As usual all ford parts interchange except the parts you have. We got some F100 bendix brakes off a buddy this morning and thought we were good to go mounting 35 wire wheels. Thanks to the HAMB tonight it ain't so. We see the F100 drum wont fit inside the wire wheel hub. No we wont be using the dodgy 1" 1/2 spacers. I love the F100 bendix brakes on our 32 3W and want the same performance for this car that will be Y block powered. Oh well I can use the brakes on our other 32 pickup project with 15" merc rims. Yes i have seen the brake conversion using GM parts , but down under they are very scarce. So there has to be a better option for better brakes. We do have some std. 40 type Lockheed brakes in stock. Is there an aftermarket type that will work with the oddball 35 wires? Then we have to sort out the rear also as we have a banjo rear converted to slide in F100 axles.
I encountered the exact same thing on my build thread - learning the hard way. I had F100 brakes and '35 wires - now I have '46-'48 Lockheed "juice brakes" up front with the retaining ring to index the wire wheel to the hub of the drum, but no ugly spacer. Out back I have a 9" with the wires and a spacer/retaining ring combo. You don't need 1 1/2" like people say. Mine are just over an inch (*edit: 1.25" total*) and clear - if you're interested I can measure. You could definitely use the '40 brakes you have for the front, but if you wanted something a little more modern you could use the repro Lincoln brakes. Not 100% positive but I think you can use the '40 hubs with the Lincoln backing plates and drums, so you could save some $$ there. Another route you could go would be to convert the '40 brakes you have to self-energizing - Brian Bass does this and they look awesome, but it was a little too rich for my blood.
Wow Tim just spent a chunk of my morning with a cup of coffee reading your extremely well detailed build. Superb. As far as brakes go when you mentioned Lincoln i looked at Boling brothers MT brakes and it looks like if i use their Lincoln Bendix backing plates and ,I think i can use my hubs and drums. As for the rear we may get away with Lockheed (may) ,not sure yet if it will all go together happily as essentially we have a banjo rear with 9" housing ends.
I think that's right - original Lincoln's were 12"x2" I think, and I think Ford was 12"x1.75", but now I think you can get either width shoe from MT to use either drums/hubs. I think they may even have the Lincoln drums with 9" bolt pattern? I dunno I thought I saw that somewhere.
I like your "I dunno i thought I saw that somewhere " , that's how my feeble mind works too. Have sent an email to Boling bros. so await a reply . Spendy as it is this could be the answer. I did throw some 48 backing plates on the 9" housing ends tonight and obviously the bolt pattern and centre location are a mile off. mix n match. We really need early 5 on 5.5 drums to match the wire wheels.Still a little in the dark as to the rear brakes. Don't want to run spacers. i know we cant run spacers on the front down under, it screws up scrub line and all, nor do we want to. The rear I am unsure of any complication as far as our compliance check . If I could convince my son to ditch the wires we would be golden but no its not my car so its not going to happen. I have a bunch of solid 15" merc and 16" ford and three sets of wires 15x6 16x4.5 17x4.5 .
I've used front f100 backing plates 11 inch with model A cast drums ,, on an A rear,,so I can use 16 inch wires ,,on the front I have International backing plates which are bendix ,48 hubs and drums ,,
http://www.hotrodworks.com/product/axle-bearing-adapters-with-seals-hardware/ You could contact the hotrodworks guys and see if they could machine these reverse? I'm not sure that would work with the offset required, but they would know! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Just got a quick reply back from Boling Brothers, had to be sitting down for the quote though. Still pondering some ideas from above though. Down under on the cars first Govt. inspection they will most likely take a wheel and drum off to inspect the brakes so it all need to be in excellent condition.
Roddyb34 thanks for the tip on model A drums. I think on a V8 powered car the narrow model A shoes might kind of defeat the aim of better brakes though. Would sure be an improvement on a little banger though .
Bendix Style Emergency Brakes for 1937-48 Ford Rear, 12 x 2 Inch 12 x 2 Brake Drum for Bendix Style 1937-48 Ford Brakes Speedway. Any reason why these wont work , apart from i imagine the 9" housing bolt pattern difference. Again not sure on the axle offset. I think its 2 1/2" . That is bearing seat to outside axle flange. The front should work ,maybe?
might give Krylon32 a message about your brakes. he sells the MT brake setups https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/members/krylon32.11470/
I think rarely (no I have another stupid idea) For the rear at least with a 9" axle converted banjo to be able to run 35 wires and the F100 drums also in the mix. I am going to visit machinist tomorrow and let him suffer my zany ideas. Un rivet the centre from 42 to 48 type rim ,trim it down and stitch it into a 35 wire to make the wheel mount face flush with the drum flange face on the 35 wires , approx 1 1/4" in from original hub flange. Requires trimming down the solid centre to suit and weld to 35 centre . requires no monkey spacer adapter type thingy. Just cut out enough of the original 35 drum flange to access new 46 wheel studs without compromising wheel integrity.. We cant make our axle register the required 3.125 to mount 35 wires on their own as we run out of spline on the axle and bearing land. Yep i know the drill pictures. Etc etc.
I have seen 35 wire centres done here to suit the late Ford bolt pattern where the centre is cut out of a late wheel (say 80's Falcon) and the corresponding amount cut out of the early wheel and the late piece welded in where the early bit was...if you follow. These wheels then bolted onto late drums. Done in a wheel shop, not someone's backyard.
Neway Wheelworks in Melbourne did that on the K-H wires for my coupe project. I supplied a couple of Falcon wheels, they cut the centers out of them and welded them into the wires to get the 5 on 4 1/2" bolt pattern. Only problem the backspace is reduced so that the wheel clears the brake drum. Guess same happens when using spacers.
That is true. But at least you're not using spacers! In any case this whole question is the proverbial square peg round hole thing, something has to give to make it work, so you need to choose the least worst option.
Got a rough estimate on fitting the 16" 46 centres to the 35 wires approx 1" 3/16 Closer to the wheel inner and thank goodness my ticker is still strong ,it would be $800 on a good day, yikes. So am replaning ( is that a word). Still trying to get info on Boling brothers brakes and also a second idea fitting an adapter with the 5 x 5 1/2 pattern to the rear so as to clear the wheel hub centre on the 35 wires. $250 kiwi will get the adapter local made. I suspect we have no other option on the front as to fit a lincoln style setup to get bendix brake and 35 wire to work in unison. We do not want spacer/ adapters on the front to screw up the scrub line and bearing load.
The Jalopy Journal
