Need insight on widening track

[glennm01]

I continue to chew on the idea of a modestly capable build on a step van platform. Lots of E-350 based vans out there, but many have a much narrower track width up front. For example:



Uncharted waters for me, so I'm curious to get a sense of what would be involved to install super singles on something like this, widening the front track to match the rear as well. Specifically on an E350 chassis -- easily doable, or would this require major surgery?

 

[b dkw1]

Running super singles on that would kill the wheel bearings unless they were really inset. Then they would probably rub the frame at full lock. It would also not make it that much wider. A wider axle is about the only real option if you want reliability.

Look up scrub radius......

 

[glennm01]

Yeah, I figured that simply bolting on super singles and calling it done wouldn't work. The question is: what would be required to do super singles while also achieving the same track front to back. So yeah, wider axle, which I presume you mean for the rear only. What would need to be done to the front to safely match the rear track then? I assume spacers are not the way to go. And generally speaking, is it crazy to even consider this? Or does it fall within the confines of "reasonably doable?" Again, I'm admittedly naive about track widening, so I figure better to find out here that it's a bad idea than to dive in and learn the hard way... Thank you!

 

[cjken]

Maybe you could go with SRW front hubs then regular backspaced rims and wider tires on the front.
I think you would kill wheel bearings by just bolting regular rims on the front, but that would widen your track.


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[luthj]

You could probably do a combination of narrowing the back (2-3 total track width), and widening the front using SS wheels and spacers (same axles). Switching to a wider SS tire that could handle the load. Assuming you are not operating at the limits of the axle, you would probably get decent life from the bearings. The downside is that your rear axle (total) width would be significantly narrower. So you would need to address how that would handle cornering stability (roll stiffness).

A 11-12" wide SS tire would reduce the max width at the rear by about 6-8" and increase the front by about the same, though you could go less depending on spacers. I am not familiar with the front spindle arrangement, but it might be possible to increase the front width with some easy-to-manufacture parts?

 

[Jo_Duval]

U joint is currently converting one to 4x4 maybe that’s your answer!

 

[pappawheely]

Swap 4x4 axles in front and rear.