Wheel backspacing on Duster w/ 68 B-body rear

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Hemihead2

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As stated- 68 BBP B-body rear is now in my Duster. Anyone have a combo that fills the wheel well without rubbing? Could I get away with using 15x7 Rallye wheels?? Interested in tucking the tire closer to the leaf spring. Any help/ pics is appreciated!
 
As stated- 68 BBP B-body rear is now in my Duster. Anyone have a combo that fills the wheel well without rubbing? Could I get away with using 15x7 Rallye wheels?? Interested in tucking the tire closer to the leaf spring. Any help/ pics is appreciated!

Are the leaf springs still in the factory location?

I have a '68 B body rear end in my Duster with a 1/2" spring offset. I run 18x10's with a 7" backspace, they're a bit closer the springs but I run disks that push them out a bit. Without the spring offset obviously you'd need less backspace than that, and less backspace with 15's because of the larger sidewall overhang.

I wouldn't run 15x7's on a Duster even with stock spring locations, you can fit 275/60/15's on 15x8's with all the stock stuff on most cars, some definitely need some quarter lip rolling and obviously it depends on ride height.

With the springs in the stock location, you'd be looking at a 15x8" with about 5.75" of backspace to center things up. With factory offsets even a 15x7 with a 4.25" backspace and 225/60/15's was right on the quarter. With the wider rear axle you will likely need custom offset wheels.
 
Yep springs are in stock location.
 
72blunblu is the guru for wheels and tires here.
What wheel and tires can you put on now? Use the info off whatever set you can stick on there now to decide what you need.
And if you search wheels at Summit, you can specify an offset/backspace and look at what is available.
 
Agreed- I have a set of 14x7 Keystone classics on it now and it protrudes beyond the quarter panel…the SS springs I have on it are really stiff so I have ample room above the wheels.
 
Agreed- I have a set of 14x7 Keystone classics on it now and it protrudes beyond the quarter panel…the SS springs I have on it are really stiff so I have ample room above the wheels.
Okay, good! So, measure the backspace you have on the 14x7s, measure how much room you have from the inside edge of the rim to the spring, add the two together, and subtract 3/4-1"
 

Summit shows 73 wheels 15" diameter, big mopar bolt pattern, and 5.5 backspace, 8 or 10 inch wide, including some attractive Summit brand wheels
You can spend from $150 to $1500+ each.
 
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This car.....

IMG_2423.JPG


....Has a 68-70 B body axle and 16 x 8" wheels with 4 1/4" back spacing.

IMG_2422.JPG


Ride height is untouched.

IMG_2416.JPG


The wheelwell flanges are curled in a bit but I think that if my fat ex wife were in the trunk, I'd rub the tires when I went over bumps.
Tires are 245-50-16.
 
This car.....

View attachment 1716478578

....Has a 68-70 B body axle and 16 x 8" wheels with 4 1/4" back spacing.

View attachment 1716478577

Ride height is untouched.

View attachment 1716478576

The wheelwell flanges are curled in a bit but I think that if my fat ex wife were in the trunk, I'd rub the tires when I went over bumps.
Tires are 245-50-16.
worst thing with the A Body is that stupid step in the wheel arch that rubs on any decent rubber, i cut mine out and flattened as much as i could
 
Factory 15x7 with 4 1/4 backspace, 245/60?/15 and a 15x8 slotted mag with 4.5” backspace and a 255/60/15. It has a 68-70 B body rear in it, stock spring location.

IMG_1258.jpeg


IMG_8489.jpeg
 
Any rubbing at all? Looks good


None yet, but I have minimal drive time with it. The 8s sit about even with the quarter panel so I’m sure if I loaded the car with people it would rub on bumps. I have a photo of it somewhere with an 8” wheel with 5” backspace and a 255/60/15 I’ll have to dig up. Those fit about perfect


EDIT. Found the 8 with 5” backspace. Didn’t rub on the insides, but the car does sit slightly high in the rear.

