Wheels sitting out of centre in rear arches

[J1MMY]

I'm currently in the middle of swapping out the SM420 for an NV3500 so have been spending quite some time admiring the underside of the truck, contemplating a few things.

I'd like to cure the issue of the rear wheels sitting forward in the arches and can't see why the trailing arm crossmember can't be re-fixed the appropriate distance rearward? I am already having to do something with the park Brie assembly as the crossmember for the trans sits over the park brake crossmember.

I'd be interested to know if/what others have done to centre their rear wheels.

EDIT - found this.... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=666315

I intend to do something about the shock mounts anyways when I swap axles but the spring perches require more thought.

[racecougar]

We're dealing with the same issue currently. As the frame/trailing arms are finished, we decided to stretch the wheel openings forward two inches. Finished the drivers bed side yesterday. I'll stretch the opening on the passenger bed side next weekend.

[vin63]

I had profiled my rear wheel opening stretch in that other thread. Here's a before and after from about the same angle. The paint job is almost done...doing some cutting and buffing in the last pic:

[Paul Y]

Interested to hear options as I had thought of putting a 1" spacer behind the mounting for the trailing arms to centre things up. Would need a new prop making (or another spacer) but cant see what that wouldn't work?

Opinions?

P.

Edit; Just clicked on the link and saw it was a question I posed a few months back...Doh!

[chevyrestoguy]

Flipping the trailing arm mounts will move the rear axle back in relation to the wheel opening, and adding a shim will help it even more. One thing to remember, though. Every amount that the rear axle goes rearward will take away the gap between the panhard bar and the rear end inspection cover. You won't notice this as much with the stock panhard bar, but you will if you go to a longer (HIGHLY recommended if you're going lower than 3" or more from stock) track bar. CPP makes a "Bent" bar (CP32021) that will solve this issue if you have it.

[vin63]

Unfortunately, one inch is not going to center rear axle centerline in the wheel opening. Moving the rear end housing back presents a whole host of mechanical issues, including driveshaft, suspension, etc. In this case, particularly with the availability of repair panels, it's much, much easier to address the sheetmetal to alter the wheel opening (either stretching it like I did, or sectioning and moving the opening forward).