I have a 51 chevy that I am making into a street rod. I have a heidt mustang II front suspension and a coil over 4 link rear suspension. The kit came with a 2 1/2 inch drop spindle. I would like to know what size rims and tires will fit. It has a ford 9 in. rear differential. Do I need to narrow the differential? It is now 65 inches accross. Thanks
Welcome to the nuthouse! Glad to have you aboard! I'm an old purist so I can't help, but I look forward to hearing new views, and I'm sure we will! If you want to talk about RPO wheels and tires, I'm your man! Send us some pics of your project!!!
From The Junkyard Guy : What we always did was to measure the distance from the brake backing plate side to side and find one that was within 1/2" or so.... Ford 9 Inch rear ends come in many different widths from what I am told . There's a late 80's Lincoln that has it with factory disc brakes , my buddy's mom tried to give me her whole car and I stupidly passed on it , I could traded that rear end for a whole lotta good stock Chevy parts believe it or not , they turn up in Pick-A-part all the time , they just fly out again in a day or so .
Welcome, You need a rear end that is 60-62 inches wheel mounting flange to wheel mounting flange. Camaro and Firebird are correct but you already have the 9". There are 9 inch rears in that range but are getting scarce. The 65" one you have is a bit wide and would take wheels with deep back spacing--around 5 1/2". Specialty wheels are pricey so to save the ford bolt pattern (it probably is matched to the Heidt's IFS) you can have Moser Engineering narrow the housing and shorten and respline the axles for less than the price of one specialty wheel. If the engine is going to be salty and the tires big I'd ditch the stock axles and go with their race axles--about $300. Here is a site that gives quite a bit of information on rear axle dimensions. http://teufert.net/other/rear end dimensions.htm
Wheels and rims follow-up Thanks for your reply. I now know that I have to narrow the rear end, but I also need to know what tire size I can put under the truck, front and rear. Also, what do you suggest for rim sizes, as in diameter and widths for the front and rear. Knowing this will make it easier to get the rear end narrowed to the correct width. I appreciate any advise. Thank you very much. -Jim
I'm going with the foose nitrous II rims. wheel size is 20X8.5 front and 20X10 rear. Tire sizes that I decided to go with is a 295-45-20 on the rear and a 255-45-20 on the front. It will fill up the wheel well really good when going down the road and tuck under it when I let the airbags put the truck all the way down. It took me a while to figure out my sizes to but the best thing is look at trucks on ebay or wherever and look at the tire size and get the look you are wanting. I am using a narrower rear end as well, 57inches to fit the wide rear wheels. I wanted a shallow back spacing so I would have a deep rim.
Here is a shot of 10" tires on 15" wheels. Ten inches is about the limit without running wider fenders or pinching in the frame rails--note the tire is exposed where the fender curves in at the bottom rear.
freddie have a look at my build page I did the exact same set up with 18's. I ran in to a problem with the stock rear end width (on a ford 9") what was designed to fit my truck was actually too narrow ...http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=215079&page=4
