If this has been addressed before I will apologize now. I have hunted hard and have not found anything speaking to what I am up against. I am wanting to put a 1935 Ford wire wheel onto a 46/48 style Hub /Drum. I removed a 1940 Ford solid wheel from this hub and no previous problems. I put the 35 wire wheel on and torque it down and it locks the break. According to what I have managed to pull up the Hub I have should work without need of the centering spacer often needed on this type replacement. However it matters not, spacer / no spacer I have tried it both ways and I have the same result. I have adjusted the brake tolerance before mounting the wheel and have it right where I think it needs to be to be correct. As soon as I tighten the lugs the brake is locked. I have made certain that the lug nuts are centered in their tapers making tight each lug nut by hand as tight as possible. No problem yet. As soon as I apply torque with a wrench however, boom the Brake locks. I am not talking drags a bit, I am talking tighter than Dicks Hat Band tight. What am I missing.
Might be easier to find the info you want, if you search for the correct word, "brake". Not "break". But hopefully the previous answer tells you what you need to know.
I had 34 16 inch wire wheels on 46/48 ford hubs on my car at one point but changed them to 53/56 F100 front drums to get adjustable hydraulic brakes. I used standard adapters that I got from Speedway as the wheels themselves are too small to fit over the drums. The spacer is 1 1/4" thick, 5 on 5 1/2" to 5 on 5 1/2" bolt pattern. They also had a small ring around the center hole which is made to support the backside of the wire wheel as this missing on the later drums. It sets the wire wheel flush on the face of the drum. I can shoot you a couple pics of how it is mounted if you need to see it.
Gordon, Before you changed out to the updated brake drum setup did your wire wheels bolt directly to the 46/48 hubs?
There are balance weights on the drum right where the 35 wheels hit the drum. You have to use spacers or they will lock up when you tighten them down.
Are you asking about mounting them on the 46/48 hubs or the drums? I had them bolted up to the 46/48 drums which were on 47 spindles. When I researched this I found info indicating the lack of support ring on the center of these drums (even tho they would fit) would lead to cracks in the wheel. When the lug bolts are torqued up tight it sort of collapses the center area of the wheel in if there is no support ring on the drum. Not good. I have a Bronco 9 inch rear, which also didn't have any rings on the brake drums (also 5 on 5 1/2" bolt circle) so I used the same spacers as I had used on the front and I have the wire wheels mounted front and rear with the proper support in the center for the wire wheel. Here is a quick shot.
Threewindow I believe the drum weight is my problem. I went back out to the shop, looked and that has to be it. Thank you. Thank you all for your help. I think I will take a brake now.
No they will not, as the others said you absolutely have to have the spacer rings to run the wires. The early drums are raised to the inside of the lug circle where the later drums are not. Here I stole the photo off Ebay Look closely at the ring inside the lug bolt circle. You have to duplicate that ring with one of the spacers they mentioned in previous posts or you bend/crack the wheel and bend the drum. Link to Speedway spacer ring or I think that the gent mentioned above advertises in the classifieds http://www.speedwaymotors.com/1928-1935-Early-Ford-Wire-Wheel-Support,5846.html
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