Narrowed 8.25 Rear in 72 Dart?

[BooyaAchieved]

Hello all,

This is my first post/thread here on For A Bodies Only, so hopefully you can help me out. I have a few questions about swapping a narrowed 8.25 rear end with a Sure Grip diff and 3.91 gears in my 72 Dart.

The rear has been shortened by 4 inches on each side, so I'm a bit worried about clearance issues with the inner fenderwell. I wanted to know if I could get away with not mini-tubbing the fenders if I had the proper backspacing for my rims and the leaf spring relocation kit (I'm thinking the smallest amount of spacing I can safely get away with). I will most likely be using some stock large bolt pattern steelies stretched to 8 inches wide with a 245/65/R14 tire.

Also, the guy has a 727 trans in the Valiant, and I wanted to know if the 8.25 slip yoke for the 727 has the smaller 7260 U joint like my 7.25 I have now.


Any help is greatly appreciated,
Booya Achieved

 

[Burntorange70]

I was thinking about relocating my springs but by the looks of it the inner
fender is out more than the springs so with out tubbing relocating the spring
is pointless I could be wrong but that is what I remember thinking.

 

[crackedback]

My best guess, your 8.75 is about 49" drum to drum if 4" is off each side.

Inner fenders on non-mini-tub cars are about 42" apart

That leave roughly 3.5" of length extending beyond the inner well on each side.

Unless you had a wheel with zero to 1" of backspace, it isn't likely to fit with any wheel that is available. You can't get any backspace without tagging the inner well.

 

[speedyb-cc]

Was this an a-body rear end to begin with or a cut down B body? What is the flange to flange measurement now?
Bruce

 

[BooyaAchieved]

Thanks for all the quick replies.

I can get my rims made with a custom offset, so if I need to get a 1" offset or smaller that wouldn't be a problem. The question is, is it safe to have that much positive offset?

The rear is from a '73 Duster, and the dude has put the Mopar spring relocator kit in as well. Do any of you know if the slip yoke for a 727 trans and an 8 1/4 rear is the 7260 u joint, or the 7290 u joint?

If I need to take a ball peen hammer to the inner fender, so be it .