2009 GU Patrol - Radius Arm Spacers

Guys,

I have just fitted some 285/70R17 BFG A/T tyres on my Patrol and have noticed slight scrubbing against the mudflap bracket when I turn the wheel approx. half way.
The car has a 2" OME lift

I noticed RoadRunner Offroad sell 10mm spacers to put on the back of the radius arms to bring the front axle forward by 10mm
Are there any unwanted consequences of fitting those?
Any issues with steering geometry?

I'm due to go and have the car engineered in a couple of weeks' time and one thing that is sure to fail you is if there is any scrubbing of wheels / tyres against any part of the body of the car

Any ideas on this?

Thanks in advance

Ari

33 and 2 inch is legal and doesn't need engineered in qld anyway I believe. But there should be no draw backs at all using those spacers

Mate just cut or modify those mudflap brackets. Problem fixed.

If it’s just for the 33s just remove the front flaps or dump the crappy hard plastic ones Nissan supply as they will just get ripped off on a speed bump in the shopping centre anyway.
If you have a Harris hardnose fitting the spacer will make your panhard rod bind on the diff guard but if you don’t have a guard then that you won’t even know they are there.

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Originally Posted by Hodge

Mate just cut or modify those mudflap brackets. Problem fixed.

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I'm leaning towards that idea too but I figured if there are no negative consequences of those bushings, it might be a good idea too

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Originally Posted by megatexture

If you have a Harris hardnose fitting the spacer will make your panhard rod bind on the diff guard but if you don’t have a guard then that you won’t even know they are there.

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I have been under the car and don't see how the diff could possibly touch the panhard if it was shifted forward by 10mm. It looks like it will come closest to the mount bracket on the higher end.
Because I'm going away for a week in the morning, I don't have time to look at this properly now but am going to deal with it when I get back.

On the way back home this afternoon, I compared my speedo against the GPS and at 100kmh, the speedo and GPS match almost perfectly!!!
Car runs like an angel set up like this. Maybe a slight softness around the middle of the steering but I didn't add any caster correction and don't think I will need one

just the pain of installing them vs the 5 mins of taking the flaps off lol

It should only just touch on full lock, and although it sounds horrible, I have never ripped mine off

Mic

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Originally Posted by happygtu

It should only just touch on full lock, and although it sounds horrible, I have never ripped mine off

Mic

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Mic, interestingly, the scrubbing is at half way over. The edge of the tyre just touches the mudflap. At full lock, it's like you are past that point.
I noticed this when reversing out from the tyre place and again when I got home
The scrubbing isn't enough to cause any concern of damage but because of the engineer needing to see the tyres completely free of any touching of the body of the car, I will need to attend to this
A simple spacer will look better than if I need to chop off the mudflap mount

I was gonna leave mine on too, but they the whole mudflap assembly got destroyed before I got home from the tyre place.

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Originally Posted by apalsson

I have been under the car and don't see how the diff could possibly touch the panhard if it was shifted forward by 10mm. It looks like it will come closest to the mount bracket on the higher end.
Because I'm going away for a week in the morning, I don't have time to look at this properly now but am going to deal with it when I get back.

On the way back home this afternoon, I compared my speedo against the GPS and at 100kmh, the speedo and GPS match almost perfectly!!!
Car runs like an angel set up like this. Maybe a slight softness around the middle of the steering but I didn't add any caster correction and don't think I will need one

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mine still has a good 10-15mm between panhard-diff(can measure if you like), if i didnt have the diff guard it would have been fine.


it kinda comes down to if you want to spend $ and time onthe spacers or just remove the flaps in 5 mins for free. i only put mine in for 35s that i dont have anymore.

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Originally Posted by happygtu

It should only just touch on full lock, and although it sounds horrible, I have never ripped mine off

Mic

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mine rubbed on 3/4 lock full lock was fine and both front and rear flaps have been ripped off on various occasions

Quote:

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Originally Posted by happygtu

It should only just touch on full lock, and although it sounds horrible, I have never ripped mine off

Mic

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Nah mate, with what the OP has, if they are going to scrub at all, it will be the outside row of tread blocks on the lower inside of the mud flaps at about half lock .

Mine would only really be noticeable when reversing, and close to full lock, with the 33x12.5r 17s, and you are right, it was only the outside edge of the tread block that touches.

Now with 285 KM2s, they dont touch at all
Mic

I have 305/70/16 KM2s on my 2001 GU wagon that has a two inch lift and never had a problem with rubbing any where. Is there a difference between 305/70/16 and the 285/70/17, apart from the obvious 16`` and 17`` rim size and the 305 being a tad wider than the 285? If not, would a 2 degree castor bush (?? correct me on the right wording) replacement be better than a 10mm spacer? I know that the spacer would be easier to put in and cheaper than the castor correction. I was thinking along the lines, that a 10 mm spacer on the radius arms would be more suited for a 35 inch tyres when you need to move the tyres / axle forward away from the guards / mud flaps. By the sounds, it might be just the tread pattern, make of tyre that`s causing the problem.

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Originally Posted by Bush Ranger

snip...
Is there a difference between 305/70/16 and the 285/70/17, apart from the obvious 16`` and 17`` rim size and the 305 being a tad wider than the 285? ...it might be just the tread pattern, make of tyre that`s causing the problem.

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That tends to be the "issue" in most cases.
You can buy say 285/70 16 from different manufacturers and get 3 different sizes and none of them will be true to size.
Indeed, and I won't name names, many brands/patterns can easily be 15 to 20mm's under the expected diameter.
The last two sets of top brand american "33's" I purchased were 32.2 and 32.5 respectively

I guess they don't want to advertise tyres as 279/68 or whatever :tongue:

Bottom line is two "identical" size tyre/rim combo's from different manuf mean you can have one that clears by 10mm or more and the other touches

Apalsson,
I am looking at getting the same sized tyres, do you have the castor correction bushes in radius arms.... I am just trying to work out if i am going to have the same problem..
Scotty

Quote:

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Originally Posted by apalsson

Guys,

I have just fitted some 285/70R17 BFG A/T tyres on my Patrol and have noticed slight scrubbing against the mudflap bracket when I turn the wheel approx. half way.
The car has a 2" OME lift

I noticed RoadRunner Offroad sell 10mm spacers to put on the back of the radius arms to bring the front axle forward by 10mm
Are there any unwanted consequences of fitting those?
Any issues with steering geometry?

I'm due to go and have the car engineered in a couple of weeks' time and one thing that is sure to fail you is if there is any scrubbing of wheels / tyres against any part of the body of the car

Any ideas on this?

Thanks in advance

Ari

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Scotty,

I'm taking the car back to ARB in the morning to fit the castor correction bushes. Since the lift and the new tyres, the steering has been lighter than I would have preferred and I am a bit finicky on my cars, so I want to bring the steering back to stock.
They will be doing another alignment as a part of the process.
At the same time, the radius arm spacers will go in. Several knowledgeable people have suggested I can just snip off the front mudflaps which is undoubtedly true. But because nobody seems to believe there are any negatives about them, why not drop them on the arms before they go in after the bushes have been installed