Wheel fitment 17x8

[521dude]

So, hello everyone. I have a Frankenstein of a truck. 71 521 but the front of the frame has been cut and a 78-79 620 frame with ball joints and discs has been grafted directly to the 521. So basically it's a 78 620 on the front half, 71 521 in the rear. I've got spindles and hubs from a 2wd 97 d21 and big two piston calipers off a path finder, so I'm going to need larger wheels. I'm concerned the d21 spindles will make fitment slightly different. I'm looking at wheels currently that are 17x8.5, with a +18 offset and 5.46 backspacing. Every website I've looked at says they will not fit 97 d21, 78 620, or 71 521. In my head though, I can't figure out why they wouldn't fit. When I bought the truck, it had 17x7.5 +30 or 31 Chevy wheels. They "fit" they just looked awful. Sorry for the noob question, I don't know much about wheels. I used the search function, but everyone either uses Titan/Xterra wheels or 15s that are a mile wide. I couldn't find anything about offset/fitment for 17x8.5 wheels and I stated my concerns about the new spindles. Thank you all for your time. Sorry I don't currently have any photos, I assure you, it's a turd.

[mainer311]

This is a great website that lets you plug in what you currently have vs. what you are looking at getting. The visualization graphic is a great tool for tire width as well. I believe the D21 hub mating flange does stick out a tad farther than the stock hub does. @mklotz70 would probably know.

 

Using the below calculator, and your two wheels, the 17x8.5's will stick out 24.7mm farther, so almost 1" wider, and you will have exactly the same clearance on the back side.

 

For shits I plugged in my wheels, which do poke a little bit (15x8, -19). My wheels actually stick out 30mm farther than the 17x8.5's, but I have more clearance on the inside.

 

With that said, I think you should be able to run them no problem in terms of fender clearance, as long as you don't run a huge tire. The only thing I would be concerned about in your case is the clearance between the caliper and the back face of the rim.

 

https://www.willtheyfit.com/

[521dude]

7 minutes ago, mainer311 said:

This is a great website that lets you plug in what you currently have vs. what you are looking at getting. The visualization graphic is a great tool for tire width as well. I believe the D21 hub mating flange does stick out a tad farther than the stock hub does. @mklotz70 would probably know.

 

Using the below calculator, and your two wheels, the 17x8.5's will stick out 24.7mm farther, so almost 1" wider, and you will have exactly the same clearance on the back side.

 

For shits I plugged in my wheels, which do poke a little bit (15x8, -19). My wheels actually stick out 30mm farther than the 17x8.5's, but I have more clearance on the inside.

 

With that said, I think you should be able to run them no problem in terms of fender clearance, as long as you don't run a huge tire. The only thing I would be concerned about in your case is the clearance between the caliper and the back face of the rim.

 

https://www.willtheyfit.com/

Thank you so much. That doesn't sound too bad. Those all sound like issues that could potentially be solved with a fender roller and some wheel spacers should I run into them, right?

[mainer311]

Yes to both, or you could also run a narrower tire. My tires are slightly stretched w/o looking dumb. I stuck with 205 tires, which are a little bit too narrow for a 8" rim, but since my offset is -19, they stick out a little bit too far anyway.

 

 

 

[521dude]

1 minute ago, mainer311 said:

Yes to both, or you could also run a narrower tire. My tires are slightly stretched w/o looking dumb. I stuck with 205 tires, which are a little bit too narrow for a 8" rim, but since my offset is -19, they stick out a little bit too far anyway.

 

 

 

That's a good looking set up. That doesn't stick out too far at all. I'd like to avoid stretching if I can. I was going to try to run a 235 45 17. I could run 225s and it wouldn't be too far off though. And there's a nice set of nittos for cheap right now in 225 45 17. Now I'm less hesitant to actually buy wheels though, so thank you for that. Worst case scenario, she needs small spacers and some fender love. Thank you for your quick replies. I appreciate that.

[mklotz70]

mainer311......Sorry...I don't actually know.....but I'm pretty sure the 620 ball joint track width was about 3" wider, mounting face to mounting face.   Trying to compare the HB hubs to the stock drums doesn't really get you anywhere.  If the spindles and hubs were '87 instead of '97, I'd have a hair more info, but according to Rockauto, the '97 calipers only match back to a '92 d21...which makes me think that the hubs/spindles/rotors are all possibly different too.  Everything I've worked with was prior to that..... '87ish.    The hubs for the 620 disc were the same thru the '87 d21, for the most part, but I don't know about he next gen.  I've spent the vast majority of my time dealing with what will fit behind the stock 14" rims.  The big brake setups I've done for the HB spindles involved toyota 5 lug hubs.  

[Greaser2]

I put 16x8-0offset. on my stock 70 521. Would not go positive, In fact I added spacers. -13 would have been better.   I recommend getting a test wheel at the size you want and test fit.  

