Darts narrow rear end

[Longgone]

Have you ever driven behind some of the later model Darts and Dusters and noticed the front tires extending out beyond the rears? A bit odd looking.I`ve read that you can use a B-body rear by just removing the spring perches and moving them in 1/2 inch on each side. This would be asthetically pleasing as well as adding the larger brakes,the large bolt circle,(for wheel choice) and allowing more room for rim backspacing. With A-body 8.75 rears getting harder to find, this may be an alternative. Has anybody tried this combo?

 

[66dartman]

I have a 66, the bbody rear that I wound up with was almost 4" too wide. Had to have it narrowed and I had it narrowed to fit the widest tire I could in the stock wheelwell. The choice of custom rim backspacing occured to me but I decided to go with narrowing so I could use standard offset rims which are readily available. The only caveat; I had to have custom axles but now I can change wheels for street to strip action without a problem.

 

[ProStreetDuster]

I wouldn't put a B body rear into an A body, unless I had it shortened to A body specs. To not have the front tires stick out past the rears, it just takes getting the right offset on the front wheels when you order them and having wider rear rims. Dusters love fat tires in the back! The front wheels should tuck. When I had some Cragars on my Duster, the front had alot of offset while the rear (which was wider) had more of a deep dish look.
Take your time in your choice of rim and tire sizes. It really does make or break the look of your car! I always look around the web and at car shows and find a car like mine, then find out the sizes they used and see what looks the best and what mods if any it took them to get them to fit.
So what car are you talking about, a Duster? and what style rims are you thinking about? What mods if any, are the springs moved in and mini tubbed or all stock rear?

 

[bill paynter]

I agree with Prostreet Duster take you time and do it right

now, I'm not saying it's the best way to go but, a
B Body Rear will fit under 67-69 Barracuda without cutting
you have about a one inch diffrence in spring purch location center to center
once you get one side in, then you just pull the other spring over onto the pin
you also will need offset rims.

 

[steve]

I could show you pics of my 71 Demon with B body rear. With the right wheels it looks fine. I had 15x8 ralleys on it from Coker wheel. They only 'appeared' to be one inch extra per side. May not work on a Dart with big meets as the wheel openings are not as high as Duster and Demon.

 

[krabysniper]

Did it, done it, bought the T-shirt. Yes it can be done with a non narrowed rear, IN SOME A bodies. There is an article about it in one of my old mopar magizines from the mid 90's, they used wheels with custom back spacing from Stockton wheel out of Ca. (also where I got my wheels for mine) I don't personaly think much of them though,Stockton wheels that is, $250 for the wheels (stock centers pushed out as far as they could) with shipping. They are for sale if anybody is interested. I used those wheels and a non narrowed 66-67 B body 8 3/4. They JUST cleared the wells in my 71 Dart Swinger, but if I loaded some friends in the back, they rubbed the upper outer well (I did go after the rolled lip with a cut off wheel also for clearance. I put this same rear end in to my 73 Dart Swinger, no go, I think they slimmed the wheel wells in 73 and pulled the quarter walls in some so it just wouldn't fit. So I got fancy and narrowed the rear end as much as I could get away with ,3/4" on each side, with out replacing the axles. You can acomplish this because there is roughly 3/4's of an inch of un used splines on the axle's (another trik I got from a magizine), you get a machine shop to hack off the 3/4" on each axle (the ends must be machined off because the axles ride against a spacer that is in the heart of the pumkin this is what gives the ability to set the axle end play with just one adjuster on the right side), cut the ends off the housing and whack 3/4" off each tube and weld back together. Gave me just enough room to clear a set of 225/50 15's on a set of 7 inch aluminum Jeep wheels. I still have 1/2" clearance between the leaf springs and the inside of the tires and roughly 1/4" to the outer wells.

This worked for me because I am a fab/welder by trade and schooling, used to build race cars (dragsters, Pro style door slammers, and some we called Mini dragsters cause they used motorcycle or snowmobile engines.) If your gonna pay to narrow a rear it would be worth it to go all out and move the springs in and get new axles, but for someone capable and on a budget it is an alternative.

 

[gremlin]

I always heard the SS/AA Darts and Barracudas used a B boby Dana. I saw a guy at a swapmeet selling some Magnesium rims about 12" wide with a huge back spacing that were supposded to have been off of one of those cars.