That’s true, but adding to improve clearance between the wheel and tie rod end after increasing the tire size on my BX1860 (both front and rear) to same size as the the BX2360. I already have the bro-tek 2” spacers on the rear. The fronts don’t rub on the tie rod ends, but are very close. The front spacers are only to add a more comfortable (for me) distance between the tie rod ends and the wheel.
I did the same thing that you did and bought tires and wheels for a BX2360 and installed them on my BX1860. I am offering the following as information in case anyone is interested in changing the tires on their BX 18XX series tractors to the larger sizes found on the BX23xx series tractors.
I originally installed spacers on the front wheels for one of the same reasons that you did. However, I ended up taking the spacers off the front because when the front axle was off camber to the degree that one wheel was off the ground, there was too much stress on the axle pivot pin. I found that one wheel or the other came off the ground much more often with the wider axle stance from adding the spacers, than it did without the spacers.
I also found that the left tire was rubbing on the mower deck (RCK-54P) more with the spacers installed than without the spacers. When I removed the spacers the left tire still rubbed the mower deck a little but I was able to adjust the wheel turn stop to prevent the tire rub without losing too much turning radius to the left. I was unable to adjust the turn stop bolt enough to prevent rubbing with the spacers I used, but I was using 1 3/4" spacers. Since you are using 1/4" spacers you may experience a different result than I did. I don't know if the experience would be different for the 48" mower deck so I cannot address that.
I did not see any benefit by adding spacers to the front wheels but I saw enormous benefit by adding spacer to the rear. The tractor also has much more traction with the larger tires than with the original tire size. Now I seldom have to use 4 wheel drive unless I am mowing in the ditch along the road, that is just to ensure that I don't slide down hill sideways.
I have not experienced any problems with the front wheels touching the tie rod ends. As you mentioned, the wheels are very close to the tie rod ends, but they never touch. I have had the bigger tires and wheels on the tractor for about 18 months and never had a problem.
