I'm looking for another set of Buick aluminum drum/hub to ford spindle spacers I know there were 2 guys making them at one time 29rat and Karaskustoms but according to their profiles they haven't been seen here in over a year? I'm converting my spindles to disc brakes on this car to do some racing but need another set of spacers to use the Buick/ford brakes on another project. Actually I only need the outers cause I had to cut them off. Anyone else selling them here? I've some several searches and come up empty.
Yes, that's me. Several years ago, 29RAT was trying to get enough commitments from HAMB'ers to buy the adapters before he did a run. I contacted him and told him I'd front the money for a run, and take the time (years) to sell them off to whomever wanted a set. I only make my money back, plus a few bucks per kit for my time and packaging, etc. I don't have many left. But, a set of adapters (2 wheels) is $75 shipped in the 48 states. -Donnie
I'll ask a dumb question: Why are adaptors needed at all? I used Buick drums, took the Buick hub off, put the Ford hub on, and "Bob's yer uncle", put them on. I have Wilson Welding backing plates, the Buick drums don't need to have a groove cut in the back to as you have to do with Ford backing plates.
Well, I for one, don't have a set of '40-'48 Ford hubs, just the Buick units. The adapters are probably cheaper than a set of hubs, though. I guess I should check.
Another dump question with this adaptor kit can you use the original buick hub setup thats on the drum ? Any pictures of this ?
Do Ford hubs come free with Buick drums? How do my $80 pair of juice backing plates compare in price to the Wilson Welding ones? I didn't have to cut anything.
A bit grumpy? It was just a question. To answer: Yes, in my case, the Ford hubs I had DID come with "free" Buick drums. ;-) I also had a pair of bare backing plates, that turned out to be warped, and by the time I'd have bought the shoes, cylinders, springs all the hardware, for the difference, I just liked the looks of the finned Wilson ones better, and they're self energizing and self adjusting. And I didn't have to cut anything. Not everybody has to do the same thing, ya know...
I doubt it was that simple. In a setup like yours, either the Ford hub has to be machined to fit into the Buick drum, or the Buick drum has to be machined to slip over the Ford hub. Also, which did you have to drill new holes into for the wheel studs, the Buick drum or the Ford hub? The Buick is 5 on 5", and the Ford is 5 on 5.5". One or the other needs to be drilled for a new bolt pattern. It is true that the Buick drums have to be turned down a bit to clear the Ford backing plates, but that's only with the traditional method of combining the Buick drum & the Ford hub. With these adapters, both the Buick hub & the Buick drum are used on a Ford spindle...no cutting on the back of the drum is required. Yes. These adapters allow you to use both the Buick hub & drum, on the Ford spindle. I don't know if you've seen '29RAT's thread on these adapters (he's the guy that makes the kits) but, there's a full discussion on the adapters with photos too. Here's the link to the thread: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/buick-drums-so-why-not-use-the-hubs.91081/
Actually, you still have to cut the drum's lip to clear the backing plate. Not a big deal; we use a brake lathe and it is easily done. Here's a quote from 29RAT's post, linked in the previous post, detailing the need for this cut. "I guess I wasn't real specific about that, but yes it mounts to ford spindles, I am using the square back with late 40's backers, so the ford brakes will work as well, I just was looking for better brakes. It becomes a piece of cake using ford brakes though. If you used those brakes you only need to relieve the aluminum down to the iron liner on the drum at the backer recess and put the two adapters on and the rest bolts together, no additional shims or anything like that and you get a full nut on the spindle with 1-2 threads exposed."
True, I did drill the Buick drums for the Ford bolt pattern, and turned the hub down to fit the pilot hole in the drum, I was forgetting that part.
RICH B - "Actually, you still have to cut the drum's lip to clear the backing plate. Not a big deal; we use a brake lathe and it is easily done." I pulled my set right off of a '61 full-size Buick several years ago. Using the adapters, the drums fit the Ford backing plates without having to trim the drums. They were really close, and the aluminum lip part of the drum seemed to be just about even with the steel liner. I wonder if these were relined at some point and the drums trimmed too.
Got lucky; we usually end up having to trim the aluminum back to the iron liner to get it to clear the lip on the Ford backing plate.
Mine went right on, too. Close, but not touching. No evidence of contact, after years of use. I also have no history on my drums/liner, other than that they had a LOT of liner left.
Back in the summer of 2012 I had 29RAT do a run of adapter parts. Well, this weekend I packaged up the last three (3) adapter sets I have. They are reserved for 'CHUBBIE', '66RAGTOP', and 'FLATHEDJOHN47' awaiting payment. I have several sets that have bad machining, so I can't send these out to anyone. I think there's about 25 bad pieces, so that's a dozen kits. I'll have to find a local machine shop to finish machine these remaining parts before I'll have any more kits available. This will take awhile, so I won't have kits available for awhile. 29RAT didn't perform the actual machining on these pieces, so it's not his fault they're not right. I understand in his posts, that these were CNC machined. So, apparently the machinist wasn't doing a complete job of quality control while the CNC machine was running. Anyway, sorry guys I don't have anymore kits available for awhile. Best thing to do if you need a set, is to contact 29RAT and see if he's made any more in the last few years. Or, PM me from time to time to see if I have them again. Like I said though, I won't have any more for awhile.
You guys were having me question my memory, so I dug out some stuff and mocked up a Buick hub, Ford spindle, and backing plate. I used a spacer and sleeves equal to 29RAT's adapters. I found the fit as I remembered, the aluminum on the inner lip contacted the flange on the Lockheed backing plate. Besides my cut away check drum, I tried a couple other drums with the same result. Mystery to me how you lucked out on getting drums that cleared.
I am far from my stuff at the moment, but I have both 90-fin, and 45-fin drums (shown in your mock up), on the shelf. When I am able, I will see if there is any variance.
That would be interesting to see about the differences; that is a 45 fin drum in the pictures, never had a 90 fin drum myself; but my kid has trimmed the lip on several that I have seen over at his place.
Also, If memory serves, early 45-fin drums had hubs with ball bearings, not rollers. There may be a difference there, too.
It's my understanding that Roller & Ball bearings are the same dimensionally. I was wondering if my drums that I personally pulled from a Buick in the wrecking yard, had the lips turned down to remove bad liners, and new ones installed. Maybe...
Trying to remember the details, but the early 45 fin drums used a different shoe width than the latter 45 fin drums. Might be the difference?
Sanfordsotherson - "29RAT didn't perform the actual machining on these pieces, so it's not his fault they're not right. I understand in his posts, that these were CNC machined. So, apparently the machinist wasn't doing a complete job of quality control while the CNC machine was running." gimpyshotrods - "I wonder if the "variability" in quality control might explain why some of us did not have to cut." I get what you're saying, but there really wasn't enough 'variability' in the parts to position the hub/drum differently on the spindle to change orientation of the drum to backing plate. The main area needing further machining is where the grease seal rides. It looks like the bar stock material wasn't quite large enough in spots on the OD to be turned done to spec. and be perfectly round and smooth. There are low spots that are rough. A few thousandths more would do the trick without taking too much off the OD, where the seal wouldn't seal. It also seems that on the ID of these same parts, that some of them need one more final cut to be right. So, I'll be having these parts re-machined to be acceptable for fitment.
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