Van Gui1d3r #838
Free Thinker
It's not mine; feel free to use it as you wish though.
The F450/F550 chassis cab trucks are the same thing. Narrow rear. It's an industry standard, as well as having the parallel straight, flat frame rails typically 34" wide etc. so that aftermarket body makers don't have to make special bodies for GM, Ford, Dodge.
I haven't paid a lot of attention to Fords as I don't care for them but I think the F450 pickup uses a lighter rear axle than the F450 chassis cab. I dunno.
I'd say if you weren't gonna load the thing super heavy you could have someone machine you up some nice bolt-on spacers. I'm not the kind of guy to worry about spacers (remember your front hubs have some attached from the factory) if they're made well and torqued properly, but 3"~4" spacers on each side would have me worried about stressing the axle bearings if I was planning on using the truck to its capacity.
On the spacer subject though if you intend on running anything fatter than the stock 225/70/19.5 tire, say for example 245/70/19.5 is a nice upgrade - those are actually #1 slightly too fat for the HD's 6" wide wheels, though they're "OK" on them - #2 if you load the truck down the duals may rub sidewalls on each other and that's not a good thing. Spacer in between the wheels would be smart but then you have to start worrying about stud length plus the flange on the hub as these are hub-piloted wheels.
Richard
realistically, to do what i'd like, i'd be in for a custom rear end and axles to do this... which could get upwards of the cost of an engine or trans.... damn... I won't be sending my boy to Harvard it looks like...
