Smallest wheels you can fit on a 8.8 drum brake rear. Explorer

[DumpsterFire]

Got a rear end for my dart and am going to try to find some wheels that don't look super out of place. For now I'm keeping the 13in fonts. What is the absolute smallest diameter wheel folks have got away with. Looking for plain steel wheels with an offset that'll tuck them back under the car with this wide rear end.

 

[junkyardhero]

factory ran 15" and 16" so i'd guess 15 is gonna be the smallest you can probably get away with. but if you had some BBP 14 stock steelies i'd certianly give those a try for S&G's

given the width of the rear and proximity of the spring, i'll take a WAG and say 4.5 BS is probably pretty close to all you're going to be able to get away with.

pay close mind to the center register, the ford may be different and the mopar rim may not accomodate that. i know on the front you need to open it up for several styles of rims, so i'd check before commiting.

 

[Super-Cuda]

Ford Mustangs from 1983 to 1991 had a 14" x7 " 5 lug steel wheel available.

Should have the proper register for your Explorer rear.

Pic from e-bay.

 

[michiganpat]

IIRC mopar register is 71.6mm, ford 70.6mm (~2.82 vs 2.78")

I would assume 14" wheels would fit over a 10" drum.

note- instead of explorers, look at rangers. they're 58.5" wide vs. 59.625, and you can find them with 9" brakes, which should work with 13" wheels, if you can find any (if you want to try keep factory wheel covers)

 

[Demonracer]

Look at the wheels on the Expedition used by the police, most of the offset is to the inside.

 

[DumpsterFire]

I know the ranger would fit better but I already got a great price with the gearing I wanted and a lsd in the explorer axel. I need to see what changes between the ranger and explorer. Or I'm pretty sure the explorer stuff would fit in a ranger housing. No idea if the axel shafts are the same on the ends

IIRC mopar register is 71.6mm, ford 70.6mm (~2.82 vs 2.78")

I would assume 14" wheels would fit over a 10" drum.

note- instead of explorers, look at rangers. they're 58.5" wide vs. 59.625, and you can find them with 9" brakes, which should work with 13" wheels, if you can find any (if you want to try keep factory wheel covers)

.

 

[michiganpat]

could do the pumpkin centering by getting a 2nd RH explorer axle and cutting down the width of the housing as outlined in the sticky post up top. that brings overall width down to like 56.75" or so...