Rear tire clearance

[Lloyd C.]

I'm building a 66 SWB for my son. The first of this series for me. I have a pair of 7x15 slotted mags for the front and a pair of 8-1/2x15 w/ 3" backset for the rear. The 8-1/2" rear wheels don't leave any tire clearance on the outside. Is it common practice to trim 1/2"-3/4" off the 1-1/2" wide wheel well flange or are there other solutions? This is a low bucks project so I don't plan to tub the truck and buy new wheels.

[jocko]

i'd hate to trim virgin sheetmetal just to make room for wheels that don't fit. But that's just me. Sounds like the problem is too little back-spacing - forcing the wheels out too much. Can't have the wheels mod'ed, so it's a up to you. My 2 cents is that it's NOT common practice to trim the wheelwells on these trucks since so much fits.

Before I'd trim, might consider something like this link - it rolls the lip back so that it looks stock on the outside, but is very thin (as if you would have trimmed it neatly) in the inside.

Having said all that.... it would probably be best (and cheaper) to just get new wheels. Really only gave this link to show an alternative, but it's more expensive than wheels... If you could find a matching set for the front rims - that either has the proper offset in an 8.5" wheel or is just a 7" wheel to match the front, that still might be the best way to go. Anyway, good luck!

http://www.eastwood.com/ew-fender-ro...struction.html

[Rich 5150 69]

You can and I mean carefully, take an old base ball bat, with handle in first place between the tire and the lip, gradually roll the truck forward, manually by pushing it, you`ll have to get the lip started to roll up ward a little the rest will happen on its own, how far you put the bat up into the wheel well will determine how much it compresses the lip, this way you do not weaken the overall body panel integrity How close is too close with your rim /tire, I ran8.5x15 slots for years on a fleetside, with 275/60/15 see pics...never had a problem.

[shortbed70]

Trimming can be done but if you are swapping rearends go with a 64 rear it's a half in narrower.
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[Captainfab]

Ummmm.... the '63 to early '70 truck 12 bolts are all 62" wide. Then the late '70 to '87, 10 and 12 bolts are 63-1/2" wide.

Originally Posted by shortbed70

Trimming can be done but if you are swapping rearends go with a 64 rear it's a half in narrower.
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[shortbed70]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

Ummmm.... the '63 to early '70 truck 12 bolts are all 62" wide. Then the late '70 to '87, 10 and 12 bolts are 63-1/2" wide.

That weird because my old 65 had no tire clearance bs the 64 I have now fits great... Thanks captainfab.
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[Lloyd C.]

Thanks guys, for all your input. I did measure the rearend and it is 62" drum to drum. I'm running 10 x 17 wheels with 4-1/2" backset on my slammed 68 stepside, so I figured the 8-1/2 wheels, even with only 3" of backset, would be a slam dunk on my son's 66. A buddy loaned me a tool to roll the inside flange of the fender wells, so I think I've got it handled.

[lakeroadster]

Rolling the fender lip is problematic on our vintage trucks becasue they do not have a welded inner fender.

Basically the roller pushes out the entire fender, not just the lip, except for the locations where the strut rods bolt to the fender lip.

On my stepside I metal worked the fender lip flatter while the fender was off the truck. Translation: I basically beat the snot out of it, but did so in a semi-controlled manner.