IMG_1288.jpeg
 
original A body axle is 57 1/8" wide, 68-70B body rear, IIRC is 60.5" wide. (wheel mount face to wheel mount face). I took measurements a couple years ago when I was looking at different rear axle options to get BBP. you should be able to fit a 275mm wide tire with about 1/2" of clearance to the fender lip if you use a 2005-2015ish mustang rim (+50mm offset)...if you don't want to use a high +offset rim, something with more dish, you'd be better off getting an explorer 8.8 rear end (59 5/8" wide) and shorten the long side (56 5/8" wide when you do it), or a 94-2010 Ranger 8.8 rear (58.5" wide)
 
original A body axle is 57 1/8" wide, 68-70B body rear, IIRC is 60.5" wide. (wheel mount face to wheel mount face). I took measurements a couple years ago when I was looking at different rear axle options to get BBP. you should be able to fit a 275mm wide tire with about 1/2" of clearance to the fender lip if you use a 2005-2015ish mustang rim (+50mm offset)...if you don't want to use a high +offset rim, something with more dish, you'd be better off getting an explorer 8.8 rear end (59 5/8" wide) and shorten the long side (56 5/8" wide when you do it), or a 94-2010 Ranger 8.8 rear (58.5" wide)
Good info- but as they say I’m already butt-hole deep in it… so I have a 68 B-body rear in the car already AND with S/S springs there is a lot of room above the 245/60/14 tire I have on it already-and there is little to no give to the suspension so I’m pretty sure the top of the tire will never contact the wheel opening.

I think I’m going with 15x7” Rallye wheels on the front with 215/70/15 and 15x8 Rallye wheels on the back with 255/60/15. The tire heights are just about 27” for both and the springs will provide a little rake to it.


Any thoughts are much appreciated!

IMG_8822.jpeg
 
Good info- but as they say I’m already butt-hole deep in it… so I have a 68 B-body rear in the car already AND with S/S springs there is a lot of room above the 245/60/14 tire I have on it already-and there is little to no give to the suspension so I’m pretty sure the top of the tire will never contact the wheel opening.

I think I’m going with 15x7” Rallye wheels on the front with 215/70/15 and 15x8 Rallye wheels on the back with 255/60/15. The tire heights are just about 27” for both and the springs will provide a little rake to it.


Any thoughts are much appreciated!

View attachment 1716480806
of course because I'm an OCD mechanical engineer I put my measurements into a spreadsheet so I could quickly play with different combos to estimate tire clearances. assuming it's a wheel vintiques 15x8 with 4.5" BS, that combo according to my measurements should but the outside edge of the tire nearly flush to the outside of the fender.
 
of course because I'm an OCD mechanical engineer I put my measurements into a spreadsheet so I could quickly play with different combos to estimate tire clearances. assuming it's a wheel vintiques 15x8 with 4.5" BS, that combo according to my measurements should but the outside edge of the tire nearly flush to the outside of the fender.
At the front or rear? Or both? Also 73 up Disc brakes on the front (if it makes a diff) Thank you
 
Good info- but as they say I’m already butt-hole deep in it… so I have a 68 B-body rear in the car already AND with S/S springs there is a lot of room above the 245/60/14 tire I have on it already-and there is little to no give to the suspension so I’m pretty sure the top of the tire will never contact the wheel opening.

I think I’m going with 15x7” Rallye wheels on the front with 215/70/15 and 15x8 Rallye wheels on the back with 255/60/15. The tire heights are just about 27” for both and the springs will provide a little rake to it.


Any thoughts are much appreciated!

View attachment 1716480806

michiganpat pretty much covered it, the difference between an A-body 8 3/4 with BBP axles and a 68-70 B body 8 3/4 is 1.15" per side.

So, on a Duster with 15" wheels and an A-body 8 3/4 and BBP axles you typically want to run a 15x8" with ~4.5" of backspace to get the largest wheel INSIDE the quarter. If you run those same numbers with a 68-70 B rear it moves the wheel out 1.15", which is basically the width of the stock quarter lip. So now your tires are hanging out of the quarter.

