Technical what donor for a rear for my hudson

I need to find a good donor rear for my hudson preferably with a 5x4.74 bolt pattern. It currently has a gbody rear I think and it's around 58 inches from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface. I would like to find one the same width or maybe 2 inches narrower to help getting the rear tires off. I looked online and the measurements all seem to differ as well as how they measured. Can anybody help me out? I work 6 days a week and have a one month old girl and 3 year old boy so finding time to go to the junkyard and measure is limited and it might be cheaper to find a donor off craigslist. Any help appreciated

 

Here's a pic of the rear I'm pretty sure it's out of a g body has aluminum finned drums it's also got*****py made/welded leaf spring mounts a warped tube leaking seals and a broken bolt holding the pin in. Don't mind the blue tape my son was helping me in the garage.

 

S-10's are 55/56'' wide and reasonably cheap but watch the gear ratio. Many are for O.D. trans and run 373 gears. BILL RINALDI

 

Since you have a stepdown why not go with a Dana*****er. They are what came in your car and most parts are available for them.

 

My stepdown has been clipped at some point in its life with a g body front clip and it's got a 283 sbc with a 400 turbo currently but I'll go 700r4 eventually so a rear geared for overdrive would be fine. Are you sure the s10 are 55 or 56 if so that could work great but I found 3 different widths for 2wd 4wd and zr2 online and from what I read they wouldn't fit but it also did not say where they were measuring.

I'd be happy with any rear but since my car is allready set up with a gm front clip I'd like to keep it the same bolt pattern I wouldn't of even changed it if it wasn't so trashed.

 

Found a list online that says
2wd 54.5
4wd 59
Zr2 63
So a 2wd one might work well I may have to run a 1/4 or 3/8 spacer one each side or should I avoid that? I definitely do not want to go wider than the old rear as I had to fight to get the tires out of it being lowered.

 

You may find this site helpful while looking for a rear end for your Hudson
http://www.carnut.com/specs/rear.html

 

S10 4x4. I have measured several at 58".

If you went with the 2wd one, you would have to make absolutely sure that the backing plates and drums clear the body/frame/suspension, etc.

 

89/91 Ranger pickup is about 56.5 in wide. Lots of gear ratios available

 

Actually first gen S-10 2 WD is 54.25" they are a pretty rough rear as a metric 10 bolt goes.

 

dick stevens has it carnut.com has the sizes for most of the stuff.

 

Nova rears are pretty narrow may take a look at one of them. Actually the later Novas could also be had in 12 bolt.