Lookie what $5000 buys you....

Kern Dog · Aug 7, 2025

Have you heard the story about the guy that bought a hat that was too tight then he went to a Doctor to have his head shrunk?
On the surface, the following idea sounds about as silly but bear with me....
I'm thinking of installing a wider axle.
Yeah, I like these wheels that much. Here is my line of thinking.....
I love the vintage NASCAR Chargers....

I'd like to make a street version of that, sort of what I have with the red car but a lot more raw. Black steel wheels, no fancy trim, just a racer vibe.
Using Chat GTP, I gave them this picture:

Then asked for a NASCAR vibe in B-5 blue.

I LOVE this look! I don't think I'd radius the front wheel openings but I love the color and the wheels.
If I had a rear axle approximately 3" wider than the stock 68-70 B body housing, these wheels would fit and look really close to the blue version above.
I may start looking for another 8 3/4" axle housing and shafts to get there. A 71-72 B is 3 inches wider, a 70-71 C body is too.
This would allow me to use these wheels without spacers but with adequate clearance to the springs and inner wheel houses. I don't want to move the springs, I don't want to tub it, I want the body and frame structure to remain stock. Swapping in another 8 3/4" axle would allow me to retain the 3rd member, drive shaft and brakes.

ckessel · Aug 7, 2025

How about an E body housing? It's 1.5" wider. Gives you 3/4" per side. If you move the perches to match the b, would that work? I did the opposite on my 70 Challenger.

Kern Dog · Aug 8, 2025

I'm wondering if the E body width would be enough.
I have 3/4" clearance to the springs in my red car....

That is a 295 series tire on a 10" rim too. The 1 1/2" wider axle probably won't be enough. I have 4 3/4" back spacing with those wheels. At 5 1/2", I'd be rubbing the springs. The E body width adding 3/4" is like reducing the wheel back spacing from 6 1/4" to 5 1/2". It looks like I'd actually need that C body housing or slightly wider.
Moparts has an axle width chart....

I could probably go as wide as a truck axle with as offset as these wheels are.

OneWheelPeel · Aug 8, 2025

Isn’t Stockton wheel still around? Couldn’t they just rework the wheel or would that be more cost than what you can get an axle for?

I’m not great at anything that concerns measuring.

Kern Dog · Aug 8, 2025

I was a Carpenter for 36 years. I remember how to measure stuff.

Stockton wheel closed. It would cost me at least $400 to have these wheels redone. I should be able to find a C body axle for $100 or less.
I don't mind the work to save a few bucks.

OneWheelPeel · Aug 8, 2025

Oh ok, I drove by them around 2019, no idea if they were open still or just the sign was still up. Also 2019 doesn’t see that long ago dammit.

68BabyBlue · Aug 8, 2025

Kern Dog said:
Have you heard the story about the guy that bought a hat that was too tight then he went to a Doctor to have his head shrunk?
On the surface, the following idea sounds about as silly but bear with me....
I'm thinking of installing a wider axle.
Yeah, I like these wheels that much. Here is my line of thinking.....
I love the vintage NASCAR Chargers....

View attachment 1898313

View attachment 1898314

I'd like to make a street version of that, sort of what I have with the red car but a lot more raw. Black steel wheels, no fancy trim, just a racer vibe.
Using Chat GTP, I gave them this picture:

View attachment 1898315

Then asked for a NASCAR vibe in B-5 blue.

View attachment 1898316

I LOVE this look! I don't think I'd radius the front wheel openings but I love the color and the wheels.
If I had a rear axle approximately 3" wider than the stock 68-70 B body housing, these wheels would fit and look really close to the blue version above.
I may start looking for another 8 3/4" axle housing and shafts to get there. A 71-72 B is 3 inches wider, a 70-71 C body is too.
This would allow me to use these wheels without spacers but with adequate clearance to the springs and inner wheel houses. I don't want to move the springs, I don't want to tub it, I want the body and frame structure to remain stock. Swapping in another 8 3/4" axle would allow me to retain the 3rd member, drive shaft and brakes.

