can i just unbolt the drum brakes on a 57 ford 9" rear then go to the junkyard find a newer ford with disc brakes and bolt them onto the old rear ? or is it a bit more complicated then that ?
yeah, it's more complicated than that. For one thing, the only fords that used rear disc brakes and a 9" were a few Granadas, the little Lincoln Versaille, and some big Lincolns and Tbirds, in the late 70s. The axles are different, among other things. The calipers had a strange parking brake system that caused problems.
Why would you want to use disc brakes on what many consider one of the better 9" Ford rear axles out there,they generally have great brakes from the factory and are about as traditional as it gets when updating a rear axle. HRP
Regarding the early 9 " disc swaps, I do remember that. Had a Granada 9 inch under a '51 F1 a few years back. The adjustment has to be done with an allen wrench and the caliper off the axle, the recommended clearance was about the width of a piece of paper and the rotor had to 100% true. What a pain. I hear the later 9" setup (late 80'-90s I think) was better. Danny has a good point. The 9" under my avatar had no brake stuff at all when I got it, went to a junkyard and got the whole shebang from an early '70s wagon. If I remember correctly the shoes were about 2-1/4" wide. Worked like a champ.
later Fords with rear disc brakes had the 8.8" rear, not the 9" rear. It's a different setup, the axles are retained with a C clip, aren't they?
I just read a post a few days ago about using the 8.8 discs from an explorer on a 57 9" housing. I cannot seem to find it.
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