Is it just me?

[bigkennye]

O.K. so i was looking at my truck the other day and i noticed that the front wheels seem to extend out from the fenders more than the rear ones. It got me thinking and so i looked at it harder and started looking at other 4 wheel drives and i noticed the same thing on some of them, the front tires extend out further than the rear ones. Can someone explain to me why this is?
edit P.S. what is the shock on the front axle for?

 

[cbbr]

I have always been told that it helps the turning radius.

 

[bigkennye]

i guess, but is it normal or is it some sort of factory option? i guess i should pull the wheel off and look to see if maybe someone has stuck a spacer in there or something.

 

[Masiony]

all vehicles come with the front wheels wider than the rears. this is because when turning, the rear wheels have to turn a different circle radius than the fronts do. if it werent that way you would see a loss of turning radius. most rear axles are about 2" shorter WMS to WMS. some people run spacers in the rear to compensate. but this is more for appearance and maybe to get the tire away from the sheet metal a little more. once you add lockers and lift and big tire, you tend to lose a little turning radius anyways.

 

[Leper]

all vehicles come with the front wheels wider than the rears. this is because when turning, the rear wheels have to turn a different circle radius than the fronts do. if it werent that way you would see a loss of turning radius. most rear axles are about 2" shorter WMS to WMS. some people run spacers in the rear to compensate. but this is more for appearance and maybe to get the tire away from the sheet metal a little more. once you add lockers and lift and big tire, you tend to lose a little turning radius anyways.

Good answer sir.

 

[Greg72]

Front axles ARE wider than the rears (unless you use spacers or a van-width axle).

Everyone says it has to do with turning radius, but that makes no sense to me....

My rear wheel track is modified to be identical to the front and it still turns insanely sharp. Like "U-Turns into the inside lane"-type of sharp.

 

[bigkennye]

how did you modify it?

 

[George_Pimpdaddy]

isnt it suppost to be for tracking to help offroad that way your rear tires are riding ontop of your front ruts??? to fix it you can run spacers but for the money im not to sure if its worth it

 

[dyeager535]

topic absolutely beat to death less than 3 months ago:

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=154212&highlight=track+width

 

[bigkennye]

so the old addage applies here, if it aint broke dont fix it, lol, I just thought i would ask. Thanks for the info, as usual my question has been answered.