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what rear end fits a 1950 3100? I was going to use a narrowed Ford 9 inch but that may be overkill because I will probably be around 400 hp. I read about some camaro rears fitting. I would like to run as wide a rear tire as possible I may even mini tub it to gain a little room

Choose your wheels and tires first. I can tell you what rear I have under mine, but since mine isn't tubbed and I'm not worried about wider tires, it really wouldn't help you.

I'm running the 10 bolt rear from under a '73 Chevelle wagon under mine. The width is 62 inches, which is very close to stock, and it works real well with 15x7 adn 15x8 wheels (I've run both) and 235/70-15 tires.

According to Fatman Fabrications, the '64 - 77 Chevelle and the '73 - '76 Torino have a 62" distance across wheel mount surface. The '67 - 69 Camaro, '68 - 79 Nova and '71 - 73 Mustang/Cougar have a 60" distance.

IMHO, you can't build anything too strong. Asking a GM 10 bolt or even a 12 bolt to take 400 hp is asking a lot.

Desert_buick is right, you can't build it too strong, and you're getting real close to too much HP for a 10 bolt if you're planning on driving it hard. I wonder if the 73-76 Torino and the 73 Mustang?cougar might have a 9 inch rear in them.

http://www.fordification.com/rearends-ford01.htm

http://www.drivetraindirect.com/t_gear_calculator.htm

I disagree guys, you can build it too strong.

The nine inch Ford is not the strongest rear available, you could put a Dana 70 or a big Rockwell under there. The correct choice will be strong enough, but not adding weight you don't need. A 10-bolt will live behind 400 horse if you aren't abusing the rear in the way you drive. That added weight will work against acceleration, load capacity and handling.

But that's not the point. In this case he is asking what will fit, but hasn't yet determined what the parameters around fit need to be.

Once you open the door to real wide wheels and tires the typical widths may be too wide. A tubbed truck might require a narrowed axle to fit between the wheels depending on the offset. My own recommendation here is to either choose wheels and tires based on an axle that fits OR narrow the nine inch Ford to fit the chosen wheels and tires.

The conventional wisdom is to choose your tires first and make the other decisions around that one. Approaching the problem that way can spend a lot of money because fitting the tires can force tubbing and narrowed axles, so if money is limited (it is for me) you set parameters around the decision and work within them.

If a guy is going to spend the bucks to narrow an axle, he might as well start with the Ford. If cash limits the choices you may as well figure that out at the beginning. 10 bolts are cheap.

I am running a 69 Camaro 10 bolt axle with 3.73 gears in our 53. We have close to 400HP with a 700R4 tranny. Working out great for us so far.

I dont have a problem buying the wheels first it would seem easier to get the axle first then order the wheels with the proper backspacing. seems easier to order rims that fit instead of finding an axle that does. I want 12-14 inch wide rear tires so the tub would be like this at most.
[IMG]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a198/ahsum/tub2.jpg[/IMG]

thanks for the input

Frame width is 46 inches. Two 14 inch wide tires is 28 inches. Total width with no clearance would then be 74 inches, which is the approximate width across the fenders on one of these trucks. You can't run 14 inch wide tires without modifying the frame, the fenders, or lifting the truck. Or maybe some combination of all three.

If you run 12 inch wide tires you could run about 1 inch clearance between frame and tire, tire and fender. That should be enough, and would still require a slight tub to keep the tires under the fender at stock or lower height without rubbing anything.

If you assume 12 inch wheels to support those tires, add an inch on each side for clearance, and put the mounting surface at its ideal centered position in the wheel, you then can add 46 (frame width) plus 2 x 6 (half of each wheel) plus 2 x 1 (frame clearance on both sides) to arrive at your ideal axle width. 46 + 12 + 2 gives you 60 inches.

Armed with that information you now know you either need a 60 inch wide rear, or your wheels will have negative offset to fit 12 inch tires in the fender. If you go wider than 12 inch tires, you have some new issues to deal with, possibly modifying the frame or fender.

I believe the best approach is to measure at least six or eight times before cutting or buying...

thanks,that helps

I have found a ford 9 inch out of a 71 ford truck it is 61.25 inches wide. on a ford 9 inch the pinion is ofset to the passenger side a little. how do you compensate for this ofset?

Probably the same way they did it on our Chevy trucks. One axle is longer than the other.