TECH WEEK:Bendix brake conversion for Ford backing plates

all tech week to the top 22

 

Hello european neighbor !
I'm in France and start to do the same set up !
I've order (with a big help from a US Hamber) 2 differents brake sets, to try witch one is best/simple :
one from GM 12 - shoes ref is 364PG
one from rear buick electra 1969 - shoes ref is 340PG
I've all the ref if someone need it.
Buick self adjuster arm seems easier to find in second hand.
I'll also run buick aluminum drums.

That's a great great post, thanks to you I'll save some time !

 

Great Tech Post.

 

thanks, nice job your pix of the lower star adjuster area were just what i wanted to see ,im gonna use 57 ford front wheel cyls as they have a tab for the ancor pin .thanks again

 

thtas a amazing post thx a lot

 

I don't understand why you would all that effort ( great fabrication I might ad). When you can buy a pair of Ford F-2, or F250 backing plates and hardware all over the place and bolt them on like they belonged there from the beginning. It cost me $30 for a pair at a rural junk yard in California including shoes, wheel cylinders, and hardware. I could have used the original early Ford drums but opted for finned aluminum Buick instead. Including chrome and Wilson Welding hubs, I have a little less than $400 invested and a day's labor.

 

Do you have a link explaining?

 

Just a matter of desiring the traditional appearance of the early Lockheed backing plates along with improved braking.

 

The offset on the F250 plates is too shallow. . It gets a lot more complicated.

 

Too shallow for '48 drums, but not Buick drums like Deucemac used.

 

Bringing back this older thread with a question before I reinvent the wheel. If I do this conversion using the Buick 2.5 x 12" shoes and '46-'48 hubs will the Buick drum clear? I can obviously sort it out, but before I spend a lot of time on working the details perhaps someone has done it already. If I use all the stock Buick stuff it should work fairly well. I have all the Buick stuff on hand except the wheel cylinders which are readily available. Easier than trying to source some of the big wagon stuff for me. I won't be able to space the drums because the hubs mount on the exterior as always. Should stop a light car nicely and I get to use the early backing plates which I like.

 

Here's a picture showing the drum overlap with a 2" shoe; didn't actually measure it; but it appeared to be slightly more than the normal wear area on a used Buick drum. The Ford hub did have a light clean-up cut on the inside of the flange. I would believe your 2-1/2" shoes would fit, or if not a little grinding on the outside edge would let them fit.

 

I did exactly as you propose. The Buick shoes and drums will space out perfect with 46-8 backing plates. The mods to the drums is the usual deal of clearancing the drum lip (DO NOT CUT ANY OF THE LINER) and dealing with the pilot diameter. I always cut the drum to fit if the 5 1/2" pattern would be used. I cut the hub if using the late pattern.
Use the later wheel cylinders with the tab that holds the stop bolt. This spaces the cylinder to the shoes. This type are usually bolted to the spindle. Just put a nut on it like a F-100 backing plate.
I did a whole bunch of these over about 20 years. Never a complaint.
I have some hubs and backing plates for sale now if needed.

 

Y'all listen to Andy.Thanks to him I have Lincoln backing plates and self adjusting self energizing brakes on my avatar

 

Can't believe I didn't pick that up in your thread Andy! The drums I have are mint and were already used on a rod so the outside "ring" is already turned off the drum, (just the aluminum, no steel liner), so some of the hard work is done. I'll still cut the hubs to fit as I'm going to redrill to use the Chevy 4 3/4" bolt pattern that is on my wheels. My car is super light so I might just use the Buick wheel cylinders which are really small bore but work well on the stockers. I removed the eared clips from the stock backing plates which retain the wheel cylinders. This makes the conversion to the Lockeed plates a piece of cake. I'm going to just remove the lower adjusters on the Ford plates and put the adjustment slot in the backing plates as you won't see it very much on my car anyway. I have retained the side shoe adjusters and just TIGed the stud in to remove the cams on the inside. My stuff is at my blasters at the moment and I just prepped the backing plates, which are extremely nice, (actually too nice for my roadster), before I had them shot. I've done a few sets where I used the Chevy guts but this gives me some brutal sweep area on those huge shoes.

Thanks much guys!