Front wheels spaced far out

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Nattrass13

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Im new to the fourms and i just got a 1975 dodge dart for really cheap and after i brought it home i noticed that the front tires were space 2 inches farther out from the rear i assume it has something to do with the front breaks being converted to discs. If i were to upgrade the brakes with a kit will i have the same problem and what could i do to fix it.

any help would be appreciated thanks
 
Hmm, the difference shouldn't be more than maybe 3/4 inch. Do you have the same wheels front and back? Could the front wheels have more backspace?
 
mvh said:
Hmm, the difference shouldn't be more than maybe 3/4 inch. Do you have the same wheels front and back? Could the front wheels have more backspace?
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i think they are the same i haven't measured them yet but is there a way i could get more backspace on the front tires because i have grown attached to the current rims and the difference is more than a inch at least
 
The front track is wider right from the factory, with factory parts. I forget the difference. I seem to remember it being 1.9 inches. Ie; front track 57.4, and rear track 55.5 With the skinny 5.5 factory wheels it was hardly noticeable.

You could do what we did back in the day; put fatter tires on wider wheels back there, and if they get into the fenders just put airshocks on! Hah. That's what we did.
ok seriously; forget airshocks. but you might be able to space the rears out.This usually means longer studs and spacers, which are available in 1/4 " thickness. Stack up what you need. People used to say not to put more than one spacer in there, but I have seen 2 in there on teener cars and more on slantys. Keep an eye on the wheel-nut torque.
Another option, which I don't like, is to machine some meat off the back of the front rims. To my way of thinking that reduces my safe cornering ability. But if you are not into that sorta thing, I suppose.....
 
i just took the tire off and the rotar they put on apears to be off a rear of a vehicle because of the drum for the park brake, i think im just going to scrap whats on there now and start new any good kits for brake conversions

thanks for the help anyways
 
As stated above...the front track width is wider. Period. Doesn't matter if you put the correct rotor on it. Or swap to another factory style brake setup. The only way to suck those wheels in is to go with an aftermarket front suspension like the HDK (major selling point is narrowed track width) I dont believe even custom control arms can reposition the spindle inward due to steering geometry. But someone can correct me if im wrong there. Best option is to get wheels with correct backspacing, widen the rears, and let it ride. Or put some big $ Into an aftermarket suspension...
But...I guess I dont know what you got going on if you truly have a rear rotor up front with a parking brake drum on it? U sure it isnt just the uni rotor these cars all use?
 
Some kits mess with your track width more than others. I have an older Wilwood kit that moved things outward more than their new ones do. I don't recall exactly how much, but since I was going with aftermarket rims it didn't end up being a big deal. So far I'm happy with mine.

Know what spindle you have. That's kind of the limiting factor in which brake kits you can buy. Somebody with more knowledge than me may be able to help you with that, I really only know about the small ball joint stuff.

Cheers

Tony
 
................or put longer studs in the rear and space them out
 
Leadfoot said:
I can't help but to think you should have had factory disks in 75.
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Yup, it would have. All of them got disks in the front in '75 because of government regulations.

And regardless, the difference in track width between the 73+ disks and the earlier drum front brakes is less than a 1/2". The problem is the rims. With the correct backspacing the small difference in track isn't noticeable.

As far as needing a coilover system to narrow the track width to tuck in bigger tires, I'm going to call BS. I suppose it might help some if you were hell bent on staying with 15" rims (because 15" rims limit the amount of backspacing you can run substantially). Of course, the problem with that is you don't have the tire selection in 15" tires to use wider tires anyway, they don't make them in the right sizes. And running the crappy hockey puck hard tires that are out there on a coilover system that costs several thousand dollars seems like a colossal waste of money, the tires will be the limiting factor by a landslide. Even a mildly upgraded torsion bar suspension is tire limited very quickly if you stay with 15" rims.

You don't need to spend big bucks on an aftermarket coil over suspension, you need to learn how to measure for backspace and toss those incorrectly spaced rims.
 
You can't really call bs on the true statement that an aftermarket system narrows track width....thats a pretty obviously correct statement. I Also said with backspacing, he can tuck them in better, but that doesn't change spindle location, or the fact that the center hub remains in the same spot. "I believe the last part of my post was...Best option is to get wheels with correct backspacing, widen the rears, and let it ride."
I have a 74. And even with 3 inch wheels up front the centers still poked out too far for my liking. HDK swap...and I have the car slammed with a 28 tucked up front. Now...do I think the op has to spend that kind of cash for his car. ..no. again citing backspacing can help...but that center hub isnt going anywhere.
 
It's easy to see in the OP's photo that those wheels have way too little rear spacing. I think that's the only real problem.
 
69_340_GTS said:
It's easy to see in the OP's photo that those wheels have way too little rear spacing. I think that's the only real problem.
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Exactly. Otherwise every car with 73+ disks would look exactly like the OP's. Since that isn't the case, it's pretty safe to assume the aftermarket rims on the OP's car are the source of the problem, unless someone has done something really weird with the front brakes.

johnnymac2k6 said:
You can't really call bs on the true statement that an aftermarket system narrows track width....thats a pretty obviously correct statement. I Also said with backspacing, he can tuck them in better, but that doesn't change spindle location, or the fact that the center hub remains in the same spot. "I believe the last part of my post was...Best option is to get wheels with correct backspacing, widen the rears, and let it ride."
I have a 74. And even with 3 inch wheels up front the centers still poked out too far for my liking. HDK swap...and I have the car slammed with a 28 tucked up front. Now...do I think the op has to spend that kind of cash for his car. ..no. again citing backspacing can help...but that center hub isnt going anywhere.
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I know that the HDK narrows the track width, that wasn't my point at all and that's not what I said. What I said was that you don't need a narrower track width to run wider or larger tires, you just need to measure the backspace correctly. If you do that, the narrower track width is almost completely irrelevant. The center of the hub doesn't have to move, unless you're more concerned about the "look" than the actual function. I called BS on needing the narrower track width at all, not that the HDK changes it.

