so my dana 44 is 61 1/4 drum face to drumface . my current wheels are 15 x 6 oe fords with 3inches of backspacing and zero offset , and 235 75 15's with 9.3 or so of tire cross section width . the diff i plan on using maybe depending on your thoughts on my brain fart : is an 8.8 of 62 inches width from an 88 vic . were talking 3/8ths of an inch per side longer . i got 1 inch clearance between the bed wall and the fender lip on both sides of the tire . physically it will fit within the confines but leave perilously little room for error since it is gonna be dropped 3 1/2 inches . my solution : i have 5 oe ford mid 50's passenger car rims { and the same for oe 15 inch truck rims for it } with a size of 15 x 5 , 3 inches of backspace and a positive offset . i plan on running tires that will have a cross section of only 8-8.2 inches of width to fit the 5 inch rims and a height of 27 inches or less . and bye the way the oe truck or passenger rims were slated for use either way ............ but i'm thinking that this will give me some extra breathing room towards the lip what 1/2 inch to an inch maybe ??? so am i crazy or any other suggestions ???? i got rid of the 9 inch i had and the dana 44 in it is in the same boat as too why the 9 went away . heavily worn out and needing mucho repair ......... lost yet fella's ??????????? LOL !!!!!!!!!!!! or as usual am i just freakin' overthinking everything ..............

 

Just so you know, 50's car and truck rims are different bolt patterns. If you're going to use an 8.8 Crown Vic rear, I'd say you've limited your wheel options to the car ones. And it sounds like it'll all fit fine. So imho, you're "freakin' overthinking everything" LOL

 

thanks , and yep i know there different patterns ! just wanted to make sure what i was thinking wasn't " flawed " in some way i didn't foresee before i started putting it all together .

 

So you will have 3/8" more clearance on the bed side of the wheel and 5/8 inch more clearance between wheel and fender and you'll gain an additional 1/2" of clearance each side going with tires that are 1 inch narrower. Basically you'll be able to throw your cat thru that gap.

 

don't like cat's so it'll be me runnin' 'em over to see if they fit through the gap .................................