Sky Man. front wheel spacer kit

[MidgetMike]

What's up with this kit? And who's used it, I realy like the idea of my wheel spacer being between my rotor and wheel bearingsbut i am not sure if that is how it works. I keep hearing stories of wheels flying off using standered spacers but how much more of a pain is it to change a birfield with the sky kit?  http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/

[WHITE_TRASH]

I just did the ifs hub swap tonight.  Its really easy to do without the sky kit.  Heres a good link to directions.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=245396&highlight=Kamirtoy

[MidgetMike]

I don't know there is more leverage on the ears fo the knuckle, caliper, and bolt because the brake is moved further out from the caliper mount and know if 1 bolt fails there isn't any support for the remaining bolt other than it's shear strength there isn't correct contact on the ear of the knuckle and caliper to support the bolt I think it is bad just waiting to happen.     

[Uncle Jesse]

Wouldn't load on the spindle and knuckle be similar to just having a wheel offset that much? 

[MidgetMike]

Yeah but the load on the caliper studs would be increased, now the calipers are pulling on the caliper bolt or stud instead of the ears and bolt or studs, but yeah the load should on the bearings should stay the same. Your moving the rotor away from the knuckle 1.5" that's alot of extra load on that caliper bolt.

[MidgetMike]

stock

[WHITE_TRASH]

Grade 8 bolts and locktite is your friend.  If I ever have an issue Ill just upgrade to ARP bolts.

[MidgetMike]

I agree I use grade 8 to mount like fire extinguishers incase I need them for something else later on the trail 

[rebel racer]

what roters did you use to do this?

[WHITE_TRASH]

I used 76 cruiser rotors which have the same offset as the later model cruiser rotors but they have a different bolt pattern to hold them to the hub.  I had to redrill the rotor "hat" to the tighter pattern of the 94 hubs.  If you use later model rotors they will bolt right on.

[rebel racer]

so what year works best?

[WHITE_TRASH]

90+ cruiser from what I can remember.  Marlin sells the proper ones.

[86yota]

I have never seen the sky kit instaled, but have seen a similar setup fabricated by a local shop.  It used ifs hubs, calipers, and rotors off 86-88 trucks with an aluminum spacer and longer bolts.  This is much better than a bolt on wheel spacer.  The spacer itself does not move the wheel mounting surface out, the ifs hubs do.  All the spacer does is move the rotor back to where it needs to be for the caliper, therefore you do not place any more stress on the bearings and spindle than a stock ifs truck does.  I would not be concerned with the caliper bolts, toyota caliper bolts are quite beefy compared to say a dana 44 caliper bolt out of a full size chevy.     

thats just what i think though, any other thoughts?

[MidgetMike]

I not worried about the spindles and bearings I wonder what would happen to the studs if I'm loaded down with a bunch of weight and have to hit the breaks real hard, with setting brakes up this way http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=245396&highlight=Kamirtoy you place all the sheer stress  soley  on the studs instead of the machined surface for the ears to sit together correctly as toyota engineered them. 

[MidgetMike]

what roters did you use to do this?

FJ 40, Fj60, and FJ62 rotrs with ifs calipers bolt right up I ran into problems with my wheels and the v-6 calipers hitting I could have ground the calipers but I decided to wait until I figured out what to do about spacers.

[WHITE_TRASH]

Dude you are thinking about this WAY too hard!  Both sides of the caliper and the knuckle are machined so the frictional forces are there still.  Ive never had any issues and Ive put almost 1000 miles on in the last few days.  I think your concerns are unfounded.

[MidgetMike]

Well keep us posted if it holds up i might try it.   

[BigMike]

Hey Mike,

The load on the bolts is the same as the stock setup. Having it mounted on the inside of the ears should have no difference. The only pressure is tangental, as the rotor rotates it wants to pull the caliper in the direction of rotation, there is no lateral forces on the rotor, nothing is pushing or pulling it in or out. So it should be the same strength as stock-

[camo89]

ya what bigmike said   midgetmikeyou think to hard oh ya and i have destroied 3 sets of spacers at 150 a set im a broke biotch now ill get you pics of what it dose to yout gig when one just flat rips off the truck i had one pull through thte lug nuts but if ya never drive it or never wheel it youll be golden

[MidgetMike]

Thank you I know I think to much, its cause I don't like it when my falls apart. Which hasn't happened thus far and like I said if it holds up I might try it I would definitely rather spend less money than more more money to get my vented rotors and ifs calipers on reliably

[BigMike]

i have destroied 3 sets of spacers at 150 a set

Yikes How are you doing this? I'm driving around like I'm still in my MR2 and my 1.5" spacers are just fine. Also Marlin has been using his for longer then dirt and we've had no problems at all........

Hey Mike-
That's a great way to get everything done in one shot, the spacing and the brakes. Also, in my situation, I'm using a wide rear axle (86-95) and Im using the same 1.5" spacers all around. So my rear end is a bit wider then my front end, so when I get down and rebuild my front (once I get a e-locker high pinion) then I'm going to do this spacer kit + 1.5" wheel spacer, then I will have the same track front/rear, and I'll get the vented rotors

[WHITE_TRASH]

CR killed them because they were cheap cast aluminum spacers.  Allpoo style.......

[camo89]

yep thay where whay becous thay came with the truck and a local tire store was the main reason for the failures

[BigMike]

I just read the thread on the other bbs.. ver very nice. I am gonna do this when I rebuild my front end. The only downside is that the caliper is pushed into the wheel now, so its not gonna get as much cooling as before. But simple air ducting will fix that

[WHITE_TRASH]

PBB doesnt allow remote linking of pics.  And how does the hub swap affect the cooling air??  The only thing that sticks out into the wheel area more than a normal solid axle hub setup is the caliper beings people use the ifs calipers that are way bigger.  I used LC calipers the first time and it didnt need to be ground at all.

[BigMike]

PBB doesnt allow remote linking of pics.

Do you think I care about them I guess that's there problem 

And how does the hub swap affect the cooling air??

Ah, because the spacer idea keeps the caliper in the stock location, closer inbound on the axle.
This cool idea is moving the caliper outwards and into the wheel, so as you are moving, air has to move around the wheel to cool the caliper.

Sure it's nice to have the vented rotors, but extra cooling is even nicer Just build a small simple angled sheet that directs air into the wheels where the brakes are

[WHITE_TRASH]

It would be SUPER simple to build a cooling duct on your truck since the backing plate would still be there unless you trimmed it all off like I did.

The reason I pointed out that PBB doesnt allow linking is because you have a nice fatty red X there in reply #24

[gmrwizard]

Yep Bigmike "over here" is what I am talking about .

OK so lots of heated discussions on this topic..... Which way did we decide was the better way?
Offset the caliper by mounting on opposite side?
Or offset rotor using the space method?

Decisions, decisions.......Oatmeal or Cornflakes

[Toyoballs]

I've been running 1.5 spacers up front w/o problems, what I like about this sky idea is the rotor inside the wheel for better rock protection. As for cooling - mines a trailer queen so heat not a problem. I want to run 2" BS wheels next but am concerned about the added stress to the cross over steering arms and hub studs.   

[toymachine]

I know this old, but I was reading it....I think Marlin's rotors are 85 LC rotors.  That's what they told me.