Afternoon all…I am looking at lowering the front of my truck with one of Sid’s axles. My question is for those who have used his axles: should I go ahead and get it shortened just in case sometime down the road I go disc brake route for the truck? I am thinking that bringing the wheels in an inch on each side would help with rubbing… any thoughts?
Are you going to tell use the make and year of your truck so we can make a informed answer? 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton?
Right now I have about 3.5 inches from the top of the fender to the top of the tire…would like to have no space between the tire and bottom of the lip. I am running 235/75 15 that are about 28 inches tall .
The plot thickens. If you were to mention your year of model of truck, those who have “been there done that “ can offer some good info.
Just ask Sid for his advice when you call to make arrangements. He really knows his stuff. I seriously doubt he will steer you wrong.
I would believe that your truck would have 11x2 brakes like Chevy trucks have; pretty good drum brakes. I also think you need to consider your driving style, your planned use of the truck, and what traffic you drive in to figure out if disc brakes might be useful; consider you also need to change masters, maybe add a booster. If your drum brakes need work; take that expense into consideration too. Probably could also go to smaller tire; 235s are kinda big for front tires.
Change front wheel offset to get an extra inch of clearance..? narrow it for the look you want now.. then if you decide on disc brakes later on, deal with that then. Dont factor in “down the road” when building a car.. youll have too much fun driving it to ever do them. And then you might have money and time invested in a mish-mash of unmatched items
Rich B… live in the country, do enjoy cruise- ins in Nashville and middle Tennessee, just a cruiser. Do plan on a small block Chevy in the future. Would like to drive it more often than not…
54chevkiwi… kinda what I was thinking…just was checking if there would be a downside to having Sid bring it in an inch on each side. My thoughts were that it would help offset any chance of rubbing??? Am I off base there?
Those are the issues that I am inquiring about… right now she is running 235/75 15 on all four corners… not really that wide I think, much prefer a taller tire on these old truck than the shorter tire
Turn it all the way left, measure how much room you have, and don't narrow it any more than twice that amount.
Squirrel…when I turn the wheel all the way left… the tire is against the pitman(?) arm. The arm right of the steering box…told you guys earlier I was a noob.
Sid dropped my Anglia axle. I would recommend him. I'm a little confused. Are you talking about the difference between just dropping the axle or stretch dropping it ? If he just drops it, it will be a little narrower just by virtue of the drop. He can stretch drop it and maintain the original width. All this is the difference between the wishbone and the spindle. You can cut and shorten an axle between the wishbone holes too. See what Squirrel said. If you drop it with no stretch, all other things equal, you will loose some steering angle before the tires hit radius rods. Mike
AccurateMike… when I was on Sids web site, I noticed it said he could drop and narrow if you were running some disc brake applications and I started thinking tire clearance when turning. In my pic above I have about 3.5 inches… would like to eliminate that space for sure…anything extra would be a bonus.
If it hits it now, it will be worse if you get a narrower axle. Your turning radius will be increased.
If he used some normal sized tires on the front he would have less rubbing problem. He's got 4x4 tires on the front, and is talking about dropped axles. Really mixing his metaphors.
If you are serious about disc brakes, you might want to do that conversion first to see what, if any, offset you might need to compensate for.
Back in the 80's and 90's I had 235-75/15's on the rear of my hot rods. If you are trying to build a traditionally styled car, or even a truck, those tires don't belong on the front. Maybe try some 215's on a 6" wheel and you will have a lot more clearance. They will be perfectly driveable on any road.
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