Trans-Dapt wheel spacers

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Claudius

Claudius

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After some fruitful discussions with another FABO member who has the same car body, I am getting a better understanding of the rim backspacing and maximum tire size that will fit under my car. I know for certain that P255/60R15 will just fit if I have a rim with 4.5" backspace.

I would love to put a set of Auto Drag rims from Center Line on my car, with P275/60R15 tires (Cooper) but I will need to use wheel adapters to get adequate spacing to compensate for the 4.875" backspacing of the rim.

Does anybody have any experience (good, bad or otherwise) with the Trans-Dapt 7066 adapters? These bolt onto the 5x4" pattern and migrate to the 5x4.5" pattern with the addition of an inch of space.

Here is the Summit link to the adapters:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TRD-7066/
 
I would look for billet aluminum ones rather than cast. I have seen a set of those on a '67 Dart and although they worked OK but the car had a stock 273 and small tires. I don't know if I would trust them with a wide tire and a hotter engine. My $.02
 
In my opinion, do it right or don't do it at all when it comes to wheel fitment.

Spacers and adapters increase the possibility of a failure.
 
Under the duress of racing, I would agree completely and I would not even be considering it. I plan to give the car an easy life with its 7-1/4" differential. Do you still have the same concern or does the advice remain as before?

Thanks for the input!

1968FormulaS340 said:
In my opinion, do it right or don't do it at all when it comes to wheel fitment.

Spacers and adapters increase the possibility of a failure.
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So then you would have a weak ring and pinion and wheels that could fall off. If I was going to run an adaptor I wopuld not run those. I was not impressed with them when I saw them in person. The billet ones are more money but much stronger.
 
If you have 10" brakes they will work fine with no hassles. If you have 9" brakes the edge of the adapter barely touches the drum balance weight. Not much, but enough to prevent the adapter from seating squarely and they will loosen up while driving. A little judicious grinding may solve the problem, I don't know. I swapped on 10" brakes.
 
Can you recommend a supplier and part number? I would certainly check them out.

mischiefdart said:
So then you would have a weak ring and pinion and wheels that could fall off. If I was going to run an adaptor I wopuld not run those. I was not impressed with them when I saw them in person. The billet ones are more money but much stronger.
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I have the 10" brakes that were original on the car. I will be looking seriously at whatever Mischiefdart recommends.

grumpuscreature said:
If you have 10" brakes they will work fine with no hassles. If you have 9" brakes the edge of the adapter barely touches the drum balance weight. Not much, but enough to prevent the adapter from seating squarely and they will loosen up while driving. A little judicious grinding may solve the problem, I don't know. I swapped on 10" brakes.
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I was wrong. Trans Dapt doesn't have the adapter you need in billet. I know I've seen them on Summit though.
 
Summit has the Trans-Dapt 3604. It adapts 5x100mm to 5x4.5". At 25.4mm/inch, that is very close (ie: 5x3.93")

I will have to contact Trans-Dapt directly to see if that is close enough.

grumpuscreature said:
I was wrong. Trans Dapt doesn't have the adapter you need in billet. I know I've seen them on Summit though.
Click to expand...
 
I have never searched for an adaptor for any of my cars. I have allways dealt with an offset that was not ideal or found rims that were. If you are not going to beat on the car and the cast ones are all that is available then all I can say is that my friends set did not fail. He evetually went with an 8 1/4" rear. If you can restrain yourself and check ALL the nuts they will work as a temporary measure. Remember that you are starting with 7/16" studs and small bolt pattern. Not a stong arrangement. I would get wheels that had the correct offset and use 3" studs with wide tires.
 
No such thing as "close enough" with bolt circles. It is correct or if not it will tear up the lug nuts, studs and the wheels.
 
Thank you sir. I just got a quote from RoadkillCustoms.com for billet aluminum adapters at $112 USD and they are made in the USA. Someone was working late...

My son (9) really likes the Fuel series from Center Line and they would not require any adapters or spacers while still allowing P255/60R15 tires. I have time to think about this as I will not be pulling the trigger just yet.

If anyone else is reading this thread and thinking about getting billet spacers, the site I noted is offering a 10% discount until the end of April. (The price I quoted was retail.)

mischiefdart said:
I have never searched for an adaptor for any of my cars. I have allways dealt with an offset that was not ideal or found rims that were. If you are not going to beat on the car and the cast ones are all that is available then all I can say is that my friends set did not fail. He evetually went with an 8 1/4" rear. If you can restrain yourself and check ALL the nuts they will work as a temporary measure. Remember that you are starting with 7/16" studs and small bolt pattern. Not a stong arrangement. I would get wheels that had the correct offset and use 3" studs with wide tires.
Click to expand...
 
If you are going the custom route upgrade the 7 1/4's studs from 7/16" to 1/2" and that will make it much stronger. won't cost much for the added security. I would think that a nice set of cutsom billet adaptors and 1/2" studs to attach them would be safe.
 
I think Mischiefdart has it correct.

IMHO, of importance here is the fact that wheel adapters take the "weight bearing" off the hub and place it squarely on the lug nuts.

Unless there's a spacer that is "hub centric", I believe it's not a good idea for any car. I made this mistake years ago with an Audi S6 I had. The wheels had a conical or universal (read none) hub set up. Wheels always seemed to come loose (more than should be expected) and the car never felt right with them on it.

Just my $.02

Pete
 
I just learned that a set of custom hub-centric spacers can be obtained from the Lug Nut King. A FABO member posted them in another thread involving suspension upgrading and they are made from billet aluminum for the 5 x 4" bolt pattern.

At $40/pair, they are more than the generic ones but 3/8" of solid billet are much better looking from a strength perspective. You have to call the company directly as they do not list them at their site.
 
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