Wheel track width, i.e front to back diiferent. why?

[71f100]

Can anyone provide some light here, I have a very noticeable difference in the wheel track between the front and rear of my truck. Like a couple of inches either side! Is this an F350 chassis or something (to accomodate dualies)? I have measured the width between chassis rails and compared with my brothers truck (1974), and my chassis is the same at the front, but nearly four inches thinner at the back. It has 5 stud wheels, not 8 as I would have expected for F350 etc. Any clues anyone? or is this normal and I am worried about nothing! I reckon it really affects the cornering/handling of it.

Damian

[DuckRyder]

Welcome:

Yes they are all like that. I don't know why.

Look at it this way, with the right wheels you can fit larger tires....

[68F250]

Welcome Damian!

Yes, the rear track on our year trucks is narrower than the front by a few inches for all the models both the 5 and 8 luggers, in fact the 9 inch rear is the narrowest of them all. In '73 they widened it as you've noticed, nothing to worry about. I can't remember why it is but like Robert said, it's just right for fitting larger wheels and tires! I've got 33x12.50Rx16.5's on offset rims on the rear of mine which fit perfectly and now the rear track is a little wider than the front. The truck seems to track a lot better down the highway like this.

Barry

[Rockcrusher]

Usually, the front track is wider so the wheels will turn sharper which makes far a much tighter turning radius.

As an example, '71 and earlier Jeeps with a Dana 27 axle had a 51" track, front & rear" and it takes a football field to turn them. In '72, AMC went to a 53" Dana 30 axle and the turning radius tightened up considerably. I know this 'cause I got a '68 Jeepster that won't make as tight a turn as my '69 F-100 4X4.

[71f100]

Well that clears that up!, Thanks heaps for the info guys, much appreciated.

Merry Christmas

71f100

[willowbilly3]

You have an F-350 with 5 lug wheels? Well someone has taken some liberty mixing parts on your truck. An F-350 would have 8 lug wheels. It probably had the cab switched out somewhere along the line.

[Rockcrusher]

You have an F-350 with 5 lug wheels? Well someone has taken some liberty mixing parts on your truck. An F-350 would have 8 lug wheels. It probably had the cab switched out somewhere along the line.

Unless it has Budd wheels.

[willowbilly3]

They all have Budd type wheels. 1966 and earlier had a big 6 lug pattern. No F-350 ever had a 5 lug wheel that I am aware of.

[bumpside-smitty]

I was told that the track width was different front to rear on the 4wd so that when traveling in deep snow each tire makes its own clean path I dont know if it is really true but it does make some sense.

Smitty

[Faithful Old Road Dog]

I would actually like my tires to follow in the same track in snow. Why plow with an extra two tires? They're close enough in my Ford anyways.

[willowbilly3]

I was told that the track width was different front to rear on the 4wd so that when traveling in deep snow each tire makes its own clean path I dont know if it is really true but it does make some sense.

Smitty

The 1/2 ton 4x4 Chevys used to be a lot wider in front and they claimed it was so the back tires could get some "fresh" bite. I don't buy it, I too want my front and rear to track together. I think they just screwed up.

[Rockcrusher]

With most conventional cars and trucks, about the only time the rear tires track the front is when the vehicle is traveling in a straight line. As soon as the vehicle starts to turn the rear wheel track begins to diverge towards the inside of the turn. Also, when turning, the inside wheel will have a sharper angle than the outside wheel. This is called Ackerman steering.