I had asked this once before...turned into a debate, rather than a answer!! Can a HP 44 be a little narrower by running Chevy outers?

No comment?? Has someone compared the two? If I can get rid of the huge Ford twin piston brakes and go a little narrower, I'm willing to swap...what's the scoop?:rolleyes:

The wheel mounting area is gonna be almost the exact same place wether it is GM or Ford brakes.

Now if you are talking about fitting different backspacing wheels then yes GM brakes will let you clear MUCH more backspacing.

Please clarify!

I thought that the spindle and outer axle lenghts vary....to allow for a difference in the wheel mount backspace of the hubs....??

Dunno if this will help, but maybe someone has the Ford stuff to compare with.

This is cheby 8 lug (disc). ~ 3 3/4 from the mounting surface of the spindle to the back of the wheel mounting flange. Plus ~ 5/8 for the flange which puts us at

4 3/8" Outer face of knuckle to wheel mounting surface.

http://home.earthlink.net/~mattsara/bb/8lugwms.jpg

afaIk the ford's have the smaller distance spindle to wms. you could go scout II 44 stuff to lose a couple inches but it's :rainbow:

Aggro is correct. I have both in the yard and the chevy stuff is wider. The ford stuff is narrower, but the chevy stuff can be easier to run with the smaller brakes and a different offset wheel.

Just for future reference, can some one measure the ford stuff the same as the cheby stuff above? Picture would be great.

That pic above ...looks like the J20 frt. 44 I have in the barn...external hub. The Ford frt. I have is an 8 lug internal RC 44 with the big brakes. I'm using Scout inners and wanted to be about 1 inch narrower. Thought that in the past I'd read that the Chevy stuff was not only a small brake, but narrower. I'll measure my Ford stuff and the J20 which uses Chevy brakes and post them.:smokin:

I just put a spindle into the Ford hub/rotor and from face of spindle...where it bolts to knuckle to wms is 3.75". The J20 44 is assembled, so it was harder to get an accurate measurement....but it looked like 4" or maybe 4.125". I guess to answer my own question the Ford outers are the narrow ones.:beer:

FYI, the spindle on the left is the cheby 8 lug disc above, and on the right is Ford EB drum 5 on 5 1/2.

Accounting for the missing drum, the cheby 8 lug is amost exactly 1" wider. Maybe 1 1/8th if you were picky.

http://home.earthlink.net/~mattsara/bb/5lug-8lug.jpg