Thanks Topper & Tip,
I'm just trying to soak in all the different ideas & approaches to this tire/wheel dilemma. This one is frustrating as all I need is just an inch or two & the front tires will sit inside the fenders & all will be good with the world... Tough to spend $800 just to get an inch or two.... Grrrrr. There is also the "makes you feel stupid" aspect as you think through how you got here.

My current front tires are 255-45-18's - according to those neat little calculators above that's a 27 inch diameter with a 10 inch width - not happening. The 215-45-18's suggested by Dmack above would give me 25.6 inch diameter at 8.5 in. width but a very firm ride. Hmmmm...

I think the 8.5 inch width is what I really need - a skinnier tire/wheel to pull the tires inside the fenders.

Ben in Austin

 

Ben,

Just keep in mind that if you keep the current rims, if you reduce the tread width by 1.5", it will pull it 3/4" in on both the inside and outside of the rim.

I really don't think you would feel much difference going from a 45 to 40 series tire. Stiff is stiff (pardon the insinuation).

Good luck with the project. You are really close (much closer than me).

Dave

 

Tip49, I also have MII front and an explorer rear. I ended up putting 1.5" spacers on the back to make it wide enough and my front is coil overs so that I can adjust it. When I first got the tires on the front bumper was 7" off the ground. I adjusted the coil overs up about two thirds and I am now 11" off the ground with the motor and radiator and inner fenders all in. After it is all back together I may adjust them even higher. I don't like it that low either.

 

Tell me about it, I hate it when I do something so dumb. Some really nice MT wheels and tires that I ended up giving away to a friend. He is going to use them on his 67 Shelby 350 Mustang that he has had since high school. At least they are going to a good project. My final version of tires and wheels should be fine, except I will have to have a spare that will fit the front and it will be way too small for the back. I won't be able to keep it on the back for very long. I went through hell for a few weeks while I tried to figure out what to do after I put my front fenders on and the tires hit just letting the jack down. Discount kept asking me for the year and model of my truck. "yeah, its a mustang II aftermarket front end and an 2000 explorer rear end on a 1952 Ford F1". Then they wanted me to drive it up there. "sure thing, as soon as I get tires an wheels on it". That shut them up, but also stymied them completely. I finally got them to mount some tires on my new rims and I took them home, the fronts were still too big. I took them back and by that time they really wanted to help (and get rid of me) so at no charge they took two off and gave me the money back then sold me two smaller ones. They worked to both of ours great relief. It set me back quite a bit because I ended up spending an extra 1000 dollars by the time it was all said and done. Then work got hectic and I haven't worked on it since. I did trade some work for a newly rebuilt trans with heavy duty planetary gears and servo and managed to pay to have my motor rebuilt with all new parts. It has all been sitting ready to go back together for two months now. Ouch!

 

Ben,

One other thought to get it aligned. Not sure what bolt pattern you are running (explorer?), but if you have a friend/co-worker with a vehicle with the right bolt pattern with a regular size tire, you could talk nicely to them and swap front tires/rims long enough to get it to an alignment shop and have it aligned.

I would think it would work as caster and camber are measured in degrees, so height/width of the tire should have no effect on their settings and readings. I believe toe in is in inches, but only the overall tire diameter would make a difference, but I would think would be negligible and at least let them get you very close.

Dave

 

I don't know anything about the mustang II ifs, but I seem to remember a thread here.
Other guys here hopefully can answer this. I thought you can buy shorter or longer control arms? If you could buy shorter ones, that would suck the tire/wheels in the fender. I don't know if that is cost effective or not.

 

Howdy Ben!

In doing a Google Image search scheming for Frank (isn't that how everyone spends a Friday night?) I came across yours (beautiful, btw).

Do you have a straight - side shot? And what size rims and tires did you end up with? I'm trying to plan mine out, even though I'm a ways out.

Thanks!

 

Hey Christiansen,
Here is a side shot. Let me look at my notes & I'll post the tire/wheel info.
tomorrow. Our suspension may not be the same as your's - we've got a Mustang II up front & an Explorer 8.8 in the back.


Ben in Austin
1950 F1


(I've got more pics on an external harddrive but it's been acting up lately ... a weekend project to sort it out). I'm sorry this pic is sideways - another mystery to sort out).

 

I don't like to be the pessimist but it looks to me as the offset on your front rims is too much you will gain a little on tire size but the rims are simply out too far . Are the fronts and backs the same ? You mentioned 2" spacers on the rear I've never heard of that big , and you have none in the front correct ? On the good side your splayed out look is camber adjustment and when you can get it aligned they should be able to sort that out

 

Hey Ebear,
Nothing is ever perfect on these old trucks has been my experience.
We've got 20K miles on it...not bad for an old truck. We do have spacers on the back - that kind of comes with using the slightly narrow Explorer 8.8 in axle - you get good gears, disc brakes, posi., lower stance, etc. & you have to use some spacers to get the tires set up in the wheel well better. (I can't remember 1.5 - 2.0in. spacers).


The front wheels are little large for the truck & we had some rubbing so we had to go with really low profile tires. My 24 year old son likes that hotrod look - me not so much.


I don't really like the front end set up too much either... something not quite right. Hard to align, small profile tires, etc. When Zack moves on from college I'll sneak in there & get smaller diameter wheels & higher profile tires. I really don't want to tear out the Mustang II front end
so we live with a few nagging issues - this suspension wasn't made in a factory but it works for us.


Ben in Austin
1950 F1