I went with that look after Baby Blue was painted in 1985. It took another year of saving before I was able to afford Magnum 500s in 1986. Stock axle, with 14 inch factory wheels. The look fit my persona during my early truck driving years.

Cheapsunglasses · Aug 8, 2025

Kern Dog said:
I love the vintage NASCAR Chargers....

Well hopefully you can figure out your wheel predicament, I don’t have any advice , but I do think that one of the top looks for a Charger !

Virg464 · Aug 8, 2025

I have to agree with you, that is a killer look. It's all business, no extra frills. :thumbsup:

Kern Dog · Sunday at 10:36 PM

On Friday, I went to look at a van in a junkyard. It has an 8 3/4" axle with 3.55 gears. The housing may be too wide but it makes sense to get it anyway.
They want $109 for a 3rd member and $129 for the whole axle assembly.
This may be a Winchester Mystery House sort of thing, a project that spirals out of control or in nicer terms, snowballs and goes off course.
If the axle shafts are not necked down after the splines, they can be cut down and REsplined. The housing can be narrowed. I may be able to modify the axle to whatever size that I want and then offset the expense by selling the 68-70 B body housing that I have. A body guys often use the B body housings in Dusters, Demons and other cars. I have them in my 67 Dart and 72 Duster.

Often times, there is what makes sense...then there is what we end up doing.

eldubb440 · Sunday at 10:39 PM

just wing it......works for me

Kern Dog · Monday at 4:54 PM

Kern Dog said:
On Friday, I went to look at a van in a junkyard. It has an 8 3/4" axle with 3.55 gears. The housing may be too wide but it makes sense to get it anyway.
They want $109 for a 3rd member and $129 for the whole axle assembly.

OOOf. I was fooled.
The price list at the junkyard showed $129 for a rear DEAD axle. I asked the clerk if that was maybe a misprint that was supposed to be rear END axle. She said, oh yeah, it is probably a typo.
It was not.
The $129 was for a beam axle on the rear of a FRONT wheel drive car.
Todays haul was $216 for an axle I may have to also narrow to fit. Hey, at the least it came with a 3.55 chunk, right?

Cheapsunglasses · Monday at 5:32 PM

Terrible misprint , but as long as it’s a limited slip, or even if it’s not, that doesn’t sound like a bad price to me

Kern Dog · Monday at 7:32 PM

It wasn’t too hot when Rich and I pulled this today. Maybe 97?

Here at home, I pulled the brakes, axles and 3rd member from it. One drum was already missing when I got there but they still charged me full price.

That is a very nice 3.55 ONE legger. The van was a slant six three speed 1973 B-100.

It measures about 4 inches wider than the stock B body axle. Who knows the axle shaft length used in a 68-70 B body 8 3/4” housing?

These shafts are 31 3/8”, maybe 31 1/4”. I thought stock B bodies were 29 3/8”. If so, then yeah… this would be right around 4” wider.

It has some stuff to cut off. The shock mounts and leaf spring pads. I was tired after pulling this one. Rich and I took 2 wheelbarrows. One to carry tools, the other to haul the axle. These junkyards are gravel covered and some of that is not compacted. Try pushing a wheelbarrow with a 200+ lb axle through loose gravel with an under inflated tire. The distance to the cashier was under a mile. (Okay, a LOT under a mile). I had to stop twice to avoid collapsing. Okay, kidding again.
We loaded it up and I planned to unload tomorrow but you know how some people are anxious and impatient….

I cut off the shock mounts. I’ll wire wheel it and remove the spring pads another time.
I think the 4 inch difference is too much for what I plan to do here. I could fit stock width tires with this axle but ideally, an axle 2 1/2 to 3 inches wider would have been perfect. The wheels I have are 16 x 10 with 6 1/4" back spacing. Most steel wheels run 1/2" wider than advertised so the 10 inch wheel is probably 10 1/2" wide. With 6 1/4" of back spacing, that leaves 4 1/4" of front spacing.
The axle width list I found does show the 71-72 B body to be 3” wider, same with a 71-72 C body. There were no axles listed on FCBO. I rarely see a 71-72 B body 8 3/4" axle for sale either.
These shafts neck down inside of the splines….

