63 Dart rear axle relocation.

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Tincup

Tincup

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I just picked up a 63 Dart GT that I will be doing a full rebuild on. I plan on mini-tubbing and relocating the leafs inboard. My question is someone told me that the axle has to be pushed back approx. 2.5 inches to center it in the wheel wells, can anyone shed some light on this?

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Tincup said:
I just picked up a 63 Dart GT that I will be doing a full rebuild on. I plan on mini-tubbing and relocating the leafs inboard. My question is someone told me that the axle has to be pushed back approx. 2.5 inches to center it in the wheel wells, can anyone shed some light on this?

:read2:
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I put an 8 3/4 with bbp Moser axels in my 66 Dart,also have 255/60/15 on the rear.I didn,t minitub or relocate any thing!

trim 086.jpg


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I did a similar thing on my 65 Cuda, 8 3/4 with 4.5 Yukon axles. I used 275 40 17's in the stock wheel wells. I had to move the rear back 5/8's of an inch and this put the tires in the center of the wheel well. To put this rubber on the car I moved the springs in, but wheel wells are stock.
Pettyblu's Dart looks nicely centerd.

I think 2.5 inches would push the rear to far back.
 
I have a 1966 Dart with L60-15 on 15X7 Steel wheels. Also 275/60-15 on the same wheel fit. I even had 295/50-15 on the car once but it was tight..
 
Keith Mopar said:
I did a similar thing on my 65 Cuda, 8 3/4 with 4.5 Yukon axles. I used 275 40 17's in the stock wheel wells. I had to move the rear back 5/8's of an inch and this put the tires in the center of the wheel well. To put this rubber on the car I moved the springs in, but wheel wells are stock.
Pettyblu's Dart looks nicely centerd.

I think 2.5 inches would push the rear to far back.
Click to expand...
Thanks Keith Mopar!The 8 3/4 is from a 72 Duster and is sitting on the factory leaf pins.I have a .489 case and a 73 Dart Swinger 318 auto(904)driveshaft bolted up to the 6 cylinder (66,904)I swapped rear u-joint and bolted it in.Done.
 
My plan is to go with Maximum rubber in the rear. I want to use 18" x 10" wheels with a 295-40-18 tire, with the car sitting as low as I can.
 
Puching it back is only needed if you are going to run a very tall tire much over 28". That is only so the tire will not hit the front of the wheel well. If nothing is hiting I would not move the axle back any as this will only take weight off the rear end and change your front to rear weight distrubution in a way that will only hurt traction.

Just a thought for you. If you want to center it I don't think it will take more than an inch to do it. Just measure from the tire to the wheel well lip on each side.
 
Tin, there are a couple of ways to work around what you'd like to do.
In order to use an 18x10 wheel, you'll probably need a narrowed rear end, or some very exact measurements and precise offset and backspacing on the wheels.
For tire HEIGHT you can either move the diffy back about an inch, or you can trim the front of the wheel well opening to gain the necessary clearance - or a little of both.
For WIDTH you will probably need to minitub, and either use the offset spring hangar kit, or move the springs into the frame rails. Once this is done, you should probably have your wheels with mounted tire so you can set them in the finished wheelwells and measure from inside wheel to wheel to determine your final rear end width if you're getting it cut.
There are quite a few old threads on these subjects, so if you do a search you'll find lots of how-to posts and photos.
Good luck.
 
Thanks for the tips guy's, my car should be ariving tomorrow, can't wait to start working on it.
 
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