Technical Rear Housing Width 9" Ford

I have a 1941 Ford pickup, and I made a small mistake in getting rid of the original rear assembly before I measured the housing width. I'm going to put in a 9" Ford rear. Does anyone know what the correct housing width should be?

 

The stock 1940 and 41 Ford car width is 59 1/2 inches from WMS to WMS.
WMS is Wheel Mounting Surface: Measured from where the wheel bolts onto brake drum.
I am very sure 1941 pick up is the same as the car.
Here's more confirmation.
http://www.hotrodworks.com/technical-information/rear-axle-measurements/

 

depends on what rear wheels/tires you want to use

 

something between 58 and 60s inches will work real well on the '40. Ford car though '59 is going to be in the '58" range, you may have to message the flange a little bit to get a 9" chuck in it.

Let me look there is a site that lists stock widths for the 9".

I doubt that this lists everything but it will get you started:

http://www.carnut.com/specs/rear.html

Here is some more:

http://www.mustangsandmore.com/ubb/FordRearDimensions.html

 

I use the 57 1/4" 57-59 Ford wagon rear ends in my 40's. You can run a 7"or 8" wheel with a 235 tire and have plenty of room. Most aftermarket rear ends are 56 -57" wide. I believe TCI uses 56" for every model.

 

Set your wheels and tires where you want them to be, and then measure between the wheel centers.

If you are going for exact stock width, would need, as has been mentioned, on or about 59-1/2".

Now, mind you, that is NOT the housing width. Housing width would be that WMS-to-WMS measurement, less the brake offset, times two (two brakes), plus the thickness of the drum/rotor hat.

If you are planning on running early wire wheels, you will need the spacer/support/adapter that supports them (features built into stock drums), so you will need to take into account the width of that, as well.

 

If you cannot find one of those, one that nearly exactly matches that criteria, and still has the stock 5-on-5-1/2" bolt pattern is the 1966-1977 Ford Bronco, and that one is 58" WMS-to-WMS.

 

When I was building Fat Fendered customer chassis I used a 58 inch wheel surface to wheel surface 9 inch rear combined with CE rear parallel springs and anti roll bar. Worked well with 8 inch wheel.

 

I use a disk brake 9" out of a 78 Lincoln Versailles in my 41 Ford pickup.
Perfect fit with a chassis eng leaf spring kit.


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That one is 58-1/2", WMS-to-WMS, for the record.

 

I see this quite often as in photos Pewsplace posted and just have to ask a question. I know the Chassis Engineering rear spring kit comes with instructions. They make no common sense to me. Why do you spend the kind of $$$ it takes for custom application just to have a chassis sit like a 4X4 and then add 3 " to 4" lowering blocks to get the custom Kit to let your Custom chassis sit like a Hot Rod? Just seems to me if it's a custom Kit for a custom once installed it should sit like a custom should without the Blocks.
The Wizzard

 

I'm using 15x5 wheels with a 3" offset, 165R15 wide white tires. I wanted a stock look. I'm buying a new housing from John's Industries.

 

in the rear??????????????

 

I think 5.50-16 was stock.

 

Save yourself some money and find a 8 inch from a Ford Granada and go. 8 inch is plenty strong and the 58 inch flange to flange fits fine.

 

I used Bronco in my 32 , uncut 8 inch shell 255 / 70 tire under the fender . Bronco in very near 57-59 car housing . Explorer works and you can get rear disc easy if you want that

 

What rear suspension are you planning? Keep in mind when you weld the spring perches or cross spring brackets to the housing it will distort the tubing and this could mess up your wheel bearings alignment with the chunk.

 

I know measuring bolt surface to bolt surface is best,
But I measure from the most inward section of one backing plate to the innermost section of the other backing plate... most 9" fords have about 3" between bolt surface and inner backing plate, each side...
As long as I know roughly what width rearend I need to replace, BP to BP, I can measure potential rearends when they are still in the car when I'm alone and I can measure the width regardless of the wheels, drums or even axles...

 

CE rear springs in my 40 with no blocks.

 

I used a Granada rearend , Chassis Eng. rear spring kit, 8 1/2 x 15 wheels, and 235/75 tires. Had to use 1/4" spacer because the tires would barley hit the bed. Also used a 1" lowering block to narrow the space between wheel opening and the top of the tire. The truck rode real well. Sold it in 2009.

 

I do have my wheels and tires, but I still don't understand how I can get an accurate measurement. I have an almost bare frame (front suspension, brakes are done). How can I accurately place the wheels and tires without fenders and bed to be sure I'm correct?

 

The reason we used station wagon assemblies was for larger bearings. Axle , pinion , carrier bearings had a B suffix in the part number (Ford part numbers). Also convertibles, retractables, rancheros, used the larger bearings.

 

I used an early ('66-77) Bronco rear. I also added 1/2" wheel spacers to bring the rear tires out a bit.


fronts: coker Silvertown 185-70-15
rear: coker silvertown 235-70-15
rims: WV 64's
front: 5"W x 3" BS
rear: 7"W x 4.25 BS

 

Since you don't have the box or rear fenders mounted, I can understand your dilemma. I just measured my '40, outside to outside of the sidewalls of the rear tires, it measures 69-1/2". If you measure the "front side" of your wheel and tire combo, (lay your yours down on the floor face down). Now measure from the floor up to the wheel mount surface, multiply times 2, and subtract that dimension from 70", will give you the total rear end width. This would make your sidewall to fender, similar to mine, you can adjust your dimension according to your liking. Mine has 235-75's on it. Good luck !

 

I'm coming up with over 60 doing it that way. Not sure why since yours looks good. I did measure the inside width of my rear fenders - about 13 inches. My tires are about 7 inches and I have a 3" offset. That would mean the WMS would have to be about 7" from the inside lip of my fender. So, the only problem now is I don't know how far the inside lip of my fender is from the outside edge of the frame rail. If I knew this I could calculate where the tire needs to be since I'd have the exact location of the fender. It looks like the suggestions of 58 1/2" to 59 1/2" would be very close.

 

SAC used to make the set up that was perfect without blocks. They moved the rear mount up to the center of the rear frame horn. I think they tell you that they build them for the masses and some folks don't like low.

 

Can someone tell me the distance from the outside of the frame rail to the inner lip of the fender at the bed side?

 

I pulled a wheel off mine, frame rail to inner fender lip is 13". The critical dimension is box side to inner fender lip, 11-7/8".

 

Hi,
I wanted to personally thank you for all the trouble that you've gone to to get me this information. Since I had my rear fenders, I had the dimension (I used 12", you were more precise with 11 7/8") that allowed me to get my tire in the middle of the fender. What I couldn't do was to get the fender location on the truck. Now that I have the 13" dimension I can calculate my WMS and/or my axle housing width.
Thanks again,
Chuck

 

Marty, You are what the HAMB is all about............Thanks for going the extra mile to help a pal out..............Don.