When I measured my axle, it was about 62" between the wheel mounting surfaces. Most of the axles that I was seeing the in the boneyard (mostly late 70s-80s vintage) measured in around 65"-72".
I have a set of older Fjord 16" 8-lug wheels that I plan to run, they can be adapted easily to use the original hubcaps.
It seems like it would be much easier to widen the fenders on a pickup to accept a wider track width, the panel body sticks way out over the fenders, so flaring them would look rather bizzare. I'm trying to keep the look mostly original.
The rest of the plan, at this time, is to find a Dana 44 front axle from a '72 or later IH Scout II, it is almost exactly the same width as the original front axle. GM used the Dana 44 front on some 3/4 ton trucks, so there are parts that can be used to easily convert the Scout's 5-lug axle to 8-lug.