With SS springs it won't matter much for tire rubbing because your ride height means the tires shouldn't ever hit the quarter. But if for some reason you fully compressed the suspension, you'd put the tires into the quarters and it would go badly for you from there. Objectively, raising the back of the car ruins your caster setting, and it's hard enough to get enough caster on these cars already unless you have adjustable UCA's. The result being that without enough positive caster your car will handle like a shopping cart on meth.

In the front, you will not clear a 27" tall front tire. It will hit the corners of the fender opening, especially with a Duster the rear corner of the wheel opening gets to be an issue. The maximum tire height in the front is obviously ride height dependent, but anything over 26.5" is pretty much a no-go for most cars, and really anything over 26" starts to create issues even at the factory ride height. The 73+ brakes widen the track width, the 15" wheels limit the backspace, and both of those make it harder to run tires taller than 26" in the front with 15" wheels and the standard available backspaces
 
michiganpat pretty much covered it, the difference between an A-body 8 3/4 with BBP axles and a 68-70 B body 8 3/4 is 1.15" per side.

So, on a Duster with 15" wheels and an A-body 8 3/4 and BBP axles you typically want to run a 15x8" with ~4.5" of backspace to get the largest wheel INSIDE the quarter. If you run those same numbers with a 68-70 B rear it moves the wheel out 1.15", which is basically the width of the stock quarter lip. So now your tires are hanging out of the quarter.

With SS springs it won't matter much for tire rubbing because your ride height means the tires shouldn't ever hit the quarter. But if for some reason you fully compressed the suspension, you'd put the tires into the quarters and it would go badly for you from there. Objectively, raising the back of the car ruins your caster setting, and it's hard enough to get enough caster on these cars already unless you have adjustable UCA's. The result being that without enough positive caster your car will handle like a shopping cart on meth.

In the front, you will not clear a 27" tall front tire. It will hit the corners of the fender opening, especially with a Duster the rear corner of the wheel opening gets to be an issue. The maximum tire height in the front is obviously ride height dependent, but anything over 26.5" is pretty much a no-go for most cars, and really anything over 26" starts to create issues even at the factory ride height. The 73+ brakes widen the track width, the 15" wheels limit the backspace, and both of those make it harder to run tires taller than 26" in the front with 15" wheels and the standard available backspaces
Awesome info! That’s what I needed. I don’t want a tall rear tire along with the excessive arch of the springs in conjunction with a short front tire…looking to go as tall and wide as possible in the front without rubbing. At what point does the width of the tire become a bigger issue than the height? Especially at partial turn. Thank you
 
Definitely intend to crank the T-bars up a bit to decrease the overall rake of the car but can’t get too carried away with it.
 
Awesome info! That’s what I needed. I don’t want a tall rear tire along with the excessive arch of the springs in conjunction with a short front tire…looking to go as tall and wide as possible in the front without rubbing. At what point does the width of the tire become a bigger issue than the height? Especially at partial turn. Thank you

A 215/65/15 is probably about as tall/wide as you're going to be able to run up front without modifying bodywork. 225/60/15's also work, I ran those on my Duster for a bit on a 15x7" with a 4.25" backspace, that was with 73+ disks. Wider but shorter than the 215/65/15's.

I'm sure there are some exceptions, but those are combinations known to work.
Definitely intend to crank the T-bars up a bit to decrease the overall rake of the car but can’t get too carried away with it.

Well, raising the front end with the torsion bars, especially if you go higher than the factory ride height specs, also negatively affects the suspension geometry.

Obviously it's a trade off because you need to have some positive caster, which gets worse as the rake increases. Raising and lowering these cars has a substantial impact on suspension geometry, it's not something you want to do arbitrarily because there are consequences you have to deal with. In general, lowering these cars from factory improves the suspension geometry, and raising them worsens it. Both have consequences that require additional changes to the suspension set up, especially as the change in heights get more extreme.
 
Here’s how it sits now- 215/60/14 front on 14x6 and 245/60/14 on 14x7….problem is the deep dish of the rear wheel- sticks out beyond the quarter.

IMG_8852.jpeg
 
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