If you’re getting bigger tires or installing tire chains on your ATV, you might need wheel spacers to resolve clearance issues. Or maybe you’re just looking to make your ride a bit more stable and are willing to accept the potential downsides that come with wheel spacers.
Regardless of why you want them, here is a simple 2-part guide that helps you choose which spacers to get and how to install them afterward.
This guide will focus mainly on ring spacers as these are the most common and the best alternative for ATVs. This type of spacer acts as a shim that’s bolted between your wheel hub and rim.
At the end of the post, we’ll be taking a quick look at some alternative ways to increase track width.
How to choose ATV wheel spacers – which ones should you get?
There are a few things you should consider when choosing what wheel spacer to get. Some aspects may be more relevant to you than others.
How much do ATV wheel spacers cost?
A set of four spacers will set you back anything from $50 to $250 or more. The set I got for my Polaris was about $100, and I have no complaints about the quality, even after a couple of years of rough use.
If the price is not a big issue for you, you should go for the best quality product available, and you can’t go wrong. For all the others, I recommend steering clear of the cheapest alternatives out there.
It pays off to get a decent quality set from a reputable brand or dealer when it comes to wheel spacers.
Make sure to choose the right bolt pattern
The bolt pattern of the spacer should match the one that’s on your ATV. It is quite easy to measure if you don’t know it already.
- 3 lug: Measure the diameter of a virtual circle that’s passing through the center of all three bolts. If you measure 90mm, the bolt pattern is 3×90.
- 4 lug: Measure the distance from center to center of two bolts across from each other, measured across the middle of the wheel hub. If you measure 110mm, the bolt pattern is 4×110.
- 5 lug: Measure from the center of one bolt and outside of one of the bolts that are the furthest away. If you measure 110mm, the bolt pattern is 5×110.
I generally recommend that you avoid any “universal” spacers that are made to fit several different bolt patterns, as the fit will likely not be optimal for your machine with these.
Choose the optimal spacer thickness
What thickness you should choose depends on how much you want to widen your ATV or how much extra clearance you need to gain.
A set of one-inch spacers will add 2 inches in total width to the ATV. But you will get only one-inch additional clearance at each wheel with the same spacer.
You can get spacers from 0.5 inches and up to 2 inches wide. Some even offer three-inch models, but that’s pushing the limit. If you need more than two-inch spacers, I would rather look for a wider aftermarket lift kit.
When it comes to choosing wheel spacers, the best practice is to get the thinnest ones that still will be thick enough to achieve what you want.
Spacer diameter should match the wheel hub diameter
You need to make sure that the diameter of the spacer is sufficient. Ideally, it should be the same diameter or larger than the mounting surface of the wheel hub. More surface in contact means better distribution of the push/pull forces that are involved.
More expensive spacers are usually of higher quality
As with most other things, you get what you pay for in-wheel spacers as well. For most ATV applications, you will most likely be just fine with just about any spacer available on the market. But I would still not cheap out and go for the lowest-priced products out there.
Manufacturing tolerances in the cheapest ones may not be as good, and you risk getting vibrations. Billet aluminum spacers are preferred over cast aluminum as the accuracy of the former is generally much better than the latter.
And just as important as the quality of the spacer is the quality of lugs and nuts. The bolt-strength should be listed in the product specifications. If they are not listed, and if the dealer cannot answer, choose another dealer.
Various wheel spacer material types
Aluminum is the most common, but other materials as titanium, urethane, and other composite materials are also out there.
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