Hello everyone I am making slow progress on my 28 Tudor, I have almost all the parts accumulated to put this thing together. I recently picked up a Maverick 8" with 3.00 gear that I plan on using in this build, but was wondering if the 8" can be redrilled for 5X5.5 wheels or how guys go about this? I know there are spacers, but that is my last resort. any help here will be much appreciated.
The problem will be the backside of the wheel center hits the outer portion of the drum before the mounting face sits on the hub. That is why they make spacers for this application.
I have 1" thick wheel adapters on my Maverick 8" rear so I can use old Ford steelies. Just for grins one day I stuck a 16" wire on to see if it would clear. The Maverick drum was small enough for everything to clear fine. If I had put on a set of spacer rings I could have tightened it up. Not so with a 9" rear.
A friend just went thru this with a '35 Chevy. He couldn't find a six bolt rear that his wheels would fit his drums. A 2wd S-10 rear with wheel adaptors worked out well for him. Gary
Some of the early Bronco 9" rears used 28 spline axles with the small bearings which the 8" Ford rear also has. You'd have to check one of the Bronco sites to see if the axle lengths are close to the Maverick axle lengths. Even if they are, by the time you buy axles, you'd be better off just getting a early Bronco rear or narrowing a F-100 rear for the large bolt pattern.
The 9" rears will have brakes that are to big for the lip of the wires to clear. The bigger brakes will require a much thicker spacer, Bronco, F100 or whatever. It is not a bolt pattern problem but a fitment problem with the way the wires are made.
I used adapters on my (maverick) rearend and the added 1" just does keep the tires away from the body. The mav rears are pretty narrow.
I'm running fenders and 7.50X16 tires, just want to make sure it does not get out too far. Who has spacers that are 1" with wire wheel supports built in? Or do you not have to run the supports?
I made a set of adaptors out of a pair of early Ford rear hubs for the 8" rear in my tub. It was a lot of work, but I am pleased with the results . There are pictures of them in my album.
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