to those with a 4" or more front drop... wheel/tire question

[miller6t9]

so....I had 235/70/15 on 15x8.5 TTO with -24 offset on my '72 that has CPP 2.5" drop spindles and some sort of not stock but lowered somehow springs....bought 255/50/18 tires for the 18x8 TT 2 -18 offset that i was gonna put on after the body work but tested them out for a few days and rode/fit fine...no issues....changed the front springs to the Hotchkis 2" drop and rode on the 15s for about a year with no issues...now i have the body work and all done on the truck and have a rubbing issue with the 18s...have done way too much searching and reading and whatever, but still unsure....do those of you with a 4 inch drop run a 255 tire? (really not wanting to buy two new tires) Would a change to the zero offset probably solve my problem? what kind of offset do those of you with a similar drop run?...now the rub I'm getting is only on bumps or dips occasionally, is this something you all deal with anyway?

[hewittca]

I'm running a 4" drop on mine (and plan to go to 6") and have no rubbing. At 4" I can run the wheel tubs unmodified, but at 6" I will have to take them out and run something like the Hills Hotrods inner tubs. My front tires are 265/35r22s which are 1.3" taller overall compared to your 255/50r18s. My wheels are 22x9 and have 6" BS. Your wheel is about a 3.75" BS. How do those compare? Essentially, from hub to outside of the wheel mine are 3", yours are 4.25". Add on top of that the added width due to the drop spindles (3/4") and your wheels are basically 2" further out than mine. I figure I only have about 1.5" of maximum clearance before my wheel would rub, so yeah I can definitely see how yours are rubbing!

[Ironangel]

I ran 15 X 8 rally's with 275/60-15 BFG T/A's with 2-1/2" drop spindles and 2" drop springs. They did exactly as you described, rubbing in turns and bumps. You have a couple of options if you really want or need to run a wide front tire. One, go with a shorter cross section tire. Two, stiffen up the suspension...I installed a front sway bar with inverted mounts,(inside the riveted frame brackets) and replaced the 2" drop springs with 3/4 ton big block springs with one full coil cut off. That put the front end back down to a 4" over all drop, 1-1/2" spring drop on a much stiffer front end with almost zero roll in the turns. I get a lot of positive comments from guys who drive my truck for the first time...I suppose the third option is modifying steering and suspension components and deleting the inner fenders to allow for taller wider wheel combos which to me isn't an option at all...

[miller6t9]

thanks for the input....I have a sway bar, and one would think the Hotchkis springs would be plenty stiff (i sure noticed a difference once they were on)....best I can tell, I'm rubbing on an inner fender bolt head....so anybody know how much backspacing the front can take? I'm sure an off the shelf zero offset wheel would fit, just dont know if it will be enough to solve the problem (i'd be setting it in about 3/4")...I had totally forgotten about the drop spindles setting the wheels out a bit....and heres a pic, you know, for visuals...

[hewittca]

Man that looks good, too bad it's rubbing. I'm not sure what your budget is for fixing this issue, but I'd say you should look into the CPP modular spindles instead of trying to find a different wheel. It doesn't look like those wheels could loose too much more lip before looking goofy. The modular spindles will pull the wheels in I think about 3/4 to 1". The only thing is they are 2" drop, not 2.5" like the standard spindles. You also need to get an adapter bracket to fit the stock style caliper on it.

ps. I just noticed you are in Rockingham by your plate. There's going to be a get together in Mooresville after the Power Tour (June 16). It's looking like there's going to be quite a few trucks showing up. You should try to make it out.