Progress on my Chassis

[Bluegrass Trifive]

I'm pretty sure I'm the champion of the slow builders! Yesterday after 3 years I moved my chassis from the frame jig to jack stands. I installed the rear wheels so I can clearly understand the available space for and then fabricate the sway bar links. After that I need to finish weld some items that are just spotted on and dress up some other areas. Then it'll be time to start on the body. During the 3 years I've also built the engine and trans and freshened the Dana 44. I'm looking forward to doing some body work so it'll start to look like a car.

[Custer55]

Looking good. How wide are those rear wheels?
Brian

[Bluegrass Trifive]

They are 18" x 12"

[NickP]

How wide from wheel out to out?

[Bluegrass Trifive]

68 inches.

[NickP]

68 inches.

The normal inside width of inside of quarter to quarter is 70". Casing width of selected tires?

[Bluegrass Trifive]

Most likely about 13" inches. My original quarters were about 71" or slightly bigger. I played around with C-Nuts wheel calculator and it was showing 71" as normal width as well. I'd be interested to know what folks have seen on other 57s.

[Custer55]

I just measured my 55 and the rear was closer to 72" from inside lip to inside lip. I think I may have flattened them out at some point to gain clearance though. The narrowest point on mine was at the studs for the quarter moldings. (71 1/2" at that point) I trimmed the ends a bit to gain some clearance.
Brian

[Bluegrass Trifive]

I just measured my 55 and the rear was closer to 72" from inside lip to inside lip. I think I may have flattened them out at some point to gain clearance though. The narrowest point on mine was at the studs for the quarter moldings. (71 1/2" at that point) I trimmed the ends a bit to gain some clearance.
Brian Thank you for the information.

[Rick_L]

My 55 is 72" also.

[Bluegrass Trifive]

My 55 is 72" also.
Thanks for the info. I think I'll be fine at ride height. My worry is the swing of the IRS when it's jacked up or at extreme travel. Finally the wheels are 6.5 inch back spaced and I can have them adjusted for more if I need to. Of course I don't really want to do that!

[NickP]

How tall is your tire? I just checked my notes from my last 55 (sold) and it was 71.75" which is close to your dimension. My concern is more from a compression stroke of the suspension rather than a rebound due the slight curvature from the wheel opening upward. As a note, the 57 in the shop now is 71.75 at the lip. I suspect this variation is caused from repeated rear tire removal or someone wanting to gain clearance. As long as you're good with it.

[Bluegrass Trifive]

How tall is your tire? I just checked my notes from my last 55 (sold) and it was 71.75" which is close to your dimension. My concern is more from a compression stroke of the suspension rather than a rebound due the slight curvature from the wheel opening upward. As a note, the 57 in the shop now is 71.75 at the lip. I suspect this variation is caused from repeated rear tire removal or someone wanting to gain clearance. As long as you're good with it. About 28" tall. In your experience how much is enough? I was looking for 1" minimum and thinking I'd wind up with about 1.375. I'll be hanging the inner and outer quarters on it pretty soon so I'll have a better understanding of where I am. Thank you for giving me feedback I really appreciate it.

[NickP]

I assume your body is either on a cradle or some other means of storage. If your Quarters are (old) still on the car, often times, I used to make a wood buck (b4 AutoCAD) of the two rear tires (to full scale), have the body placed at ride height/attitude as planned, place the two bucks under the car with the outside of the bucks at the designed width and review for issues at static height. Any vehicle with a solid rear axle system when suspension is compressed reacts in an arc up and in when one side is compressed. A swing axle (VW) much the same but a true IRS such as yours rotates fore and aft following the dog bones and a slight side to side arch or inward movement. I'm not trying to be critical or scare you away just making certain all things are being considered. I no longer have any C4 suspensions to experiment with but if you have the ability to remove the spring and move your suspension up and down and take measurements, that will ease any discomfort you may have.

[chevynut]

My 56 is 71 11/16" inside width with the new quarters. I think 1/2" to 3/4" clearance outside is plenty. Did you narrow the rearend?

[Bluegrass Trifive]

My 56 is 71 11/16" inside width with the new quarters. I think 1/2" to 3/4" clearance outside is plenty. Did you narrow the rearend? Yes it's narrowed, it's right at 55" hub to hub level at ride height. It is lowered considerably, it's at about 5" frame to ground at the rear of the frame right before it goes up for the rear axle.

[Bluegrass Trifive]

I assume your body is either on a cradle or some other means of storage. If your Quarters are (old) still on the car, often times, I used to make a wood buck (b4 AutoCAD) of the two rear tires (to full scale), have the body placed at ride height/attitude as planned, place the two bucks under the car with the outside of the bucks at the designed width and review for issues at static height. Any vehicle with a solid rear axle system when suspension is compressed reacts in an arc up and in when one side is compressed. A swing axle (VW) much the same but a true IRS such as yours rotates fore and aft following the dog bones and a slight side to side arch or inward movement. I'm not trying to be critical or scare you away just making certain all things are being considered. I no longer have any C4 suspensions to experiment with but if you have the ability to remove the spring and move your suspension up and down and take measurements, that will ease any discomfort you may have.I didn't take it at all as being critical and I really appreciate your suggestions. I'm not getting scared only concerned! I did a little of the wood wheel mock up to set up my jig but unfortunately the body was very rusty in the rear mounts so it didn't sit anywhere near correctly enough to get good measurements for wheel clearance. I'm going to basically build a new body from pieces except for the dash and "A" pillars. That's going to be another adventure in itself! I'm sure I'll be looking for more advise from you guys! Thanks again.