Need your wheel suggestions please!!!

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BrianT

BrianT

Here we go again...
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Kansas City, Mo
Friday night, we swapped over the Master Power rear disc brake kit that I recently bought off of Ebay. Everything went together pretty easily, and I am happy with the results. We still need to hook up the lines and emergency cables but you get the idea.

Dartbrakes021Medium.jpg


The car has been mini-tubbed and the springs relocated. I trimmed the quarter panel lip back to the edge of the stainless molding. I have a stock width A body rearend, although the rear rotors make it a little wider. I took the measurements using the following method...

BBD tech page

I took the measurements, and did the math. In order to run a 15x10 inch wheel, I need to use 7 1/2 inches of backspace to center the wheel in the wheel well. That's where the problem comes in. The wheels that I planned on using don't come in that size!! I plan on stuffing a 325/50R15 tire in there, so the wheel has be centered almost exactly.

I spent a lot of time on Summit Racing's website yesterday (I had planned on using the 10% discount) and wasn't able to come up with much. What are my options for a 15X10 wheel with 7 1/2 inches of backspace?!? I know I can get custom steelies or rallye's made, but that wasn't the look I was going for. Suggestions?!?
 
Gonna have to shorten the rear/axles to get less b/s for aftermarket wheels, or spend the bucks for custom offset ones.
 
I really wanted to run this Centerline wheel

cll-7215401545_w.jpg


Summit has it with a 6.5 backspace. I might have to go down to a 60 series tire, but I really don't want to.
 
I just looked on Centerlines website and for about $50 more each, they can make it with the 7.5 inch backspace.

If I posted my measurements would anyone be willing to double check my numbers? I really don't want to order custom wheels and have them not fit!!!

wheelspacing.JPG


A = 5 "
B = 10 "
C = 15 "

The way I figured it, I would need a 7.5 " backspace to center a 10 " wheel.
 
Hey Brian, I think if i understand what i am reading you are on the right track on a very big structural issue IMO. As said before i think the rear needs to be shortened so that the back space can equal or close to the spacing on the front keeping the bolt up at the center of the wheel. I may be all wet but it seems that when the front and back spacing are not equal then there is more pressure exerted on the big side making the potential for a train wreck greater. Myself i would keep the spacing as close to equal as i can. If i'm all wet clue me in. You wont hurt my feelings. I have my theories.
Small Block
 
If it were me, I would narrow that rear end a bit.....seems like the right thing to do. I definitely wouldn't run the massively offset wheels....just looks goofy IMO. PLUS, you've already got wheel tubs and the springs moved inboard!!.....so you should have a fair amount of space to narrow down before you get close to that spring pad. I say....do it right....you'll be glad in the long run.

BTW, my buddy's got a '63 Nova and has massively offset rear rally wheels on it......and it does NOT look good. It looks like he's running 17 X 3's out back.....lol.....and they're 17 X 8's.
 
I am running 325/50/15's BFG drag radials out back on my dart and the fit is extremely tight. That is trimming the fender lip as far as possible back to the inner fender. If I am lucky I have 3/4" clearance to the frame rail and 1/2" to the fender lip. I might be alright because I am running a 4-link and a track bar, so the rear has no lateral movement. I am still building the car and have driven it down the street and tried to get them to rub and have had no rubbing, but it is really close. Running leaf springs the rear will move a little and there will be rubbing. Especially if the rear gets off camber. I narrowed my 9" to fit the 12" wide american racing trakstar wheels, because I had already bought the wheels. If I had to do it over again I would have gone with a 10" wheel and narrower tire. Oh well.

New dart1.jpg


New dart2.jpg
 
As far as smallblocks comment about the back spacing , if you look at most of the modern wheels like on the challengers and the chargers ,to get the wider track they put more back spacing in the wheels.
 
As far as having equal spacing of the wheel center to the rim, I think it comes down to where you want to place the stress and what component can best handle that stress. If you run more backspacing (up to a point) you will move the wheel/tire center closer to the point where the axle rides on the bearing. In the process, you place more stress on the wheel center & the lug nuts. More stress is probably also placed on the section of axle that extends outward from the bearing.

It appears that the most stressful for all components would be a wheel with very little backspacing, a "deep dish" wheel. This would move the load away from the bearing & put a huge load on the end of the axle, the lugbolts/nuts, & the wheel center. As to which component can handle the most stress, I don't know. Considering the amounts of spacing often seen on custom wheels, I would think BrianT would be okay to run a wheel with the amount of backspacing he's looking for. In a perfect world I guess we'd run some kind of computer stress analysis & pick the combination of axle width, wheel width/backspacing, etc. to minimize the stress on all components.
 
Lots of help so far and I do appreciate it. I am not really worried about the offset putting any unnecessary stress on the wheels. Like was mentioned earlier, lots of new cars run large amounts of backspacing, Mustangs are another example. The car is going to be a weekend warrior, mostly cruising and straight line acceleration, no rallying.

