Will 17x9.5 and 17x11 wheels fit a 73 duster?

[74DartSwinger360]

Hello fellow FABOers,
I picked up some sweet 17 inch American Racing 200S wheels for cheap withentioned tire sizes mounted to them.
With use of spacers would I be able to run a
245-45-17 on a 17x9.5 wheel with approximately 6 1/8 inch back space up front?
And a 315-35-17 on a 17x11 with approximately 6 7/8 inch backspace out back?
Don't want the front to be raised like a 4x4 bit the rear can be. Also would I have to do a full 3 inch inboard spring kit? Or would just the 1 inch offset suffice.
Don't really want a ton of tire sticking out in the rear but wouldn't mind some.
Have access to a 69 charger 8 3/4 so wouldn't have to use a ton of spacers.
Thanks for any knowledge and experience you have.

 

[74DartSwinger360]

Here they are

 

[74DartSwinger360]

Any one running similar?

 

[72bluNblu]

The front 17x9.5 will fit into the wheel well with a 6.125" backspace, and should clear the fender and frame with a 245/45/17. But the outer tie rod ends will probably hit the rim. I've seen as much as 6" backspace on a 17" rim without tie rod interference, but it depends on the design of the rim and some can only get away with ~5.6" backspace. You'll have to test fit it and see. If you only need an 1/8" spacer to clear the tie rod end the wheel will still fit. You can probably use up a 1/4" spacer and still clear the fender with a 245/45/17, but that will be about it.

The 17x11's with a 315 will not fit in the back without a 3" spring relocation and mini-tub. I have 18x10's with 295/35/18's on my '74 Duster, and it has a 1/2" hanger/shackle offset and a 1/2" trim on the quarter lip. There's no extra room to go any bigger, I have less than a 1/2" clearance to the quarters and the springs. As far as the backspace on the 11" rims, it should work with an A-body 8 3/4. It will not work with a B-body 8 3/4. That's what I run with my 18x10's and 295's, but I have a 7" backspace. With the 11" rim, a 6 7/8" backspace will put the wheels over an 1" further out than mine, and that means it would be outside of the quarters by over a 1/2", so that won't work unless you jack the back of the car up to 4wd height.

My car has 18x9's with a 35mm offset (6.4" backspace) and 275/35/18's up front, but I also have Dr. Diff's 13" brake kit, so that moves the track out so the effective backspace is more like 6.2". And the 18" rims allow more clearance for the tie rods than 17's, you can't run that much backspace with 17s. Out back I have 18x10s with 295/35/18's with a 38mm (7" backspace) with a 68-70 B-body rear, 1/2" spring offset, and an ~1/2" quarter lip trim. Everything clears, no rubbing, but no room to go bigger anywhere.

 

[74DartSwinger360]

The front 17x9.5 will fit into the wheel well with a 6.125" backspace, and should clear the fender and frame with a 245/45/17. But the outer tie rod ends will probably hit the rim. I've seen as much as 6" backspace on a 17" rim without tie rod interference, but it depends on the design of the rim and some can only get away with ~5.6" backspace. You'll have to test fit it and see. If you only need an 1/8" spacer to clear the tie rod end the wheel will still fit. You can probably use up a 1/4" spacer and still clear the fender with a 245/45/17, but that will be about it.

The 17x11's with a 315 will not fit in the back without a 3" spring relocation and mini-tub. I have 18x10's with 295/35/18's on my '74 Duster, and it has a 1/2" hanger/shackle offset and a 1/2" trim on the quarter lip. There's no extra room to go any bigger, I have less than a 1/2" clearance to the quarters and the springs. As far as the backspace on the 11" rims, it should work with an A-body 8 3/4. It will not work with a B-body 8 3/4. That's what I run with my 18x10's and 295's, but I have a 7" backspace. With the 11" rim, a 6 7/8" backspace will put the wheels over an 1" further out than mine, and that means it would be outside of the quarters by over a 1/2", so that won't work unless you jack the back of the car up to 4wd height.

My car has 18x9's with a 35mm offset (6.4" backspace) and 275/35/18's up front, but I also have Dr. Diff's 13" brake kit, so that moves the track out so the effective backspace is more like 6.2". And the 18" rims allow more clearance for the tie rods than 17's, you can't run that much backspace with 17s. Out back I have 18x10s with 295/35/18's with a 38mm (7" backspace) with a 68-70 B-body rear, 1/2" spring offset, and an ~1/2" quarter lip trim. Everything clears, no rubbing, but no room to go bigger anywhere.

[URL="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v513/Dark04/IMG_5264b_zps4c31ed25.jpg"][URL="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v513/Dark04/IMG_5264b_zps4c31ed25.jpg"][URL="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v513/Dark04/IMG_5264b_zps4c31ed25.jpg"][URL="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v513/Dark04/IMG_5264b_zps4c31ed25.jpg"][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]

Thanks for all the info 72bluNblu,
You the man to talk to about big wheels on a mopar. Hope to have my car be half the car yours is. Yours is the twin to mine and has inspired me to want to do the fold down conversion like you did. (yours has way better paint though)

I was just super excited about the wheels and bought them the night before leaving town for 10 days. So will not be able to put them on and try them till I get home.

