Need help with rear suspension

[sam's 72]

I am finally getting close to having my 383 finished for the 72. What I want to do before I drop the engine in the truck is set up the rear suspension. This is what I want to do. I am going to replace my 12 bolt with a ford 9 inch. I bought a set of weld drag lites for the truck, the back rims are 11 inches wide. I want to run Mickey Thompson sportman pro tires on the back. I want to put as wide as tire that I can get under the back with out tubbing out the truck. I do not mind cutting the rearend housing down some to help me out, but I don't want to have to cut into the back fender wells to make this set up work. Doe any body know what is the widest tire I can go with and how much I need to cut down on the rearend houseing to get the tire up under the rear fender wells with out cutting into the rear trailing arms or tubbing out the fender wells? I have seen this done before on our trucks, but don't want to buy the tires untill I have a better handle on how much modifing to the rearend needs to be done. so help me out here guys.
Sam

[Longhorn Man]

You going to lower your ride? You plan on ever putting more than 200 pounds there? It matters quite a bit.

[sam's 72]

Andy,
Yes, I am going to lower the backend once I get the rearend in it and set up, then I will lower it to where it sits level. I am planning on moving my gas tank out of the cab and installing one under the truck where the spare tire is at also. I want the back tires to fit up into the fender wells so that there is not much of a gap between the top of the tire and the bottom of fender well.
Sam

[RICKSRAT]

Sam I'm running a narrowed 12 bolt w/weld on moser ends in my 72 with a bigblock.Rear has coilovers and just recently put a set of Chassisworks 36" ladder bars under the truck.Why are you wanting to go to a 9" rear.A properly set up 12 bolt should work just fine.My truck has gone 1.34 60's at the track with the stock trailing arms and beefed up 12 bolt.I have 12" welds w/7 1/2" offset on mine now. But I took the wheelwells to the frame.Can get some measurements to stock wheelwells and let you know.

[Low69CST]

I would lower the truck and get it on the road with some skinny tires, then once everything is wehre you want it, measure for what size will fit in the wheel well and still have a little clearance for towing and stuff, then either order wheels with offset to match, or as you were saying have your rear cut to fit. I don't think an 11 inch wheel will fit, but you could try it. This is how i'm going to get my tires and wheels. I want some 20's in the back with some really tall tires, but i'm gonna get it on the road with some 15x10 rally's in the back, because i know they will fit fine.

[Longhorn Man]

I'll have to agree with him, wait untill you have your combo sorted out. When you are pushing the limits, you need to tie up all loose ends.
I have 10 inch wide rims on mine and have only had a little bit of tire rub on the inner fenderwell in back. But I blame that on the well worn bushings and the fact that my U-bolts were looser than Britney Spears.

[tomsC10R]

Sam,
It sounds like you already have the wheels. I hate to say this, but you might have a hard time tucking some tire into the wheel well with 11" wheels. Right now I have 10" wheels witha p295 tire. Right now my wheel offset has the wheel a little further out than I like it. When I do eventually go with different wheels, I'm going to go with the same wheel width with a little more backspacing to tuck them in with the same width tire.