Okay, I'll ask questions, then, you talk, I listen I've heard that Ford wide 5 drums come in one piece and 2 piece varieties. Is there a visible difference between the 2 styles? All of mine look pretty much the same - did I just get lucky? You can see what looks to be a parting line one the outside, between the hub and the drum. And the same thing shows up on the inside. Haven't tried knocking them apart yet............ Any help would be appreciated! Tim D.
your right from what ive seen the 36-38 tend to be 2 peice with cooling ribs and 39 are smooth 1 piece castings. i also have a set of 39 or 40 5x5.5 1 piece cast drums
To further confuse things, here are a pair of pics of my wide 5's... Can't recall what year they are off, but they appear to have no cooling ribs AND are 2 pieces.
The ones in my bottom pic are like that - smooth and apparently 2-piece. Got one of each on the rearend I'm planning to use too. Interesting stuff! Tim D.
Not sure what year my set are (39 I think) but they do not have cooling fins they are two piece also. I know the studs are serated so I can't just knock them out to replace the studs, I was told to cut them off as close to the seration as possible. Is that the way it should be done, any other suggestions? Also does anybody know what the safe drum wall thickness is, if there is such a thing. i.e how far can I grind them down and still be safe?
I want to ad some info to anyone reading I thought was interesting... I always wondered 'why' Ford went to the strange looking wide five design... the first time I seen them I though huh... thats strange. If you look at the model years starting with the model A... you can see that as the cars get bigger the rims get smaller... hence the biggest model car from ford on WIRE wheels was the 35 ford with the popular 16" wires we all want... Well obviously the weight factor and the strength of the rims were the factor... bad roads and heavy cars = bent wire wheels... the strongest of the variant came out in the heaviest ford yet- the 36 Ford, the wide five... The idea was to have less distance between the drum and rubber- making the wide five rim almost bulletproof. There was less stress on the wider pattern than the tight pattern... -thus the reason they're still using this design in dirt track and circle track today... So thats all I have to ad. I love wide fives... but knowing why Ford used them made me appreciate the design even more... Tuck
Well Tuck, I had considered wide 5s for my A, then shelved the idea and started collecting the parts to go with the Ford 5on5 1/2" bolt pattern. However, after seeing how bitchin' the wide 5s look on the front of your '34, I was again convinced to go with them! Man, I wish I could make a decision on this car! Next decision is whether or not to run the skinny Ford brakes, or attempt to use Buick drums on the wide 5 hubs ........................ Tim D.
Here is alittle more info for you wide-five fans, not only was the first 36 ford wheel, stronger than a 35 wire wheel, it is also two lbs lighter. Also have you ever thought about why the 39 ford, first year for juice brakes, and the last year the wide five wheel was made. There was alot of customer complaints in 39 with fords new brakes, and the ford engineers discovered that the wide five bolt pattern was causing the drums to distort, with the wheel being bolted this close to the shoe surface of the drums. This info came from my Father, who started working for Ford in 1935, from his factory TSB's...Ed
How about getting the rears turned? I cannot find a place who can do it yet because of the small hub hole. Also, what about balancing. Trouble there too.
Kirk, find an older repair shop, or one that is a brake repair shop only, and also services big trucks. They well have the arbor that will fit the early ford drums. The same arbor was used on chrysler products up into the early 60's, and also VW's. If your close to Santa Rosa, I can give you a phone number, who can do them for you....Ed
Kirk, the brake shop in Santa Rosa, is called Chucks Brake & Wheel. The phone number is 707-542-6012, and the address is 540 Barham Ave. There right around the cornor form santa rosa auto parts, off of santa rosa ave. If you end up in front of the Hells Angels club house, you went to far...Ed
Tuck, do you have any pictures of your ride with wide 5s? I picked up my set 'cause they looked cool, would like to see some already on something. Thats one of the things my fiance and I don't see eye to eye on, she likes 'em with the V8 hubcaps, but I like 'em with no caps, just with the wheels painted 1 color and the drums painted another with some nice chrome lugs. As far as balancing, I was just gonna pick up one of the adapter plates that lets you bolt a wide 5 wheel to a standard 5x5.5 bolt pattern. I figure I'd just buy a cheap-o bubble balancer so I can do it myself, balance the adapter plate alone first, and then do each wheel/tire combo. I doubt I'll turn mine, I'm really bad doing that, just run a hone in them and be done with it.
As far as balancing, I was just gonna pick up one of the adapter plates that lets you bolt a wide 5 wheel to a standard 5x5.5 bolt pattern. I figure I'd just buy a cheap-o bubble balancer so I can do it myself, balance the adapter plate alone first, and then do each wheel/tire combo. I doubt I'll turn mine, I'm really bad doing that, just run a hone in them and be done with it.[/quote] This is just an observation, not a personal attack.... I'm a young fart, compared to the age of a wide 5, never even seen a wide 5 until a couple of years ago, but my thinking is you would want to balance the wheel, tire, and drum together. Especially since its not uncommon for the fin or lip at the edge to be chiped. Turn the drums, not a chance, no one makes them anymore, why would you want to removed valuable material.
I can turn ford rear brakes, we have a smaller dia arbor for small crap, my old work had it too, maybe alot of the people that work the brake lathes just dont know they have the correct arbor to do it with. I also like the wide fives now, i was at french lake auto parts and picked up a wide five rear with juice brakes and it even had 36 bones, thought it was even 3:54-1 gears but turned out to be 3:78-1's instead. jeff
Cool, I'm glad to see you picked them up. I noticed that the hole in the backing plate for the spindle is alot smaller than the later Fords. What's the deal with that?
Hey Inkorekt! Thanks for the relay man! I owe ya one! Yeah, not entirely pleased with the backing plate thing. Apparently (according to Squirrel's research) those are '52 car backing plates. Got to figure out if I can make them work. There is a seperate post (somewhere) about the backing plates. Everything else looks pretty decent .............................. Thanks for all of the info folks! Seen some answers in this thread that answered questions I haven't even gotten around to considering asking yet Tim D.
i just sold a set of those front and back to an old guy who has a 35 cabriolette and he said that they are hard to come by in good shape . and the brake turning thing do i turn them or dont i turn them. i would if you want to stop brakes no good otherwise .............
I am sure when you said "Haven't tried knocking them apart yet............" you really meant "I haven't taken them to a shop where someone has the proper knowledge and equipment to remove the studs without running the hubs and drums." Right? Charlie Stephens
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