Do you think the rears will work with an a body length rear if I just raise it up some not looking to corner carve any way (Full Cast Iron 440 Car)
Flush to the outside of the 1/4 panel would be acceptable
Just want to get a ton of rubber under it with little to no extensive mods to the body.
If the front end up working I will make the rears fit.
I just don't want the front to be up as high as the rear and have a ton of fender to tire gap.
The tire gap in the rear in the pics is plenty fine by me and that is with a 275-60-15 in there so may be too much gap with the much shorter 315-35-17

 

[72bluNblu]

Thanks for all the info 72bluNblu,
You the man to talk to about big wheels on a mopar. Hope to have my car be half the car yours is. Yours is the twin to mine and has inspired me to want to do the fold down conversion like you did. (yours has way better paint though)

I was just super excited about the wheels and bought them the night before leaving town for 10 days. So will not be able to put them on and try them till I get home.

Do you think the rears will work with an a body length rear if I just raise it up some not looking to corner carve any way (Full Cast Iron 440 Car)
Flush to the outside of the 1/4 panel would be acceptable
Just want to get a ton of rubber under it with little to no extensive mods to the body.
If the front end up working I will make the rears fit.
I just don't want the front to be up as high as the rear and have a ton of fender to tire gap.
The tire gap in the rear in the pics is plenty fine by me and that is with a 275-60-15 in there so may be too much gap with the much shorter 315-35-17

Hey thanks for the kind words. Most days I don't even feel like I'm half done with mine. As far as the paint goes, it looks better in pictures than in person. ;) . And I bet if you buffed yours out it would look better than you think. All I did was wax mine and stand back 20' to take pictures.

The rears will work with an A body width rear and a 3" spring relocation and mini-tub. There's just no way you're going to get around cutting the wheel tubs with a 315, my 295's take up pretty much every available inch of the wheel tub that you can use without rubbing. In fact before I installed my rear sway bar I would get a minor rub on the top inner wheel well when going in and out of driveways. The rear sway bar reduced the body roll enough to keep that from happening. The 315's on those 17x11's will sit an extra 7/8" in from my 295's with an A-body width rear, and I've only got ~3/8" to my springs, which are even with the wheel tubs. You don't need much, but the only way to get an extra 7/8" more than I have is to relocate and mini-tub, since I already did the 1/2" spring offset.

The good news is with a A-body width rear and those tires, the outer face of the wheel will be pretty much at the same spot as mine. You'll probably need to trim the quarter lip back if you're lowered, but otherwise they'll clear. If you don't sit as low as me then you may not even have to do that.

The only other thing you could do would be to keep the rims, but switch out the tires. With a 285/40/17 you'd have a 26" tall tire, you could still use the rims, and with an A-body rear everything should fit with a 3/4" spacer like this one. I'd say run a 295/40/17, but I can't seem to find that size offered in anything other than race tires.

[ame="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Explorer-5x4-5-Wheel-Adapter-3-4-Spacer-1-2-x20-Studs-/251438125817?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a8ae152f9&vxp=mtr"]http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Explorer-5x4-5-Wheel-Adapter-3-4-Spacer-1-2-x20-Studs-/251438125817?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a8ae152f9&vxp=mtr[/ame]

 

[MuuMuu101]

Even the 285/40/17 is a hard tire to find. Most are Summer Passenger tires which aren't too bad. If I had to go with that size, I'd probably go with Continental DW's. Tirerack has them for about $175 a tire.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...4WR7ECDW&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

 

[74DartSwinger360]

Even the 285/40/17 is a hard tire to find. Most are Summer Passenger tires which aren't too bad. If I had to go with that size, I'd probably go with Continental DW's. Tirerack has them for about $175 a tire.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...4WR7ECDW&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

From what I have read these seem to be a pretty good tire for the price. We will see if I just go 3 inch spring relocation and mini tub.

Man can't wait to be home tonight to try and slap them on the duster and then the charger

Will post back here with pics and my findings

 

[74DartSwinger360]

Ok so I finally tried them on my duster after finally getting it back on its feet and on the concrete driveway.

I also used a wheel measuring tool and found that the
Front wheels are 17x10s
Rear wheels are 17x11.5s

-The fronts 17x10 with 6 1/8 inch backspace
These bolt right on no clearance issues except for slight contact with the tie rod end this is solved with a 3/8 inch spacer and have tons of room to the fender and the frame rails. Would definitely step up to a 255-40 to protect the wheel lip more

-The rears 17x11.5 with 6 7/8 inch backspace
These are not as easy and just touch the spring with my narrow SBP 7 1/4 with BBP adapters which are equal to about a 1 inch spacer.
This combo only needs another 1/2 to get off the spring.
To accomplish this I will be using an 8 3/4 out of a 69 charger which is 1 1/2 inches wider than an A Body 8 3/4. This will be the same as 3/4 inch wheel spacers on each side.
This rear end will be used in conjunction with a 3/4 inch spring relocation since I have to relocate the perches anyway and if needed a 1/4 inch wheel spacer should get these bad boys under with no rubbing at all.

