I bought a 18 x 5.5 rim for a 2006 softail with a stock 17 x 6 rim. The new rim puts the pulley against the frame and leaves a lot of space between the drive side spacer and the frame. It also looks like the tire will hit the inside fender on the brake side. I bought the rim for my model and reused the spacer the same way they came out. Do they make spacers that will make this an easy fix? Has anyone else run into this?
Rear wheel spacers for 18 x 5.5 rim on 2006 softail
- Thread starter snowman06
- Start date
Crocker
Active Member
Being I dont know what rim you are replacing Spokes , Mag, ect ,and what rim you have bought, cant give you much info , Sounds as though the rim you bought has a diffrent hub offset then your origanal rim leaving you with this problem , I would contact the seller of the rim and seek there advice if they are as you said selling this rim for your year and model, they do sell various spacer kits ,witch at this point you will need , but remember you not only have to make sure the pully is inline also your disk for your brakes, and making sure everything else clears with no hits and you need room for the tire to expand , depending on the brand tire you use ,tires expand widths vary most I think need min 1/4 . you need a good ruler there will be a lot of mesuring to get the rim fitted ,it takes time to get the proper mesurments so dont rush. Unless the rim you bought has a specific installation kit , it will take sometime good luck
Thanks. I'm replacing the stock cast rim with a drag specialties 40 spoke from dennis kirk. In the overview it said the bearings and center spacer would be sent seperately and I could install them with the needed endplay. The bearings are already installed and I don't feel a center spacer. I guess this is the way its shipped because they mounted the tire and I don't see them installing the bearings but I will find out tomorrow when I call. It looks like I will need a small spacer between the caliper mount and the frame to offset it to the left a little to clear the fender. Is this normal in a rim swap? The need for new spacers I mean? This is my first Harley and the way the rim description read it sounded like it would bolt right up.
Crocker
Active Member
Going from cast to spoke ,sounds like a normal install then , So yes spacing is a normal proceedure in what you are trying to accomplish, get yourself a good mesurment in the size spacer you will be needing , but get yourself a spacer kit that would offer you a varity of spacers within your mesurment on the - side and + of your mesurment this wey you wont fall short or too fat , but again talk with the seller first on there experince with doing this on your bike model.
Have discovered that dennis kirk has sent me the rim with bearings installed but no center spacer between bearings. After numerous phone calls to DK no one has a clue where the spacer is so I have the local dealer taking stock center spacer out and setting end play to stock specs. This should allow use of stock outer spacers. Will have it back tomorrow and mounted by evening. Had buddy cut me spacers that lined everything up but when we went to torque the axle the bearings were binding. After we pulled wheel off noticed that there was no inner spacer. EXTREMELY disappointed in DK customer service. Bought thousands of dollars of merchandise from them but are done with them now.