Alright, this one's gonna be a trip. lets start with how i got here i guess so as some of you may remember, i have a 47 ford pickup with a FE in it and it was on stock suspension, I still have that truck and after years of me not knowing what the hell I'm actually doing.. I still don't know what the hell i'm doing. somewhere in this time frame i decided the best way to make my truck work and look the way i want it too its gonna be linked in the rear and ifs in the front, the problem is i want the truck lower to the ground... i just don't know how low. I'd also like to be able to spec decent tires for it, but it seems like every stock size tire for it is a All Terrain, I'd like to get some decent summer tires for it since I'm never gonna drive it in the snow seasons or offroad. seems like if i wanna get "stock size" (my truck has 30" tall tires rear and 27" fronts, guessing that's factory, but it also does have 16s rear and 15s front) for that I'm going to have to go to a 17" wheel from what I see and i'm not about to turn this thing into a donk, I think big wheels look dumb on trucks this old, so i thought about going to a smaller size tires, that'd allow me to get the truck lower and get more tire options. I've mainly been looking at reference pictures and other peoples cars, mainly 40-41 ford cars and trucks since they're a fair bit more popular than the jailbar is. So I guess the TL;DR is what are you guys with early and mid 40s fords running for drop wheels and tire specs, I really got myself in too deep but that's how I learn so no biggie for me. thanks as always
Post a few pictures of the truck, so we can see what you're working on. Most guys building a hot rod truck will go for 25-26" tall tires up front, and 27-30 in back. But it also depends on the style of truck...if it will get wider radials, or more tall/skinny bias plys. The wheel choice has a lot to do with it, as well as the desired overall look of the truck. Maybe you could post a few pics of trucks that you're trying to make yours look like, and we could suggest what wheel/tire sizes they probably have?
I meant to post reference pics my bad, here's some i had a feeling most people were going to smaller size tires, i just wasn't sure.
The first two might be 6 or 7" wide front wheels with 205 to 235 60 series 15" tires, and 7 or 8" rims with 235-275 60 tires back. The yellow truck has some modern rubber band tires and huge wheels, which are off topic as far as I can tell, even though they're trying to look traditional. They aren't. The primer truck I would guess you would get that look with 6.00-15 front and maybe 8.55-15 rear bias tires. Not sure on the last one, hard to tell since it's a side shot, can't see the width or profile of the tires easily.
A simple drop axle and spring work is all that’s needed X2 on a 195/205 75 front and 225/235 75 rear. You can also get those in a 70 series if ya want a tad less height
Squirrel is right on the money with 25-26" inch tall front rubber and 27-30" inch tall rear You can split the difference and go 25 1/2 front and 28-29" rear. Just remember the aspect ratio plays a part in the equation too- For example a big fat 60 series hanging out the back doesn't always look right with a tall 75 series on the front.
I'd set it on three (or four) floor jacks and take the wheels off the truck . Then raise and lower the jacks until you think you have it sitting the height and angle you want. Then measure the axle centerlines from the ground. Put the wheels back in the wheel wells to help get a more complete look and then stand back fifty feet and look at it. Take a few pictures so you can look at it again later. Now measure the centerline of the wheels from the ground. If you are happy with the tire size you have, fine. If unhappy, try to get some that are the right size to sit in place. Anyway, once you have the correct tire size and know how far the centers are from ground level.....you should be able to calculate how much you need to change the axle centerlines to get what you want. I would place the jacks under the axles so the weight of the vehicle is resting on the axles just as it will be when the vehicle is done.
I think i have a few more pics of that truck i just have to dig really deep for them. 25" tall tire in the front and 27s rear is I think what i'm leaning towards now. also i must be too used to looking at Nissans on 19s or Volvos on wheels you can actually buy tires for, i wouldn't consider the tires on that yellow f1 low pros lol. I was going to go drop axle originally but my trucks had some previous work, and to correct all the issues with the drop axle realistically isn't going to be cheaper than putting ifs under it. Ifs solves a lot of the clearance issues I'm having with putting the engine in the chassis as low as I'd like. if it were an older truck or car and i wasn't going to be running it full bodied I'd probably be keeping it on an axle, but you're really not going to see the front suspension on it unless you crawl under the truck so functionality> looks in this case. I fully agree, and I really don't want half the tire covered by the fender in the front, i think that looks cool on coupes but I'm not sure how well that's really gonna work with scrub radius unless you set the wheel and tire way deep into the fender and that's something I'm not looking to do. also more sidewall on the front vs the rear would look really odd. that's basically what I've done except with jackstands instead of floor jacks, idiot me didn't do the smart thing and measure everything before I took it all out though so i've been going off centerline of the wheels mocked under the truck i don't have a bed for the truck at the current moment but that's not a huge deal to me, the front is more of my concern.. rear should be more adjustable without screwing up angles since its live axle and doesn't have to steer.
The only issue I have with the green truck is the front wheel offset. The deep dish on the front is not very attractive to me. I was setting up my 49gmc with a M2 front suspension. The stock offset wheel I want to run on the front was in too far. The M2 manufacturer expects folks to run wide wheels in the front. I started making a wider x member for theM2 but have decided to drop the stock axle. Make sure the front you want to use has a track width that lets you get the look with the wheel you want.
Chris built this truck so a conversation with him could probably answer your questions concerning how it sits and the tire size. HRP
A bit (alright... a lot) newer than your truck, but the tire sizes are close to what you're looking for. This is a 205/75-15 (27") on 15x6 front, and 235/75-15 (29") on 15x8 rear. You could drop some more on the front with a 205/70 or 195/75. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
for sure, track width is super important to me, I'm not a super huge fan of deep dish wheels either I'd ideally like to increase track an inch or two over stock. I knew I got that one off of here, I just didn't want to dig up a thread that was last posted on 2 years ago. that's a really nice stance on that truck, I figured downsizing the tires would probably be the answer, I just wasn't sure how small i could go before they start looking goofy under the truck. I'm really not looking to get the truck basically laying frame since I intend on driving the truck as much as I possibly can, and doing some semi performance driving with it at that, i just think they look silly at stock height. I thought someone posted about possibly frame swapping it, but I don't see that post anymore. I'll still answer why I'm not going that route though, there's a few reasons, for me. 1.) the cab of these trucks are fairly narrow, I think they'll just fit on a ford ranger frame but i'm not sure how much hacking to the body that'll require 2.) kinda stemming off of one, the few frames it does fit on aren't really gonna give me the benefits i'm looking for in that i want a frame that can handle a decent amount of power since I am cramming a big block in it, and a major reason I want ifs and a linked rear is for adjustablity aka coilovers. I'd still be building custom suspension components and boxing a frame, just to have a frame I've put the same amount of effort into except i still now need to do more work to it because the body i have isn't even designed for it. 3.) I'm an idiot and like doing things the hard way. thanks again guys!
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