Hot Rods rear end help

i'm bulding a 30 ford roadster, i plan on using a 9"ford rearend what width of rearend is best to use for tire clearence ETC, i have a 57" flange to flange is that too wide.

Bob

 

IMHO,

The perfect width for a Model A or 32 Ford is 56 to 58 inches measured from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface.

The most narrow 9 inch Ford is the 57/58/59 Ford rear end. A 66 to mid 70's Bronco is also a good candidate. That is what I have under my 32 roadster. The Bronco has the 5 on 5.5 wheel pattern.

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I saw a 60" wide axle on one once; looked just a tad too wide, so a little bit narrower than that. Duece seems to have a nice range of size.

 

so i measure from the wheel mounting or hub not the bearing flange?

 

I measure from Wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface (sometimes abbreviated as "WMS") and no one has corrected me thus far (at least locally, ha!). That would mean you measure from the outside of the axle hub to the outside of the other axle hub.

The "housing width" is different, that would be tip to tip of a bare housing, with no axle shafts installed.

 

YES ...

The reason you measure from WMS to WMS is brake drums vary in width from 1 to 2 inches difference. Multiply that difference by 2 ( each side R & L ) and it affects the total width as much as 2 to 4 inches.



Almost all online rear end width charts use the WMS to WMS measurement.





See the difference in brake drums ...

 

The best solution (my opinion) is to mock-up with the wheels you are going to use. Place them where you want them, and measure between them. Then purchase or modify rear end as needed. Way to many variables for a one size fits all part. No need to guess that way.