Pienstar

I recently had a set of Atturo Trail Blade XT's installed. Size is 295/60r20 with a +1 offset wheel. The tires were rubbing pretty bad on the front crash bars. I took the advice of many on here and decided to spread the crash bars with a hydraulic spreader. It worked great, and no more rubbing!

Slb9981

Looks great! Where did you get the spreader? I need to do mine but don't want to buy one for a one time use.

Pienstar

Thank you! Below is a link to the spreader I bought from Home Depot. Quick tip that someone else on here gave me..... When you spread the bars, leave the spreader in place for about 20 minutes. If not, the bars might move back into the factory position. When I removed the spreader, the crash bars did revert back a little bit they still ended up far enough apart to fix the rubbing issue.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Big-Red-4...-100595209-_-N

Husker

iTrader: (4)

I've read where some have swapped the left & right crash bars to avoid the tire rub or just remove them altogether...Did you consider removing or doing the swap?

I want to have my Ducks in line (Crash Bar Fix) when I'm ready to go Big Rubber!!

ls2c6vette

I wouldn't remove the crash bars. They deflect the impact in the event of an offset crash, and prevent the other vehicle from amputating your legs. I think spreading them is your best bet. They are supposed to hit the tire in a crash, and deflect the other vehicle.

ls2c6vette

Your truck looks pretty awesome! That little spreader looks pretty handy, I can think of a dozen uses for that. May have to buy one

Pienstar

Thank you! I definitely didn't want to cut the crash bars. They are there for a reason, and I also didn't want to run into any legal issues if I ever do get into a front impact collision. I heard about swapping the bars left to right, but spreading them actually seemed liked an easier way to go. In the end, spreading them worked perfect and my tires no longer rub!

tbcrain

Sorry, a lot of questions about this, as I'm going with the same set up.
Where did you place the ends of the spreader? On the face of both crash bars?
How far did you spread them? Is it noticeable that they have been spread?

Truck looks awesome!

Pienstar

Thank you! Yes, place the ends of the spreader on the flat part of the crash bars close to the end of the them. They won't spread a whole lot, but you will definitely see them move a little bit. Keep the spreader in place for about 20 minutes or so. When I removed the spreader, I noticed the crash bars reverted a bit back to the normal position so I ended up spreading them again. Good luck!

Miff01

Thanks for the tip! I bought a 4 ton hydraulic ram today from Northern Tool for $99. I followed the steps above and was able to spread the crash bars enough to eliminate the tire rub. Worked perfectly.

FYI...I have a 2018 Ford F150 with a 5" lift running 34" tires (296/60/20).