Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler JK radiators

Do spacers need to match?

TahoeJim

New Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2021
Messages
22
Location
South Lake Tahoe
I broke a bolt off my left rear spacer. Do I need to replace that one spacer? Rear two spacers? Or all four spacers?
TIA!
IMG_6052.jpeg
 
I broke a bolt off my left rear spacer. Do I need to replace that one spacer? Rear two spacers? Or all four spacers?
TIA! View attachment 129100

First thing I would do is understand why the wheel stud broke. Looking at the uneven wear patterns on the face of the spacer there was a clear loss of clamp load which caused the wheel to move relative to the spacer. Were lug nut torques not checked or is there a quality issue with the spacer?
 
The yellow circles show the rim was loose, the blue circle could be loose too but it could be from the hit when the other stud broke. What does the back of the rim look like? I would pull the other three wheels and do a torque check on the inner studs and then again on the rim studs.

Did you notice any vibration before the stud broke?

IMG_6052.jpeg
 
Was this a defect? Was the rim loose? Was the rim not seated the whole way flush against the spacer? Are the other spacers like this? Do the spacers have Loctite on the OEM studs? If I couldn't 100% answer these questions, I'd get all 4 replaced.
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler JK radiators