'57 rear axle and rims with Porterbuilt.

[thotfulspot]

I'm finally starting my '57 stepside rebuild. I'm going to use Porterbuilt dropmembers, LS motor, 4L80E, 9", all the fun stuff. I'm starting with the bottom. The issue (the first one at least) is setting it up as a rolling chassis. The previous owner was running it without a bed. He put the widest rims he could find, probably 16", and some unknown rear end. We've got the rest of the sheet metal off.

I'm trying to figure out what the dimensions in the rear should be.
What I'm looking for is the width of the rearend and the offset/backspacing of the wheels. I'd like to use a set of Delmo rims. Unfortunately Del or Porterbuilt hasn't kept much information on builds. I'm looking for a setup like the Heisenberg. Del thought the width of the 9" housing was 57" or 59". The stock width is 58" from brake backing plate to brake backing plate. I'll be using discs. Has anyone here done the full Porterbuilt and Delmo build? If I had one of the measurements, I could probably work it backwards.

Any help is appreciated.

[ChuckDriver]

I currently building one my self. Haven't gotten to the rear yet, but I'm pretty sure the rear I have now will work. Its 57 1/4 inches wide from mounting flange to mounting flange and I have 16x10 rims with 4in of backspacing.

You definitely want to mock it all up with the bed on the frame!

[mr48chev]

A couple of photos of the rear axle you have now will help one or more of us Id the axle for you and probably turn the narrowed axle and big tires into instant trading material. For every one of us who doesn't much care for the super wide tires there is someone wetting on his shoes every time he sees a narrowed axle with big meats on the ends of it. Unless those wide tires are dying of old age and the rims are so ugly no one would want them the axle and rims and tires should be worth enough to go a long way towards putting the right axle under the truck for the wheels you want. If it has a nine inch Ford rear under it you might consider getting a correct width housing built and a pair of new axles and using the center and brakes and then selling off the narrowed housing and axles.

Delmo's not only sells rims but they build trucks they put them on so the best thing I can think of is contacting them and telling them what you have and what rims you are planning on and asking for their suggestion as to axle width and possible what model of donor axle would work without.

[thotfulspot]

I'll have to dig out some pictures. The rims are Crager SS. I don't recognize it as a Dana axle that I use on Jeeps. Not a 9" either. Probably some variation of a GM axle. The axle going in will be a new Moser 9". I've done more than my share of shorting and even extending Dana housings. I'd rather deal with a new housing on this.

Unfortunately Del doesn't seem to take notes on his builds. I do have the axle width he did on two builds a while back when he on here. One was 57", and the other was 59". Stock was 58". The guy working for him tried to find out the wheel sizing with no luck. The response was he built them to fit, and hasn't done any tri-fives lately.