I have 275/35/18's on the front of my car. I still have the stock spindles, I still run torsion bars. I have the stock LCA's. I do have tubular UCA's, which became necessary to run the amount of backspace I needed to fit 9" wide rims in the front, but those don't change the track width. And if you're planning on paying for an HDK you can more than afford a set of tubular UCA's. A properly set up torsion bar suspension will allow you to run exactly the same tires as an HDK, the biggest constraints are the frame and fender locations.

Heck the track width on my car is even wider than the stock 73+ suspension because of my 13" Dr. Diff brake kit.

IMG_1915_zps32183594.jpg
 
Factory discs and a 7 1/4 rear will give you what you see.

My 74 was the same way until I dropped an 8 3/4 rear in it from a B body.

The front tires stuck out quite a bit, with factory wheels.
 
Bad Sport said:
Factory discs and a 7 1/4 rear will give you what you see.

My 74 was the same way until I dropped an 8 3/4 rear in it from a B body.

The front tires stuck out quite a bit, with factory wheels.
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That's a good point, the 7 1/4 rear is almost an inch narrower than even the A-body 8 3/4. The difference is even more pronounced on a Duster/Demon/Dart Sport, since there's a lot more room to the quarter with the Duster bodystyle.

But you can still fix it by adjusting the backspacing.
 
I can't help but to think you should have had factory disks in 75.
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Not necessarily....Small bolt pattern drums were still available thru the 76 model year. I've seen them mainly on the /6 cars.
 
Welcome to F.A.B.O. from another Albertan.
Get some pics for us and we can help decipher what you are working with. Definitely sounds weird having a rear disc conv. mounted up front. Depending on what is behind it, it's likely a cheap repair to go back to factory stock discs.
 
yes as 6pakdemon said they were available up through 76 with drums on 6 cilynder cars only and also all a bodies with 73 and up disk brakes do look like the ops car...at least to me anyway.
I can spot a 73 up disk swap a mile away on all a bodies no matter what wheels they have.
 
Front disks became standard equipment on January 1, 1976. So, nothing after that would have SBP drums, it was a federal mandate. I said '75 earlier, but it was '76.

But from '73+ even all 318 A-bodies had standard disk brakes. /6's were the only ones that could have drums, and even /6 cars with sure grips added got disks. From hamtramck-historical,

http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/images/dealerships/DealershipDataBook/1973/73_Dart0019.jpg

mikebee said:
I can spot a 73 up disk swap a mile away on all a bodies no matter what wheels they have.
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Ha! You mean you can spot them as long as they're running the same backspace front and rear. Because if they aren't, there's nothing to see.
 
Nattrass13 said:
i think they are the same i haven't measured them yet but is there a way i could get more backspace on the front tires because i have grown attached to the current rims and the difference is more than a inch at least
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First thing to do is to get 'ungrown' to those cheap generic trailer-wheels.
A factory steel wheel with a hubcap would tuck in the wheels nicely and look better at the same time as well.
Then you could go with a 1 or 2 inches wider wheel in the rear to lessen the front/rear trackwidth.
 
Nattrass13 said:
11041293_993507190706705_654940930030104179_n.jpg


Im new to the fourms and i just got a 1975 dodge dart for really cheap and after i brought it home i noticed that the front tires were space 2 inches farther out from the rear i assume it has something to do with the front breaks being converted to discs. If i were to upgrade the brakes with a kit will i have the same problem and what could i do to fix it.

any help would be appreciated thanks
Click to expand...

If you can: pull a front & rear wheel each, take pictures of each, & post them here...We really don't know what's underneath those wheels. FWIW: Most Detroit iron, usually has a wider track up front,than the rear( helps safe tracking in turns ,stock...) I wouldn't recommend any upgrades online,without knowing what's actually been done, how it works, & what you want to do. For all I know, you may end up at a stoplight next to me. ( I want you /me/& the general world safe...)


P.S.:Nice car...
 
what rear is in the car. Adding a 8 3/4 rear from and a body car with a 4 inch olt circle and adding the rear drums and backing plates to convert to 4 1/2 bolt pattern moves the rear wheel out around 1/2 inch per side. Redrilled 4 inch axles will give you this difference. check the differential width axle flange to axle flange.

Also what year disc set up do you have on the car. could it be from an early B body or F body they are different

I have also seen in the past the lower bushings were bad and they moved the uppers out to align the front end. This moves them out drastically.

Take the car to someone with kowledge about these cars. Otherwise you will never know the real cause without all these guesses including mine.
 
Oldmanmopar said:
Otherwise you will never know the real cause without all these guesses including mine.
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Mine is not a guess, a factory equipped front disc with a 7 1/4 rear will almost always look wider in the front with factory wheels.
 
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