Has anyone used a wheel spacer to fill in the rear wells on a Duster?

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Loggato

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to elaborate, my factory stock /6 Duster, with 7 1/4" rear end, looks like a pit bull that skipped leg day.. Some wheels with a smaller offset will help, but I dont want to get a 10" wide wheel just for the back of my very basic duster. So has anyone just used spacers?
 
Guess it all depends how far you have to go. Will likely need the thicker ones with studs.
 
Yeah I'm guilty; 69 barracuda slanty/904. The year was 1977. Hyup you bet the airshocks were under there too..1'' was all I could find. I think I still got both out in one of the sheds,lol. My rims tho were 8.5s. Hyup still got them too
Car was gone by late 78; sheesh that's 40 years ago...........
 
Yes, currently running spacers on a 74 Duster front and rear. Some will say to absolutely never run spacers but I’ve never had any issues. I run them on most of my vehicles. I do think it’s best to use hub centric spacers though...
 
Yes, currently running spacers on a 74 Duster front and rear. Some will say to absolutely never run spacers but I’ve never had any issues. I run them on most of my vehicles. I do think it’s best to use hub centric spacers though...
What size spacers are you using? your setup looks good in your profile pic!
 
I really can’t remember. I believe they are 1” in the front “non hub centric” as the front hubs are still plenty long for the wheel to slide over and 2” or 3” in the rear “hub centric”. These are all the adapter style spacers like Tooljunkie mentioned. You will have to grind off some of your original studs as they will stick out past the spacer and hold the wheel from seating properly on the hub. We also had to purchase all new shallow lug nuts so they would be completely recessed in the adapter as well.
 
D1157B4A-0C22-4876-AD6C-9C6EB98C3979.jpeg

Here is a current shot of the car.
 
I really can’t remember. I believe they are 1” in the front “non hub centric” as the front hubs are still plenty long for the wheel to slide over and 2” or 3” in the rear “hub centric”. These are all the adapter style spacers like Tooljunkie mentioned. You will have to grind off some of your original studs as they will stick out past the spacer and hold the wheel from seating properly on the hub. We also had to purchase all new shallow lug nuts so they would be completely recessed in the adapter as well.

Been there done that! (most recently on a boat trailer) That's a heck of a spacer on the rear.. but honestly that's what it takes to bring those rear wheels out to a pleasing-to-the-eye level.
 
It does take a lot to push them out there far enough to look good. The best way I have found to determine the size of the spacer needed is to tie a washer or nut to a string creating a plumb bob and tape it on the inside of the fender liner at the farthest point out that you would like the tire to travel. Then just measure the distance to your tire sidewall.
 
This is the way I see it- it can be done right and it can look really good (see above :cool: )
Ideally, just find wheels to match the offset that you're trying to simulate with the spacers. It takes a little bit of work but it's arguably safer and will look better too since greater offset will show in the depth of the wheel style (which most people dig). You can also sell your current wheels to recoup some of the costs.

Otherwise, you'll almost certainly need to lengthen the studs to stay within spec for the hardware that's holding the wheels on.

I'll also throw it out there that the "skipping leg day" is how these cars looked from the factory. It looks correct to almost anyone who knows what they're looking at. The cheapest solution would be to lean into that idea. :)
 
Of course, you could install a 66/67 B body 8 3/4 axle.

That puts the rear track perfectly in line with a front A body disk brake car track.

You would solve at least three issues with hat-

Track

5 on 4 1/5 lug pattern

8 and 3/4 axle
 
CEE27B2D-9D1F-4B7F-A856-08FD608E7597.jpeg
@lilfontleroy

I am unsure of the technical differences. It’s my understanding that picture one in your post is just a spacer. Picture two would be an adapter if you were changing bolt patterns but could also just be a spacer if you just needed the extra thickness. These are 2” spacer/adapters that are hub centric. The notice there is no “lip” for the hub of the wheel to center and rest on in the pictures in your post.
 
Of course, you could install a 66/67 B body 8 3/4 axle.

That puts the rear track perfectly in line with a front A body disk brake car track.

You would solve at least three issues with hat-

Track

5 on 4 1/5 lug pattern

8 and 3/4 axle

This would certainly be ideal.. but then dont you have issues with driveshaft length and spring perch problems?
 
