front/rear axle difference

[lithia2325]

I have an s 10 rear axle and I got ahold of a 64 I beam that is
seven inches longer than rear.. What is the pitfall for using a
wider axle on the front..

This is on a T bucket frame..
Jim

 

[Torchie]

Not to sound flip but to me the biggest drawback would be the looks.
Can't speak to the enginering aspect of it all but the old Morgan 3 wheelers had a much narrower(Single wheel) rear than the front.
I appreciate using what you have but you may want to look for a narrower front axle.
Model A's are fairly plentiful and usually priced reasonably.
Torchie.
p.s. i have seen solid front axles narrowed as well.

 

[Snake Farm]

Don't know what kind of T-Bucket style you're going after but if it's the big-n-little tire look maybe you could make it up with wide wheels and tires in the back. A set of wide wheels with a big offset could make up the difference.

 

[lithia2325]

front and rear axle issue

It is a 1923 style T bucket building on a frame from ezbucket..

Two good replies, I was mostly worried about the tracking seeing
as how the front wheels would not align with the back ones..
I am far from an expert on that issue..

I have seen some info on slicing seven inches out of the front axle
and looked pretty good once it was ground down, just looks difficult
keeping the kingpins in alignment..

Thanks very much for the replies..

 

[Yankee Transplant]

Im with you snake , just put some offset or 50s on the back and your ready to go

 

[Flipper_1938]

On most new cars, the front is wider than the rear...just not that much.

 

[lithia2325]

So far I am leaning towards adding the spacers to the rear,
beats having a weld I think..

Seeing as how I will have to add ford to chevy wheel adapter
up front it will be a little more thicker in the rear spacing,
wanted to be able to road drive the t bucket so not overly
interested in putting Big tires on rear..

 

[jamesgs4]

I have a 40 ford front axle, xmember, and spring. cant sell it on craigslist around here so its free if you want it. I am in Denver.

 

[lithia2325]

That is so great of you, unfortunately I am in the Atlanta area.

Thank you so much..

 

[willyD]

If you don't have wheels yet, do what Snake said and get a set with a very low back spacing (negative offset I believe) for the rear. That pushes the wheel out and is better than using spacers since you don't have the extra set of lugs to deal with or a spacer to crack. I have 1 inch backspacing wheels on my Willys because I used a toyota frame/running gear which is about 6 inches narrower than the Willys. The wheel are very deep concave and look pretty cool for steelies I think.

 

[lithia2325]

front/back axle difference

Thanks for all the very good comments, think I will use what
I got and ensure the rear wheels will offset the look...

 

[Bamamav]

Try it, if it doesn't look right you can always change the front axle.

 

[Willowbilly3]

No handing issues, mostly looks. I narrowed my econoline axle about 2 1/2 inches. It wasn't that hard.