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'15 Chrysler 200S V6
'74 Duster 360, factory 4 speed car

8.75" is a great option, but of course the 8.8 would be cheaper parts and more readily available.

I have an 8" housing and axles from a 67 Mustang that are 59 or 60" total width. You can have it for the price of shipping if it will help you. Would need narrowing to use for your app. You can also buy a custom 8" housing and axles from Currie Enterprises for about $500.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Check the thread on Sandy's build. If I remember correctly, the 8.8 is offset to the passenger side and he narrowed the driver side and used a passenger side axle in it.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

I figger the stock Explorer is 5/8 too wide....can you live with that?

You also have an off set pinion....

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Dion,

Yes, when I was wanting to use 17x8" +30mm offset wheels I wanted a 58.5" wide rear axle. I figured the widest I could get and keep full spline engagement by cutting down the D100 axles I have was 58.25"

Custom axles from Dutchman are $295/pr without bearings, retainers, seals or studs. Not cheap.

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Joshua

Hey, thanks for the offer. I hadn't even thought about the 8" Ford.

I will keep it in mind, but I would kind of like to stick to something local.
I thought the Explorer width was 59.5" which would be .875" wider, not sure about the offset pinion, either. Looking at the tires on the car, I'm not sure if the extra 1/2" (about) would be ok.

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'15 Chrysler 200S V6
'74 Duster 360, factory 4 speed car

So we are (or were?) on similar paths. Are you not planning on using the +30mm offset wheels now?

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'15 Chrysler 200S V6
'74 Duster 360, factory 4 speed car

Ok, I might have a flaw in my process.

First, I need to explain what my process was. I took some known info, like the backspacing on the 15x7 cop wheels on the car, the section width of the 235/60-15 tires, rear axle width, spring width, etc., and made some layouts in AutoCAD to see how a 17x8 wheel would fit. Somewhere I might have gotten something messed up because my math last night wasn't adding up.

Here is my math.

43" (spring C to C) + 2.5" (springs) = 45.5" outside to outside springs
3/4" (clearance between tire and spring) + .82" (half the 245 section width minus 8" for the wheel) + 5.18" (half the wheel width plus 30mm offset) = 6.75" for the wheel and tire
Overall axle width is 45.5" + 6.75" + 6.75" = 59"

Last night I was using the 5.72" backspacing and forgot about the difference between backspacing and offset. The number I got last night was 59.5" to 60" depending on how much clearance I was shooting for between the inside of the tire and the spring.

My problem is I see now that I don't know what the offset is on the cop wheels, I only know what the backspacing is. I think I assumed 1/4" difference between the backspacing and the width of the wheel, which would make the cop wheel offset +9.5mm.

If I am wrong about the cop wheel offset, I am wrong in many areas.

I guess I am just talking out loud.

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'15 Chrysler 200S V6
'74 Duster 360, factory 4 speed car

I'm not going thru all you math, but this might help

Backspacing is the distance from the outside edge of the wheel (backside of the wheel) to the mounting surface.

Offset is the distance of the mounting surface of the wheel to the centerline of the wheel. Positive offset has mounting surface closer to the outside (viewable) side. Negative offset has mounting surface closer to the backside of the wheel.

Conversion.

15x7 cop wheel is generally 8" overall width (usually you can add 1" to the stated width of wheel)

0" offset wheel will have 4" backspacing
1" positive offset wheel will have 5" backspacing
1" negative offset wheel will have 3" backspacing.


Work from there...........

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

I may use my Mach 1 wheels eventually, but right now I'm back to the 14x5.5" steelies. Next up are the 15x7" cop car wheels. I have 235/60R15 BFG Drag Radials to help consistency at the digs. I'm considering either 215/60R15 or 225/50R15 for regular use.

Here is my departed '64 Valiant with 225/50R15s and rare R-body aluminum wheels up front. The rear end was still small bolt pattern. I think 225/50R15s fit and look pretty good on a lowered early A-body. Might look a little small on the '67 though.

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Joshua

Using axle lengths from Randy's Ring and Pinion for the 8.8, I get an axle width of 58.5" for a 93-97 Ford Ranger.

YA 880019: left side axle, 30-3/16"
YA 880020: right side axle, 27-5/16"

Best I can tell the pinion shaft is 1" in diameter.

This fits with the 59.5" Explorer axle, Randy's shows lengths of 30-11/16" and 27 13/16".

If I shortened the left side of an Explorer axle 1/2" and used an axle from a 93-97 Ranger, this would give me a 59" width. Only problem with that is I am stuck with a 28 spline setup if I don't go custom. At the same time, all I should have to spend any real money on is shorting the one side of the housing, the rest would be junkyard parts.

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'15 Chrysler 200S V6
'74 Duster 360, factory 4 speed car

I have 235/60-15's on cop wheels with a standard A-Body 8 1/4" rear axle right now. Seems to fit fine.

I'll post a picture tomorrow, don't seem to have one on my home computer.

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'15 Chrysler 200S V6
'74 Duster 360, factory 4 speed car

Yeah, 235/60-15 fits fine with cop car wheels and a standard rear end. I ran that back in 1996. The fronts pictured are 205/50R15. I could use 235/60-15 on the back full time, but I'd need another pair so I don't use up the drag tires. Although with the mileage I've been putting on the Valiant the drag tires would last for years.

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Joshua

I narrowed my Explorer axle 2.875" and need 1"spacers to run 17x8 Mustang wheels (Lou gave me a bent one to try) My rear axle is now the same width as a stock 7.25 with 10"drum brakes.

So....a stock Exploder axle is 2.875 wider than a stock 7.25


......so 2.875- 2"= .875 too wide....or 7 /16 of an inch too wide on each side.

no more

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Any issues with rubbing?

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'15 Chrysler 200S V6
'74 Duster 360, factory 4 speed car