting someone to work on your vehicle. I work part time in a autoshop and we will not even rotate tires on trucks with spacers due to the liability issue because someone else installed the spacers. We have no way to know if they were intalled correctly, used thread locking compound, have they been tightened enough and many we see don't have longer wheel studs so the lug nuts can be tightened to 100-130 ft-lbs depending on the vehicle.

 

okay if you want spacers jump on ebay and find ones that dont just fit over the studs but bolt over the studs and then have studs coming out of that for your wheels to bolt to. as far as the stress on the bolts for the hub yes it will create more stress but so does running 35 inch tires. just about anything you do to make your stance wider short of gettin full width axles will add more stress. however what you can do is do some research specifically the how to section on here and read the thread about the lca's from a grand cherokee that have been put onto an xj. you will answer your own question just from looking it up your self.