wide 5 brake conversion to 32 style axle?

No unasked question is a dumb question? I think I know the answer to this, but Im making sure. I had planned to use '39 Lincoln brakes up front, but traded some stuff for wide 5 wheels, brakes, and rear end. I like how the wide 5 wheels look, and thought about just using the '39 or '40 (not sure which year) Wide 5 setup vs the lincoln. Anywho..

1) should just be able to swap spindles out..or is there more to it?

2) Would I be better off with the lincoln setup as far as parts replacement and brake performance?

3) Is there a wheel adapter for 5x10.25 (wide 5) to 5x5.5? (believe modern "wide 5's are 5x10.75 so thats out.

If someone makes a wheel adapter I would rather use the wide 5s on the lincolns and sell the brake setup I have

 

Aaaaah yes. The topics of the Wide Five pattern and it's related components. I love wide fives...

Can't answer #1 with complete confidence, so I'll leave that for someone else, but for question #2, you have quite a few options. Early Ford Juice brakes (1939 to ?) have plenty of parts available for them, or you can also go to an after market arrangement like MT Lincoln style backing plates or Wilson Welding backing plates that use parts that are readily available as well. If you DO order either of the after market type, you will want to let them know you're running the wide-5 arrangement so you get the 1-3/4" shoes that those brakes use.

for #3 you can get adapters from Speedway Motors, Dick Spadaro, or if you have a machinest friend that owes you a favor, have him/her make you some. They're essentially a 1/2" or better disc with the two patterns indexed. The speedway version is offered with 5/8" bolts which may or may not interfere with your drum, but can be easily drilled out and studs pressed in. I personally used the Speedway ones, removed the bolts, drilled out the threads to a size common to an off the shelf 1/2" wheel stud, and pressed them in. Done.

 

didnt know dick spadaro made wide five to early ford adapters till now.....think im gonna put my wide 5 brakes up for sale and adapt to 39 lincolns....gonna think about it for a week or two...based on spindle answer

 

Also take into consideration whether or not you will be using caps. Using adapters without caps looks... bad. That is unless you check out sneaky scooters thread about making some dummy drum lookalike things!

 

I love the wide 5 caps...kinda the reason I started considering it after i traded for the rear end...the wheels, drums, and brake parts were all extras. I got two 16's and two 15's, may try n find another set of 16's, or if the 15's are the same width put them in back with a little meatier of a black wall or white wall (plenty of time to decide that)

 

wonder what a fair asking price is for the front brakes....drums, backing plates, shoes, and other parts....drums are pretty good condition

 

You should have no problem finding 16" wheels in your area. There are tons of them out there and still are not that popular because of what is needed to run them (I.E. adapters or correct drums).

You can run the Lincoln backing plates WITH the Wide Five drums, no problem. I run the MT's up front with 38 wide five drums, 16" wheels front and back, and I have 9" Ford police special brakes on the rear with the Speedway adapters for the wide five wheels.

Wide fives aren't the look for everyone, but personally I like it...

SHHHHH!! That's a secret!!

 

Front drums within spec (12.060" or less I.D.) and in decent condition, will go anywhere from $10 each to $120 each. YES! I have literally seen that WHOLE price range for the same condition drums. I generally don't like to pay more than about $100 a pair for usable drums that only need to be cleaned, re-bearinged, and sealed. Mechanical backing plates won't be worth a whole lot and...

...WAIT! So you don't want to run wide fives now??

 

Wide Fives are cool. We discovered a little forgotten trivia to help find the wider ones. Try searching at old farm implement dealers for the 5.5 wide ones. We discovered that some old plows and shit slingers came with this pattern. The wheels were built by Kelsey Hays and sold to a wide variety of small implement companys. Now with that being said they also have smaller windows in them.
We were able to locate NOS ones around here. Just some food for thought.