These came with a set of 45 fin drums and hubs I bought here a couple years ago. I stashed them and planned on using ford backing plates. They are in great shape with all newer components and hardware. I did some research to see if possibly I could use these and they don't look quite like the 58-60 buick ones that will work with the adapters unless the pics ive seen are of heavily modified ones. My question is exactly what year are these?, do they have any value, and can they be used on ford spindles or possibly on the rear? Thanks in advance for any help. Tim
There are three mount bolts, the third goes thru the top anchor pin. It's been a while; but they could be '62 or so Buick, cut a similar set apart to save the drums.
I bought the front brake assemblies from a '57 Buick a few years ago to get the drums, and the backing plates looked similar to the pictures posted here.
Ok here is something that everyone has overlooked, those brakes are self adjusting. Unless they have been upgraded they have to be very late '60s or early '70s at the very least.
A buddy has a 67 cadillac back in the woods with aluminum finned drums on it. It is hard to get to, so I never tried to take one apart. could the ones you have be similar?
If it did someone upgraded it or else it was a canadian option. Never the less those are not pre '62 brakes unless they have been modified.
According to this http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/Art...ters_understanding_these_ancient_devices.aspx at least one vehicle had self adjusting brakes in 1955. I've done hundreds of brake jobs but don't remember where the dividing line was and some guys would pull the self adjusters off in the early days of self adjusting brakes. Usually from the same mindset of people who removed the seat belts from cars in the 60's and early 70's because "they got in the way". Searching further a 1925 Cole had self adjusting brakes and later the 1949 Studebaker had self adjusting brakes. That is per this article http://www.motorera.com/history/hist07.htm From Second Chance Garage Self-Adjusting Brakes There were also early self-adjusting brakes. The 1925 Cole, in its last year of production, had them. They would not appear again until 1946 when Studebaker used a Wagner Electric Co. mechanism. As the linings wore down, a pin and lever moved against a tension spring, engaging the adjusting wedge which moved the linings slightly and kept them at the same distance from the drums. Self-adjusting brakes showed up on the '57 Mercury and the '58 Edsel and were recommended to purchasers anxious to avoid frequent and costly brake adjustments. By the mid-60s, AMC was offering self-adjusting brakes, as well. http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/history-of-automotive-brakes-2.cfm My mom had both a 57 and 58 Mercury when I was a kid but I don't know if I saw either with the drums off.
So it looks like these are 61 to ? 64 maybe a little newer. Not sure on the adjuster. Damn looks like they are of no use to me. guess I'll be sticking with the ford backing plates. Thanks guys!
Ypu could no doubt drill them and use them but there are actually some fellas that upgrade the brakes on their late model ( '50s/'60s) cars that would be thrilled to have them. I am using '62 backing plates and drums on the back of my '50s project. They do not have self adjusters so I will have to chase later model stuff down if I want them. Anyway they would be a good choice for someone wanting to put big brakes on there fender car.
Hey porknbeaner you interested? everything looks like new I'd give you a good deal. Looks like there is no way they will work on my spindles. Too much offset and no clearance. The wheel cyl. will hit the spindle. I've got 40 ford spindles and would need like a one inch spacer. Wouldnt look right even if i could get them to work.
My set of front buick 45"s came off a 63 and the backing plates were the same and self adjusting . The aluminum spacer that people use to fit on the ford spindles on the early 58 backing plates didn't work so I machined the backing plate's center hole bigger and made a hole new aluminum adapter to space it to fit. They can be used but its a bit of work and a 30 pack!
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