Edited January 22, 2020 by Greaser2
Edit

[521dude]

1 hour ago, mklotz70 said:

mainer311......Sorry...I don't actually know.....but I'm pretty sure the 620 ball joint track width was about 3" wider, mounting face to mounting face.   Trying to compare the HB hubs to the stock drums doesn't really get you anywhere.  If the spindles and hubs were '87 instead of '97, I'd have a hair more info, but according to Rockauto, the '97 calipers only match back to a '92 d21...which makes me think that the hubs/spindles/rotors are all possibly different too.  Everything I've worked with was prior to that..... '87ish.    The hubs for the 620 disc were the same thru the '87 d21, for the most part, but I don't know about he next gen.  I've spent the vast majority of my time dealing with what will fit behind the stock 14" rims.  The big brake setups I've done for the HB spindles involved toyota 5 lug hubs.  

Ok, so here's what I've done so far. I pulled the whole knuckle from upper BJ to lower BJ on a 97 D21. I pulled the calipers off an old Pathfinder (not sure the year) but it was the big two piston calipers. With a small modification to the dust shield( I'm assuming this was the reason rock Auto said they weren't compatible), the caliper and mounting hardware bolted right up. I still have my 620 spindles on the truck. I haven't swapped the spindles over YET. But I have heard what you are saying about the ball joint track. I know the hubs should be able to be swapped between the two from what I've read which may give me an extra tad of clearance. Seems like I'm going to have be a pioneer and figure it out. Nobody really has the exact setup I'm doing from what I can tell. With an the info I pulled from another thread on ratsun however, all the hardware I got SHOULD bolt right up. Just getting wheels to fit around it may be an issue

[521dude]

15 minutes ago, Greaser2 said:

I put 16x8-0offset. on my stock 70 521. Would not go positive, In fact I added spacers. -13 would have been better.   I recommend getting a test wheel at the size you want and test fit.  

Yeah I agree, I should definitely test fit some wheels. The only thing that throws me off is when I purchased the truck, it had stock Chevy wheels that were 17x7.5 with really high positive offset. +30 or +31. And they cleared. They just looked like shit. So I sold em and slapped these 14s on. Well, now I'm starting to build the truck back up and I want larger shoes on it so now I'm stuck scratching my head a little. Thank you so much for responding.

[521dude]

I should also mention that at the junk yard I looked at 4 or 5 d21s and they all had the same exact spindle and hub assembly mounting spots. I read on another thread 85.6-97 d21 2wd spindles should fit. I'm 99% confident the spindles will go on the truck and the brakes definitely fit the spindles because I bolted 1 together to make sure before I bought it. Just eyeballing it, because my new spindles are at home and my pickup is at work, all the mounting locations look identical. @mklotz70

@mklotz70

[wayno]

Are the new spindles drop spindles?

[521dude]

No, these are the factory spindles on a d21 pulled from a pick n pull yard. @wayno

[Greaser2]

46 minutes ago, 521dude said:

Yeah I agree, I should definitely test fit some wheels. The only thing that throws me off is when I purchased the truck, it had stock Chevy wheels that were 17x7.5 with really high positive offset. +30 or +31. And they cleared. They just looked like shit. So I sold em and slapped these 14s on. Well, now I'm starting to build the truck back up and I want larger shoes on it so now I'm stuck scratching my head a little. Thank you so much for responding.

It is not easy.  But without a reference wheel to take measurements then ur guessing.  Plus u got the tire size to consider. I used www.willtheyfit.com to help with the tire size selection. In my case, stock, I had no spacer at one corner, 1/2 inch at another, and 1 inch at another so check all four. Factory, variation was all over.   Of course, ur not stock to start with. 

[521dude]

5 minutes ago, Greaser2 said:

It is not easy.  But without a reference wheel to take measurements then ur guessing.  Plus u got the tire size to consider. I used www.willtheyfit.com to help with the tire size selection. In my case, stock, I had no spacer at one corner, 1/2 inch at another, and 1 inch at another so check all four. Factory, variation was all over.   Of course, ur not stock to start with. 

Yeah, it's definitely going to take some serious digging I'm finding. Maybe I'll try to get another one if those Chevy wheels it came with from a yard somewhere and at least give myself a reference point. Seriously, thank you again.

[wayno]

I put 1990 Hardbody V6 dual piston brakes on my 521 that I had converted over to ball joints years before, I had 1979 Datsun 620 disc brakes, all I did was remove the 620 stuff and install the better V6 D21 brakes(everything between the ball joints), bleed the brakes, and I put my 14" 620 disc brake rims back on and I was good to go, I drove it this way for years without power brakes, I added a 1973/74 620 power brake booster(should have done that years/a decade ago), anyway the 1978/79 620 rims cleared the disc brakes fine, then one day I put a stock 521 rims on the front of my truck and they touched the calipers, so I pulled the rims off and looked at where they were hitting, there are these high spots inside the rims, so I hit all the high spots a couple times with a hammer and they don't touch/hit anymore.