View attachment 1715403110 @lilfontleroy

I am unsure of the technical differences. It’s my understanding that picture one in your post is just a spacer. Picture two would be an adapter if you were changing bolt patterns but could also just be a spacer if you just needed the extra thickness. These are 2” spacer/adapters that are hub centric. The notice there is no “lip” for the hub of the wheel to center and rest on in the pictures in your post.

Also note that you dont necessarily have to lengthen the studs, because the spacer/adapter will be deep enough that it wont matter.. I'm not really considering running a spacer on the front (yet)
 
This is the way I see it- it can be done right and it can look really good (see above :cool: )
Ideally, just find wheels to match the offset that you're trying to simulate with the spacers. It takes a little bit of work but it's arguably safer and will look better too since greater offset will show in the depth of the wheel style (which most people dig). You can also sell your current wheels to recoup some of the costs.

Otherwise, you'll almost certainly need to lengthen the studs to stay within spec for the hardware that's holding the wheels on.

I'll also throw it out there that the "skipping leg day" is how these cars looked from the factory. It looks correct to almost anyone who knows what they're looking at. The cheapest solution would be to lean into that idea. :)

You are 100% correct! We were trying to change the look and stance of the car without investing much. Basically just having fun with it. The wheels are 17” Charger pull offs. They are only 7” wide so we needed to move them out quite a bit to pull it off. They look much better than the 14” rally’s that were on the car when we brought it home...My opinion of course...
 
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View attachment 1715403110 @lilfontleroy

I am unsure of the technical differences. It’s my understanding that picture one in your post is just a spacer. Picture two would be an adapter if you were changing bolt patterns but could also just be a spacer if you just needed the extra thickness. These are 2” spacer/adapters that are hub centric. The notice there is no “lip” for the hub of the wheel to center and rest on in the pictures in your post.
Technical difference: one is a very basic and simple spacer, the other has studs and is inherently safer. They make adapters that are same/same bolts pattern, so basically a spacer with studs. If you are not changing stud length then a regular spacer under 1/2" is ok, if you are looking to go wider than that, and are set on doing this with some type of spacer, then an adapter would be the way to go.
 
You are 100% correct! We were trying to change the look and stance of the car without investing much. Basically just having fun with it. The wheels are 17” Charger pull offs. They are only 7” wide so we needed to move them out quite a bit to pull it off. They look much better then the 14” rally’s that we’re on the car when we brought it home...My opinion of course...
There's your problem. THe new car wheels are all backspace and no front dish like the old cars and wheels are. Does your car have disc brakes by chance? If it does that will aggravate the issue because the front track is wider than the rear (of course) and wider than drum brake cars. Your car looks good with the Rallys I would order up a pair of 7 or 8" wides (15" if you wish) with a 4-4 1/3" backspace and rock and roll. That's what I did on both cars.

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There's your problem. THe new car wheels are all backspace and no front dish like the old cars and wheels are. Does your car have disc brakes by chance? If it does that will aggravate the issue because the front track is wider than the rear (of course) and wider than drum brake cars. Your car looks good with the Rallys I would order up a pair of 7 or 8" wides (15" if you wish) with a 4-4 1/3" backspace and rock and roll. That's what I did on both cars.

View attachment 1715403115

View attachment 1715403116

OUR problem is the duster body is wider in the rear than your darts. We can't just make our cars look excellent with different wheels like yours do :)

Plus, if I recall, the 72+ duster 7 1/4" axle is a couple inches narrower than earlier axles.
 
OUR problem is the duster body is wider in the rear than your darts. We can't just make our cars look excellent with different wheels like yours do :)

Plus, if I recall, the 72+ duster 7 1/4" axle is a couple inches narrower than earlier axles.
The bodies are a bit different. You can fit 8" wheels where the Darts are limited to 7's. I don't think the 7 1/4 rears are narrower. It's because the Duster/Demon cars that had the 7 1/4" rears usually had 5" wide wheels. Factory Rallys were only 5.5" wide.
 
Maybe not in the cards for you now but I would want that 7 1/4 out of there. They are the smallest/weakest A body rear end. Some Duster/Demon owners have installed B body rears with the correct backspace and took care of that narrow rear end look.
 
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