As time goes by, things change. What once seemed like a good idea can become a liability when confronted with current plans. That's exactly what happened with Project Toyota. Six years ago, when building 1-ton axles for it, the goal was to make a street-legal daily driver that could reliably run aggressive 37" tires. So the axles were cut down from the factory WMS-to-WMS width of 69" to 64". That setup worked great for many years but now it's 2010 and we're running 42" Pitbull Rockers with a near-term goal of 46" Mickey Thompson Claws. Now that axle narrowing isn't looking so great. Tire clearance has become a big issue.

Full-width axles were the obvious solution but they were also the most time- and money-intensive. Not only that, but it'd seem a waste considering the money that we already sank into the existing 1-ton axles. The most practical and expedient solution was wheel spacers. 2" wheel spacers would widen the track enough to eliminate tire rub even with the 46" rubber and increase stability. With the possibility of 170 lbs of tire and wheel spinning at each corner, installing the highest quality wheel spacers was a requirement in order to have confidence in the safety and reliability of our rig. Visualizing that much weight disconnecting from the vehicle and rolling down the road is a chilling thought. With this in mind we set out to find the highest quality spacers available.

Fortunately, we were able to source them in our own backyard (figuratively speaking). One of our local fourwheelers runs a machine shop called TDD and designs/manufactures/sells wheel spacers through their website, www.wheelspacers.ca. All Wheelspacers.ca wheel spacers are made from aircraft grade 6061-T6 extruded billet aluminum and use high quality and, more importantly, easily available, North American studs.

Installing the wheel spacers is pretty straight forward. Just remove the wheel...

 

...and attach the spacer to the wheel studs, following the supplied instructions.

 

And ALWAYS tighten the nuts to your vehicle's specified torque values.

 

All done! Does it get any easier?

 

The fit and finish of these wheel spacers was great. A very high quality product.

 

Although installation of the wheel spacers is straight forward, you should still follow the included instructions very carefully. Each vehicle requires a very specific nut torque specification so please consult your factory manual and follow the supplied instructions for your safety and those around you.

We've had these wheel spacers installed for over six trouble-free months. We have fit and run 46" Baja Claws without any mechanical or safety issues. We've been very pleased with TDD's spacers and enjoy the peace of mind conferred by their use of high quality materials and workmanship. Widening your vehicle's track width doesn't get any easier than this.

Thanks to Wheelspacer.ca's wheel spacers, Project Toyota's axles are now 4" wider, only 1-inch shy of its original full-size axle width.

 

With the wider stance, we now have enough room to safely run bigger snowshoes!