 

[74DartSwinger360]

Just need to toss my front spoiler, scoop and hood tach back on with these wheels for a picture.

I would also definitely want to drop the rear 2-3 inches by running the afcos 72BluNBlu has and get FF 1.06 or bigger torsion bars, poly bushings all around and larger front sway bar and add a rear bar I already have. Along with subframe connectors, torque boxes, weld up k frame completely and maybe a 6pt cage with low slung door bars.

 

[72bluNblu]

Those are the 315's on the back huh? They fit better than I though they would. Although based on those pictures I don't think you could lower the car 2-3" and still clear. Take a look at the pictures of my 295's. It looks like there's still a ton of room from these angles...

But there ISN'T. Using a straight edge on the face of the tire, there's only about a 1/2" to the quarter lip, which is cut back a 1/2" already on my car. And then of course there's the "bump" in the wheel well, so there's even less room than that if the tire travels up into the wheel well.

But that's right now. The B-body rear is going to push your wheels another 3/4" outboard of where they are NOW. Which will put them entirely outside of the quarters.

What you actually need is a rear end the same width as the one you have now, but with the 1/2" spring relocation. I know, Mopar calls it a 3/4" relocation. Weld the perches wherever you like, but the hangers only move a 1/2" in. I know, they're on my car right now. It's a 1/2" offset. And it's a moot point anyway, because your tires will hit the inner wheel well before the springs with that offset anyway. Mine did before I added the rear sway bar to take out the rest of the body roll.

 

[vntned]

Any time you check the rear for clearance on a new wheel tire combo, do it with a full tank of gas!


Ask me how I know.

 

[74DartSwinger360]

Those are the 315's on the back huh? They fit better than I though they would. Although based on those pictures I don't think you could lower the car 2-3" and still clear. Take a look at the pictures of my 295's. It looks like there's still a ton of room from these angles...

But there ISN'T. Using a straight edge on the face of the tire, there's only about a 1/2" to the quarter lip, which is cut back a 1/2" already on my car. And then of course there's the "bump" in the wheel well, so there's even less room than that if the tire travels up into the wheel well.

But that's right now. The B-body rear is going to push your wheels another 3/4" outboard of where they are NOW. Which will put them entirely outside of the quarters.

What you actually need is a rear end the same width as the one you have now, but with the 1/2" spring relocation. I know, Mopar calls it a 3/4" relocation. Weld the perches wherever you like, but the hangers only move a 1/2" in. I know, they're on my car right now. It's a 1/2" offset. And it's a moot point anyway, because your tires will hit the inner wheel well before the springs with that offset anyway. Mine did before I added the rear sway bar to take out the rest of the body roll.

It looks like a ton of room but again pictures are deceiving. These 315s unfortunately are not a true 315 more like a 1/2 inch narrower from research I have done.

The rear end currently on there is a SBP 7 1/4 (slighty more narrow than a BBP 7 1/4) but has the crappy cast aluminum adapters just so I could roll it around. These adapters are 1 inch wide respectively. Even with this I horribly rub the spring to the point I don't even want to try and roll it.

So the extra 3/4 inch on each side of the B Body rear will put me close to where I am now minus a 1/4 inch of width on both sides but will have 1/2 inch more to the spring. (Am I not calculating this right???)

I believe this set up would allow me to clear the spring and 1/4 panel. (going to cut the lip back to the spot welds and roll it) I would not want the ride height much lower if at all lower than yours is currently or to even have a 1/2 inch rake to the front.

 

[72bluNblu]

So the extra 3/4 inch on each side of the B Body rear will put me close to where I am now minus a 1/4 inch of width on both sides but will have 1/2 inch more to the spring. (Am I not calculating this right???)

I think your math is goofy.

My BBP 7.25" rear was 56-5/8" drum to drum. A 68-70 B rear is 60 1/8". Even with 1" spacers, you're at 58 5/8". So, 60.125"- 56.625 =1.5" , divide by two and you get .75". So, the B body rear is going to be .75" wider, per side, than your current set up with the spacers.

I haven't measured the width on a SBP 7.25 though.

 

[74DartSwinger360]

I think your math is goofy.

My BBP 7.25" rear was 56-5/8" drum to drum. A 68-70 B rear is 60 1/8". Even with 1" spacers, you're at 58 5/8". So, 60.125"- 56.625 =1.5" , divide by two and you get .75". So, the B body rear is going to be .75" wider, per side, than your current set up with the spacers.

I haven't measured the width on a SBP 7.25 though.

Yes that math is way off not sure what I was thinking
You are right
I need to remount wheel and measure with more than my calculated eyeball. (will do this tomorrow) and report back
May one day just unbolt current rear end from springs and toss tires on the b body rear i already have and roll her under to see how clearance is.

I definately need to cut the fender lip tegardless