narrowing rearend?

hey guys i've been debating on whether or not to go to 4x4 sheetmetal. i dont want to because i love the body lines and looks of the 2wd metal. i was just wondering the process of narrowing rear ends and how much $ that runs? what kind of places can do it? i would like to narrow the rearend atleast 3in. because i think that would give me just enough clearance to not rub when layed out. i know 4x4 metal isnt going to help when laid out so thats why i want to get it narrowed. i love the rims i have on my truck and wont switch.




-justin

the easiest thing to do is to swap to a ford courier rear or a rear from a pre-86 mazda if you wanna keep the six lug. you may or may not have to shorten/lengthen your drive shaft. but thatll be cheaper than shorten you existing rear

Yup. $120 for an axle and driveshaft at a junkyard, and $100 to have a new driveshaft made that fits.

In comparison, having the axle narrowed, $300 for a shop to do the housing, and $150-250 an axle.

how much narrower is the courier or early mazda axles

I think 2 inches. I will find out for sure tomorrow however. I will have both in my hands to measure.

Damn. I feel honored to have seth back me up on something.

Its not too hard to narrow the rearend yourself...but yeah the axles will run you between 300 and 500 bucks...

okay so all i need to know is how much shorter the courier and early mazda rear end is if this is going to be cheaper. what do you have to do to the driveshaft? lengthen shorten? how much

I will have specific answers for everything real soon. I just got all the parts to do this to Manny's truck. Maybe I'll do a write up.

man seth if you could do a write-up on this i would greatly appreciate it. im thinkin the courier rear end with a little bit of fender flaring that figured how to do due to a write-up that dev showed me. i will be able to gain the clearance i need. in fact im goin to post that link up in the how-to section about flaring the bed sides.