For awhile I have been collecting parts for a trad project. When It got around to the ft brakes I knew I wanted Buick drums. About 3 yrs ago I picked up the drums, and read on here about the f 250 backing plate. The stage is set. I ordered wilson hubs, put them together and of course the rub on the drum. Had my machinest cut the lip on the drum, still the rub. Enter one of the Hambers, and we talked , his way really looked good but diff backing plates. As I'm loafing in the shop, I decide to put the hubs on the inside of the buick drums, problem solved. Take the hubs and drums to machinest, and he makes a .040 cut into the drum for the hub to align on, cuts the hub to make sure its lined up, puts 3 locating screws into the drum to hub and now its good to go. Sorry about no pics, but its beyond my capabilityNow to get the backing plates loaded, next week project.I'll be ready with brakes.Thanks for all the members that contributed. jim. For
I think you will find that the shoes hang out of the drum. The drum lining is not over the shoes in other words. Do some measuring or better yet do a scale layout to see what you have.
Ya know I wanted to run Buick Drums on the rear of a project I'm working on. I know it sounds wierd but its all about getting stopped. I found a unique solution also. I used buick backing plates. Hmmmmn what a concept. Of course that doesn't cure the front brake to ford pieces problem. I'll be glad to see your solution.
you can read all the post you want to. till you try to do it there is always some thing to come up.I have not seen anyone with the wilson hubs on the inside with the sq spindles.
Where you mount the drum depends on the hub you use. I've done it both ways. I seem to remember having to turn down the hub flange outer diameter so that it laid flat inside the drum where it was machined by Buick. Early hubs inside.... later hubs outside. I did have a machinist make centering rings. The rest I did on a brake lathe including relieving the drums for the baking plate clearance.
I don't know anything about the reproduction hubs but it sounds like he copied the later Ford hubs. If he did, then you will have to mount the hubs on the outside of the drum. Like I said it all depends on the hubs that you get. I used genuine Ford parts.
Like tommy said above, a lot does depend on the hubs that you use......BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, everything about which hub to use AND whether to mount the Buick drum on the inside OR the outside of the flange depends on WHICH BACKING PLATE you decide to use. That backing plate determines where the shoes are gonna be, and that backing plate's dimensions and offset are gonna determine whether or not it's gonna interfere with that Buick drum......once you "arbitrarily" decide to mount it on "some" hub, INSIDE or OUTSIDE the flange, 'cause "some guy on the H*** said he mounted HIS that way". DD
What if you use 40 Ford backing plates with 40 Ford hubs and 41-8 Ford spindles? Do I mount the hubs on the outside or inside of the drums? r
I've never personally done THIS particular swap but because of the "inward" offset of the '40 backing plate, I believe this one calls for the drum inside the flange, but I also think you'd want to use the '42-'48 hubs. '37-'48 spindles are ALL appropriate...same, dimensionally. There are several guys on here more qualified than me to set you straight on THIS swap. Above all, and I've tried to emphasize this several times on this forum, mock it ALL up before you cut / machine any of it. DD
I thought I was the only one to try to put 45 fins on a ford nine inch. I too used '60 buick backing plates. Redrill axle flange holes, lined up really well. The brake offset for buick is 1 7/8, ford is 2 3/8 or 2 1/2 depending on axle. Anywhoo, had local machinist move the axle bearing outward toward the wheel, to match the buick brake offset. Had a hub centric ring made to mate the ford axle center to the buick drum center. worked good for me.
Let me preface this with these are all old Ford parts. I know nothing about repro parts. This is a 40 Ford front hub. I don't know the year that Henry changed. As you can see it would be difficult to mount this on the outside of the drum. This is the inside. You can see the aluminum centering ring that was added. The inside of the drum. The outside diameter of the 40 hub is larger than the lighter colored machined surface shown here inside the drum. I turned down the hub flange so that it would lay flat on the machined surface. Here it is in place. The drums needed to have the backing plate grooves deepened so that the early Ford backing plates cleared when the drums were mounted. I did that and turned the hub down on a brake lathe. My friend made the centering spacer and drilled the new bolt pattern on the drums. Just because you took the hubs off of a 40 Ford doesn't mean that they are 40s and don't trust a vendor in a flea market. Like I said in an earlier post, the hub determines where the drum mounts. When the wheels and tires are on no one can tell how they are mounted.
I don't know about what yo uhave to do when using non ford parts, but damn this is almost a no brainer when you use the later ford hubs that mount from the outside. I've got them all the way around on my 32 using 48 style hubs front and rear. I did mine in autoshop cl*** during freshmen orientation in high school. what a racket it makes cutting those drums!
I spaced the backing plate out on mine by making new axle retainers. I too had to make a ring for the end of my axle. '62 backing plates and 90 fin drums. I figure leave the 45 fin drums for the open wheel guys. For me its all about stopping go fast cars need stop fast brakes. And using the Buick rear backing plates I have an E brake for when I'm having a bad day. 48 Glad to see its working for you. I like to see a fella work a solution prior to trying to find bolt together stuff. Hot rods just aren't bolt together. Very cool.
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