Technical Wide 5 hubs

I think I may want to go the wide 5 route on Lizzie (my 27 T touring) with Buick drums. I found a set of early ford wide 5 hubs on ebay, and a member here has offered me a set of bolt on snouts, question is which way will work out better with early Ford spindles, and an undropped A axle? Can I still use the 53-56 F250 backing plates either way I go?

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You'll need the two piece wide 5 drums to machine to fit the buick finned drum. If it's the 1 piece drum/hub I don't think they'll work.

 

Buick drums will not work with wide 5 wheels. On wide fives the brake drum and hub are one unit. Or I'm just not understanding because of the terminology you're using.

 

I thought I saw you could turn the centers out if a buick drum and seperate a wide 5 hub from the drum?

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Sure you can. It is an old racer thing. You machine out the entire center of the Buick drum, and put it over the hub of a two-piece wide-5 hub.

 

There are one-piece, and two-piece wide-5 drums. You would need two-piece ones, or you would have to machine off the drum portion, and make your own hub.

 

I think that if you want a direct bolt-on hub for the front, you would need to get the 1936-only hub. It is wide-5, and has the same bearing spacing as the earlier spindles. AFTER 1936 the bearing spacing changed, and carried on until 1948.

This is a 1936 drum. Observe the length of the "snout" that sticks out:


This is a 1937-up drum, note the much shorter snout:


Side-by-side:

 

So these would not be what I want then?

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These are what I have for spindles. I figured with a 28-48 year range 36-39 hubs would work.

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Cannot confirm. There were a few generations of casting, and there were aftermarket parts.

The only way to know for sure is to set it on a flat surface, and measure from that surface, to the end of the snout.

Those do look like later-style, though.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/convert-1936-wide-five-to-juice-brakes.682206/

 

Who needs Henry Ford spindles when you can have those high quality Chinese speedway units

 

Okay, no. those are 1937-1941 style round back spindles. NOTHING from before 1937 fits them.

So not the 1936 stuff. Short snout. Still not sure what backing plates work, but I have seen this setup with first/second generation juice barkes (Lockheed).

The look similar. One has adjustable lower anchors, one does not:


I will look for a picture of one set up.

 

They were what I could get. Did I mention I'm on a deadline with this car?

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Okay, here's your quick fix, all in one vehicle:

The truck in the foreground has an un-dropped Model A axle, wide 5 hubs, Buick drums, and the backing plates I showed above:

 

So does that mean I should jump on those hubs?

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I would. If you get stuck short, let me know. I think I have a set.

 

Looks as clear as mud.


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Did it work?

 

Yup

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See?! I wouldn't steer you wrong. I am glad the worked out!

Thank you again for doing this for your buddy. Thank you for your service, and please thank him on my behalf for his.

Post some pictures if you can.

 

Gimpy there will be a full build thread when I got closer to done. I ended up having to use service replacements instead of Buick fins for now just because of the aforementioned time table and budgetary constraints. And I will.

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Any further info on the source and quality of the "service replacement" drums? Did you get any pictures of the mods to fit the wide five hubs?

 

Not yet on the pictures Rich but it was one if the online parts houses. I believe they were $62 a piece. I ordered a few other bits to get free shipping. Had ghem in 3 daus. The mods are relatively easy. Turn the center out enough it sits flat on the hub, Terrill the bolt pattern and modify to fit Buick forums from there.

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Anything further progress on this brake project?

 

I too am interested in this... I've got a set of W/Welding finned/cast lincoln backing plates & want to run wide 5's...
With the 2 piece wide 5/buick set up how well does the wheel sit, i also assume I'll need longer studs?

 

I too would like to see more info on this. I have the '39 wide 5 front hubs and spindles and have been looking for a compatible brake drum.

 

Sorry, had a run of good weather so I been outside working on the car and had surgery last week. I can say 61 Buick service replacements work quite well with a set of 42-48 style backing plates. Sorry no pictures, had a follow up dr visit a bit ago. And yes you need a longer stud. Mine are Dorman's that came from Auto Zone. A search on here told me the part bumber they cross referenced to theirs but I don"t remember it off the top of my head. Shoukd I find a set of 53-56 F100s I do intend to swap them in at some point with the 62-66 F100 guts to make them self energizing.

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I am planning on running buick on 39 wide 5 hubs. I see drums over hubs like yours and have seen drums mounted on back of hubs also. Any insight on this is much appreeciated.

 

I have about all the problems worked out and can show you how I did it. I am down to getting the wheels studs pressed in and then fitting it so that I have the full 2 1/2" brake shoe, I think its possible. Shoot me PM, I just got this computer and don't have any pics in it, I'll have to take pics for you. Dick Spadaro was the one that showed me how to do it.

 

That would be quite interesting to see some of the details on how you fitted these parts together.