rosebud.. I drove my 66 Uk moke today..  I could NOT get it started. STUPIC me has forgot I drained the gas tank last fall.  drove like a dream.. later bc

Since I put the 7 ½" Cooper discs on mine, the front was wider, so I added the spacers to the rear to take it out a bit (although not as much). 

Of course I also bought new wheels, which have different offsets.

Then I made my arches to match the wheels at each point, making sure to cover since there are too many dirt roads around here and too much mud.

Fedding (according to the Urban dictionary)= a fake wedding for women not wanting to miss their "Big day" even though they have no intention of marrying..........................

You are of course right Ian - it's a Morris dancing move involving big pointy sticks symbolising the smashing of machinery in a Luddite fashion, and nothing at all to do with having fat fingers...

“..fedding...” isn’t that an early Industrial Revolution process related to Morris dancing?

Cheers, Ian

and make sure to drive the car a day or two and re-torque the lug nuts, alot of times the studs will seat while you are driving the car and not be correct torque specs

If you're only going for a 3/8" spacer and the associated studs it is possible, I did it on Tubbs.  Any longer than that and the only way you'll do it on the car is by drilling a hole in the backplate and fedding the stud through it.

Apparently I got lucky with mine. Old studs out and longer ones in without ever pulling the hubs. Must be an Elf thing. It's been a while, but I seem to remember just rotating the hub until I found a spot where I could wiggle them in until they were far enough in to finish seating them with a torque wrench, a stack of washers and a backwards facing lug nut. Might not work on every car.

I guess that's why the factory manual gives front/rear track measurements as 3ft 11 3/4in/3 ft 10 7/8......

Mind you, it also specifies the rear as 1 1/8" wider than the front for 13" Mokes????

Cheers, Ian

Steve, FWIW the rear drums on a Moke have a small built in spacer, maybe 1/2"? The 3/4" spaced drums are standard on 12" wheeled cars with 8.4" discs. Mokes were the only variant that the track on the rear wheels is the same as the front...body is square...duh!

Having a press I avoid the BFH approach. There are at least three different brake drums for a classic. The std no spacer one, the super mini fin and std S with 1 inch spacer and another I have found with a thinner spacer maybe 3/4 in. . Of course there are two wheel bearings ball and tapered roller. I don't think adding 1/2 inch spacers will make the wheels or swing arms fall off. It would not hurt to make sure both are serviced. I have been playing around with different plumbing materials to make up a grease retaining tube for the swing arms to avoid filling the arms with grease. On the vintage racers I have a special drill bit to drill the drive flanges / 7.5 disc and rear hubs to accept 7/16 wheel studs. The brake drums must be drilled for the larger studs as well and lug nuts sourced. Having a pile of brake drums I have a couple I use to press studs in place. Place drum either 3/8 or drilled for 7/16 spacer up in press, place hub face down on drum drop new studs in place and press into hub. The drum helps align the studs, driving in place with a hammer without a guide they can be hard to get the drum on. I have seen studs welded to the hub from the back side. I must admit this being my 50th year working on classic minis I still find things I have never seen done to the little cars. Had three big ticket long term projects complete this past week and two went home the other waiting for a pay off. I have two more of the same to complete this month. Having space for 5 more cars will make the shop look strange. I'm giving some thought to down sizing the shop. Rent and all that's required to keep a 5500 sq ft shop working is a big nut to crack. Steve (CTR)

This should be filed under "It's your car do what you want" But heed the warnings.

Not sure what you mean "wheels will be under the finders in the front and not at the back." Using my alignment plates to measure track width, the front track is 1.0" wider wheel to wheel than the rear. From the pics you can see that the front tires protrude about 2.0" from the top center of the arches, and the rears protrude about 1.5". So, I figure installing .5" spacers at the rear should even things out. 

The wheels I'm running have a .5" offset to begin with, so w/ the spacers I'll have a total of 1.0" offset on the rears. I can't imagine an additional .5" will raise havoc on my radius arms and wheel bearings, but maybe. I'll keep an eye on it.

First off, the wheels will be under the fenders at the front and not at the back. Next, as Alex says, it will put more strain on the bearings. It will also put stress on the longer studs. If you've never lost a wheel then I'd say go for it!

"brinelling" ... I learned a new word today!

You can have the opposite problem, where only a LFH is needed, and the concern is having the studs spin in the hub, when I had mine apart, I found the studs were tack welded to the hubs in the rear. Not a great find, but seems ok for now.

Steve, educate me here. I would think that banging away to remove 4 tight studs with a BFH would cause brinelling of the bearings. Yes, people get away with it, but why damage something even if only mildly? If the studs are relatively loose, then it must be safe. (Or the damage is not seen or manifested until much later and next owner).

If studs are old and corrosion-welded in, then some significant shock loading force must be applied.  Brinelling is a common cause of bearing failure. Comments? Harvey

I have found it helpful once the hub is removed and old studs removed I place the hub on a old S cast iron brake drum and press the new studs in place. It helps align the new studs. Steve (CTR)

You may get the standard studs out without removing the hub, but you certainly won't get the new ones in.  Hub off time.

Widening the rear track does alter the handling, it also adds a decent amount of extra strain on the wheel bearing and radius arm bearings so shorten your inspection intervals.

Symmetry, man. It's all about the symmetry.