Chevy pattern drum brakes for early ford spindles?

[alteredpilot]

so here's the deal...
i have everything i need to put together my roller EXCEPT front brakes.

the car i'm building is going to be an early '60s car and as such, i'm having a real hard time putting disc brakes up front. now i don't have a problem with disc brakes, in fact i rather prefer them, but they will be terribly out of place on this car. the thing is that my front wheels are chevy pattern and are non negotiable at this point.

so the questions is....

aside from re-drilling ford hubs and drums to chevy pattern, are there any chevy pattern (5 on 4.75) to early ford spindle (37-78) conversions that anyone has experience with???

any info is much appreciated.

thanks.

 

[Hotrod46]

Sorry, I don't know of a specific swap, but I can make a couple of suggestions.

The first and easiest would be to use 5 1/2 to 4 3/4 adapters on early Ford brakes. Any Ford juice brake from 39-48 is a direct bolt on to your Ford spindles. If you can, get later 46-48 units as they're a little easier to adjust. The downside is that they are not self-adjusting or self-engizing, but should have plenty a stopping power with the right size master cylinder.

The second suggestion would take some machine work to do.

The F100 truck backing plates are easy to adapt to Ford spindles. They are 11" self-adjusting and self-energizing. The smaller Buicks from the 60's used finned aluminum front drums just like the larger cars, but I believe they used 11" drums with a 4 3/4" pattern. The larger drums are all 5" pattern, but could be redrilled for the smaller bolt pattern and work with 12" Ford baking plates from 39-48.

The larger Buick drums have been adapted to Ford and Lincoln backing plates since they became available in the 50's. There are bearing adapters available from a vender on the HAMB that makes the larger drum swap ALMOST a bolt on with the Buick hubs. I don't have any idea that they would work with the smaller drums, but you could turn a set on any small lathe.

The smaller Buick drums usually go cheap on EBAY, unlike the 12" drums. Also, lots of mid-size GM cars from the 50's and 60's had 11" drums on the front and had 4 3/4" pattern. They used iron drums, though. You could probably adapt them over to your spindles, too.

Mike

 

[Hotrod46]

BTW I'm running reproducition 39 Lincoln baking plates and Ford hubs with Lincoln drums. They are self-energizing and actually have TOO much stopping power for a light car. I had to swap in smaller wheel cylinders or they would have had a tendency to lock up before the rear brakes did anything. Point is that you won't be giving up much stopping power with drums, just fade resistance, and that has never been a problem on my car. Even when pulling a trailer in the mountains.

Mike

 

[VegasBruce]

Having the drums redrilled for the Chevy pattern isn't to bad if i remember correctly. My rears we're changed from Ford to Chevy.

 

[eafree]

There is a kit from Speedway that put Chevy rotors and calipers on early Ford spindles. I used it on my build and it worked well.
Brake Kit: 1969-77 GM Caliper to Early Ford Spindle, Chevy B-P Item #: 91631901

Eric

 

[ChestersAlive]

I'm not trying to push my book here, but my chapter on brakes goes into great detail on all the different axles, what fits what, where to get different adapters,as well as diagrams of the adapters if you want to machine them, and templates to adapt disc brakes to the different axles. I flipped the calipers upside down so the flex hoses would go under the drag link. It is way too much information to print here, Sorry! If you use the disc brakes, use them without a power booster, otherwise the front will outbrake the rear.
Hope this helps....................Chester

 

[GizmoJoe]

... but my chapter on brakes goes into great detail on all the different axle s, what fits what, where to get different adapters,as well as diagrams of the adapters if you want to machine them, and templates to adapt disc brakes to the different axles...

You are right... there sure is a lot of info in that chapter!
I'm glad I bought the book.