They do get wider about 3” down.

These could be cut down for an A body axle. I like to use B body width axles in the A body cars though.
More later, cheers.

ckessel · Monday at 7:40 PM

What's a "drim"?

Kern Dog · Monday at 8:22 PM

Axle shaft lengths....

Looking at the chart, it seems like these axle shafts are similar in length to the 1972-74 D-100.

OneWheelPeel · Tuesday at 12:29 AM

That 97 degree junkyard days gave me bad flashbacks. A few years ago I scored some seats at the JY during a heat wave and and as I just finish lugging them from the back of the yard to the registers everything started to get orange and hazy. I was about to drop and the guy working there, like a pro who has seen it before, was like dude you should just sit down now. I did and poured some water on my head, 20mins later I was back to normal but close call.

Kern Dog · Wednesday at 3:56 PM

When trying to see if a non stock replacement part will fit, there will be some trial fitting or Mock-Up to do.
I could pull the existing B body axle out and test fit this Van axle or I could do it this way….

I’m going to assemble the axle….

With the following parts….

Third member only held in with three nuts…

Backing plates and drums to make sure the width will be exact.

Now the tires and wheels.

To recap, these are Police car wheels modified by Stockton Wheel to 16 x 10 size, 6 1/4” back spacing. 295-50-16.

Kern Dog · Wednesday at 4:05 PM

With the setup on Jack stands, I measured the overall width of the “Track”.

I’m getting about 74 7/8” overall. Now, the width of the car.
Using a 4 foot level, I ran it plumb down from the body and then measured IN to the inner edge of the wheel well flange.

The hash mark is the plumb line.

The 1 1/4 number is from the inside edge of the wheel well flange.

Both sides measured 1 1/4” to the flange. From the right inside flange to the left needs to be less than 74 7/8” for this van axle to fit without modifying. This 74 7/8” number is actually too tight since I’d need some running clearance.

Drum roll……

I measured 73 3/4”. I’m 1 1/8” too wide. Stock tires would fit just fine but these monsters won’t clear. I could bend the wheel well flange a bit but even then, it leaves too little room for flex during driving. I either need to narrow this axle or find another one.

Kern Dog · Wednesday at 4:56 PM

The rear tires on my other car don’t rub the body anywhere. They are tucked in a bit though.

I did trim the flange a little in this car. Both cars have had the outer wheel tubs modified for tire clearance.

There is about an inch from the tire sidewall to the flange. Sorry for the lighting, it is dark up in there and hard to see.
The track width on the red car:

Right at 73 1/8”. Jigsaw measured at…74 7/8” with the van axle. I like the clearance in the red car but if I’m willing to push boundaries, I could run a 74” wide track and still clear. It would be close though.

I do have this as an option…

The axle shafts that came in this axle are approximately 31 3/8" On the shelf, I have a pair of shafts that measure 30 3/4".

They need lug studs and bearings as well as some soaking in Evaporust.

The difference in the long and shorter axle shafts is 5/8". This would mean the housing would need to be narrowed by just 1 1/4". This would result in a track width of 73 5/8", just a half inch wider than the red car and still with enough room to avoid contact.

Keep in mind, none of the measurements are exact. I'm rounding up . Looking at the measurements that I took, some of the math does not add up exactly. When measuring for wheels, it is advised to leave room for the sidewalls to flex a bit. Ginger has an aluminum 18 x 10 which measures 11" wide plus the tire width. These 16 x 10s are steel which measure 10 1/2" wide. If the track width is 73-73 5/8", I'll have plenty of room inside but the outer sidewall may be close. The outer wheel tubs turn UP just inside of the wheelwell flange so bending the flange UP helps a little but it isn't a magic bullet.
I may have the car ride lower than Ginger, in keeping with the NASCAR theme.

Lookie what $5000 buys you....

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