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Well I've had it with my back fenders eating my cooper cobras sidewall when loaded.
truck has DJM dream beams and DJM axle flip with a c-notch. 15x8 superior turbines with 3-3/4" of backspacing were right up against the rear fender lips with 255/70-15s.
4.5 backspacing on an 8" wide wheel is where you want to be on these trucks (lowered 2wd that is.) 17x8 American racing torque thrust originals are what was always going to finish bruce. Coupled with some all season TOYOS in 255/60-17 all the way around I will also now be able to rotate tires.
now just like the cragar SS, the center hub on the TTO are 3.2". Disc brake dentside front hubs are 3.41. I saw where another guy chucked them up in a brake lathe and got creative. Not having access to a brake lathe and having packed wheel bearings 10,000 miles ago I got creative with a carbide burr on my die grinder.
I removed the brakes, held the die grinder like so and used my gloves hand for a brake against the hub. Kept checking with a micrometer as I went until it was around 3.2.
in case anyone was wondering this is about how much metal has to be removed.
The 255s rub the rh radius arm at full lock. I also added some 1/4" wheel spacers up front to help. I threw the old turbines on the wife's '70 to see how they'd look. Better than the 90s ford Alcoas I think
I also wanted to get the front up a bit higher as the 215/70-15s up front gave it quite a rake. The front fender openings on these trucks are bigger than the rear which makes for a deceiving tire to fender gap. Bruce appears to sit a tad ***-down now with the same size tires all around but measuring body lines shows the rear is 1/2" higher.
Love the Torque Thrust wheels! That was my first choice, but found a low dollar solution,,,Ill eventually get the Torque Thrusts, but need to wear out the Goodyear's on the 17x8 Lightning Wheels!
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Looks pretty dang good. I'm still considering using my 17x9's with 255/60's like that, but we'll see.
Have you ever measured the distance from your wheels to the outer lip of your fenders like I have? You said your passenger side wheel hits the RA at lock. My driver side rubs the RA at lock and that was part of how I found out my passenger side wheels stick out more than the driver side. My Bronco is the same way, rubs only the driver side RA a smidge, but to a much lesser extent than my F-100. I don't know if it's part of the design or just poor build quality of the era as I keep hearing.
nice lightning wheels! Former GEN1 owner here and had a set of lightning wheels for Bruce way back when. If photobucket hadn't screwed me you'd be able to see pics in my old build thread
Looks pretty dang good. I'm still considering using my 17x9's with 255/60's like that, but we'll see.
Have you ever measured the distance from your wheels to the outer lip of your fenders like I have? You said your passenger side wheel hits the RA at lock. My driver side rubs the RA at lock and that was part of how I found out my passenger side wheels stick out more than the driver side. My Bronco is the same way, rubs only the driver side RA a smidge, but to a much lesser extent than my F-100. I don't know if it's part of the design or just poor build quality of the era as I keep hearing.
I did not. I did a bunch of measuring on the back when I had rubbing issues with the old combo. I did figure out my axle and bed are centered on the frame within 1/8"
1/8 certainly isn't bad. Would you consider taking a pic request? I'm curious to see how the 255/60's look down the length of the truck, so a pic from front or rear just looking down the body line.
Those look awesome! I'd probably still go ahead and pick up the rear of the truck an inch or two - but I'm a sucker for that rake... I also really love the big-and-little look.
I will keep my stock ride height and the rake, but I am committed to my four same-sized, <one-year-old, Goodyear Wranglers as well. I do however have a set of factory slots to replace my dingy old steelies - I just need to loo$en up and bite the bullet, and pay to have them mounted and balanced...
Was a bit disheartening to see "made in china" cast into the back of the wheels. I guess at $139 a piece it should be expected but it's a sad day when American Racing wheels are made in china
sadly the wheels were the last thing needed to really be finished. Going on Ebay soon as I have a shop and house to build and need to make room for other projects
I also really love the big-and-little look.