Someone also mentioned that it would look funny. I think if done correctly, you won't be able to tell. The car sits low and you really won't be able to tell it has big tires on it, unless you see it from the back or get down on your knees. I did really want the deep dish wheel look, but life is about compromises.

I guess if I absolutely had to, I could pull the rearend (for the third time) and have someone shorten the housing and order new axles(again). This would give me the look I wanted but would open up another can of worms, not to mention the added expense involved.

If I pull the rearend, do I go ahead and spend the money to get one of those S60 rearends or have Dr. Diff make me up one to my specs? There goes all the money I have saved up for wheels and tires and the car ends up staying on jackstands for another cruising season.

Nobody said this was going to be easy!!!
 
OK, after a week of thinking about it, here's where I'm at.

I found a local guy here who will cut and weld the housing, plus cut and re-spline my brand new axles. He owns a race car/fabrication shop and does this for quite a few local racers. He came highly recommended.

My question now becomes, how much do I have the rear end narrowed?

If I shorten it 2 1/2 inches on each side, that would bring my backspace to exactly 5 inches on a 10 inch wheel. Is this right? Doesn't seem like much to me.

The wheel is available with 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5 and 6.5 inch backspacing off the shelf.
 
Hey Brian,
Food for thought, Instead of shorting your a body axle find another housing out of a b or c body. You could sell your stocker to requop some of your expense. We all know how hard stock width is getting to find.
 
jefflock said:
Hey Brian,
Food for thought, Instead of shorting your a body axle find another housing out of a b or c body. You could sell your stocker to requop some of your expense. We all know how hard stock width is getting to find.
Click to expand...

That is what I would do.
 
I have been thinking a lot about all my options. I thought about having Dr. Diff build me a whole rear end and selling the one I have to offset the cost. There are a couple 8 3/4 housings on Moparts for $100. Maybe something will come up on the local Craigslist. There is a Mopar swap meet next weekend about 2 hours away(Columbia,MO), but I have to work!
 
I,m having the same issues as you with the backspacing and not wanting to cut my A-body 8 3/4.You can order any size custom rim through Summit,you just need all the correct measurements.I,ll be ordering some Torque Thrust II rims 15x10 with a 7 inch b.spacing.Here is a good link for measuring and to get the proper offset.It works very easy!Good Luck! http://www.rims-n-tires.com/rt_specs.jsp
 
I've also been looking at Moser's and Strange Engineering's websites. I can buy a complete rear end from them for around $2000, but again, that eats up my tire and wheel money that I've been saving. I could sell the 8 3/4 that I have now, plus my old small bolt pattern axles w/greenies, and another 3.91 clutch type pumpkin that I have to help offset (bad pun) the cost.

Since I don't already have the wheels and tires that I plan on using, I would have to come up with a number to tell them how wide to build either rear end. So I go back to my question from yesterday, if you are cutting an existing rear end down, or having a totally new one built, what width would I have it cut too?!?
 
I also just completed tubbing and moving the springs on my 69. I used the BBD measurement method and came up with the same dimension of 7 1/2 backspace on a 10'' wheel. After realizing that this dimension may make the wheel look funny from the side, i took a gamble and went with a 7'' backspace. I did have to trim some of the wheel lip, but still run the uncut wheel lip molding. I didnt want the expense of a custom wheel or axle, so i went with a steel wheel by DRZ performance and 325/50/15 tire.

swinger 188.jpg
 
Do you have any more picts Vitamin?!? I'd like to see it from a 3/4 view and also from the back if you have them. How much clearance do you have at the front? It looks awful close.

You said you didn't want the expense of a custom wheel, does this mean that they had the offset in stock? How much did you pay for them?
 
Small Block said:
Hey Brian, I think if i understand what i am reading you are on the right track on a very big structural issue IMO. As said before i think the rear needs to be shortened so that the back space can equal or close to the spacing on the front keeping the bolt up at the center of the wheel. I may be all wet but it seems that when the front and back spacing are not equal then there is more pressure exerted on the big side making the potential for a train wreck greater. Myself i would keep the spacing as close to equal as i can. If i'm all wet clue me in. You wont hurt my feelings. I have my theories.
Small Block
Click to expand...

Front drive cars have huge back spacing. The front of the wheel is basically flush with the outer edge on some and have no problems with structural integrity.
 
Brian,
my response is a little mis leading. The steel wheels i have are custom made, just not as expensive as the aluminum wheels by weld etc. these were delivered in about two weeks. Not in stock,as you asked, but made with used origional centers and new custom width outer wheels.
Vitamin c said:
I also just completed tubbing and moving the springs on my 69. I used the BBD measurement method and came up with the same dimension of 7 1/2 backspace on a 10'' wheel. After realizing that this dimension may make the wheel look funny from the side, i took a gamble and went with a 7'' backspace. I did have to trim some of the wheel lip, but still run the uncut wheel lip molding. I didnt want the expense of a custom wheel or axle, so i went with a steel wheel by DRZ performance and 325/50/15 tire.
Click to expand...
 
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