Did some measuring for wheel fitment, what ya think?

[Matt300ZXT]

I also posted this on the Jalopy Journal, but figured someone knowledgeable on here may not surf that forum, so I thought I'd post it here too.

Ok first off this is a 54 Chevy pickup, stock rear end, stock everything. The wheels in question are 16x8 with a 4.25" backspacing says the owner. Now these wheels may not fit because of the hub bore, which I'm waiting on that measurement but using width and height, here is what I did.



Above is the wheel simulator I made. You can see the long strip is 16" to simulate the diameter of the wheel, and the short strip is 5.0625" long total, but the part I'm using is 4.625" long, a little bit over the 4.25" actual backspace figure the guy with the wheels gave me, so I have a little extra room. I couldn't mount it's center line up directly with the actual center point of the drum, since the hub is kind of in the way, so what I did it laid it flat across two of the studs, then lined up the center line of the 16" stick with the center line of the hub, though it's actually offset a little bit. I held it in place and spun it around with the wheel centered up, full right turn, and full left turn, and it didn't hit anything. But here are the measurements I came up with:

Full right turn: Clearance at the closest point to the lower steering arm is .4375" (7/16), but no where near the pitman arm.

Center: Clearance at the closest point to the lower steering arm is .4375" (7/16), but of course no where near the pitman arm.

Full left turn: Clearance at the closest point to the lower steering arm is .375" (3/8), and .75" (3/4) clearance to the intermediate shaft/pitman arm knuckle.

Now I suppose what I could do for absolute 100% assurance (assuming it's really 4.25" backspace and not measured wrong or the number fudged) is take another 16" strip and tack on 2 strips of wood just like that one, but with the 3" length of the hub added on, so I'd have 7.25" sticks (or slightly longer for extra breathing room) and center it up on the hub and spin it around and make sure it doesn't hit. I'll probably go do that anyways since I have nothing better to do today.

Just wanted to throw these #s out there and make sure I'm doing this right so someone that's done it before could say yay or nay, and help correct any mistakes I'm making. To be honest, I guess the easiest thing to do would be to ask if anyone with a stock truck has fit 8" wide wheels with 4.25" of backspacing easily, or if they needed any sort of spacer.