There was one issue when I first put the D21 assemblies on my truck, one of the hubs needed a larger hole in the rim, so I ground the places down on the hub to get it back on the road and then found a 620 hub and then pulled that larger hub off, I put the rotor on the 620 hub and all was good.

 

I biggest reason I replied to this thread was because you mentioned wanting even better brakes, I now have 1986 Nissan 720 front brakes(single piston) on my work truck and they work fine for me also, I felt no difference between the two types of brakes, and I have hauled massive amounts of weight with my work truck, and again I use any stock rim I want because I use late 620/early 720 hubs and I have taken care of the high spots with a hammer which has never caused an issue.

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by wayno

[521dude]

7 minutes ago, wayno said:

I put 1990 Hardbody V6 4wd dual piston brakes on my 521 that I had converted over to ball joints years before, I had 1979 Datsun 620 disc brakes, all I did was remove the 620 stuff and install the better 4wd D21 brakes(everything between the ball joints), bleed the brakes, and I put my 14" 620 rims back on and I was good to go, I drove it this way for years without power brakes, I added a 1973/74 620 power brake booster(should have done that years/a decade ago), anyway the 1978/79 620 rims cleared the disc brakes fine, then one say I put a stock 521 rims on the front of my truck and they touched the calipers, so I pulled the rims off and looked at where they were hitting, there are these high spots inside the rims, so I hit all the high spots a couple times with a hammer and they don't touch/hit anymore.

There was one issue when I first put the D21 assemblies on my truck, one of the hubs needed a larger hole in the rim, so I ground the places down on the hub to get it back on the road and then found a 620 hub and then pulled that larger hub off, I put the rotor on the 620 hub and all was good.

 

I biggest reason I replied to this thread was because you mentioned wanting even better brakes, I now have 1986 Nissan 720 front brakes(single piston) on my work truck and they work fine for me also, I felt no difference between the two types of brakes, and I have hauled massive amounts of weight with my work truck, and again I use any stock rim I want because I use late 620/early 720 hubs and I have taken care of the high spots with a hammer which has never caused an issue.

Thank you so much. This is fantastic information. I should be able to make it all work with what I have then. I would still be looking at some larger wheels and tires. Only reason I'm doing bigger brakes is my 620 caliper leaks and and I was going to do ball joints soon anyhow. So I figured this wouldn't add too much work and would be a welcome upgrade. I eventually want to put a modern engine and transmission in the truck, so I'm doing all the necessary safety things now. Thank you a bunch for having such good information.

[mainer311]

Can you post a picture of the Chevy wheels that were on it? Are/were they steel wheels? The popular Chevy “rallye” steelies had a 0 offset,  but I guess it could have been something else.

[wayno]

I don't know anything about 1997 disc brakes other than I believe the ball joint is in the lower control arm rather than being bolted to it, so I expect you just remove the spindle from the ball joint and use your existing bolt on lower ball joint for the later spindle.

 

[521dude]

It wouldn't let me use the image url but here's a link to the exact wheels I had. If you hit products specifications it shows 31mm offset. @mainer311https://www.roadreadywheels.com/products/2005-2013-17x7-5-chevrolet-silverado-1500-steel-wheel-rim

 

Also yes, I unbolted the upper and left the lower out and I'm going to use my bolt in lower ball joint.

@wayno

[mainer311]

Oh, yeah, late model Chevy stuff is all positive.

[521dude]

3 minutes ago, mainer311 said:

Oh, yeah, late model Chevy stuff is all positive.

Yeah, those are the wheels that were on my truck when I got it. It looked awful. Once I figure out how to get photos posted I can show you a picture of what it looked like. They were on there though and I drove it like that for months.

[wayno]

You need a photo host like Postimage to publish photos on here.

[521dude]

Here's a photo from the guy I bought it from, how it sat when I purchased her. Thank you wayno for the advice on the image hosting.

[mainer311]

If you’re on an iPhone, Imgur is far and away the best image hosting site. I bet those steelies would have looked better if the truck was lower and they weren’t boring silver.

[521dude]

10 minutes ago, mainer311 said:

If you’re on an iPhone, Imgur is far and away the best image hosting site. I bet those steelies would have looked better if the truck was lower and they weren’t boring silver.

Yeah, they would have been ok if they weren't silver. I didn't want to go super low either because it would already rub a little in a decent corner. Also, they were SOOO heavy, the truck barely moved. The 14s were night and day noticable. I have an Android so I just used the one wayno suggested. I don't mind a little rub in a corner normally I just really couldn't get over the way they looked at the time. I'd like to give her some more power eventually too so I want it to have some bigger shoes now and I'm almost wishing I kept those for reference.