Technical 1959 Ford 9 inch brakes

I have a 1959 9 inch Ford rear axle that has no brake drums on it. The axle offset is about 2 1/8 if an inch by my measurement. What is the easiest swap to a more common rear brake drum/shoe combination?

 

Before new rear ends and brakes were available I used to cut down 57/59 rears for my chassis business and used 60/64 11X2 1/2 in brakes on my chassis. They were easy to find then but I don't know about now.

 

I found this thread interesting. It seems a nice, inexpensive upgrade.


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/9-inch-rear-disc-brake-installation.569272/

 

I'm thinking there are only two brake offset dimensions for 9" Ford......2 3/8" and 2 1/2".

Speedway Motors have a diagram in their catalog, should be available online too, for measurement criteria.

Ray

 

OP should post the bearing OD.

 

Bearing is about 3 1/8 inch. Has part # 88128 on it. American bearing co

 

If I remember correctly, the frist-generation 9" is a mix of brake offset and bearing size, not found in later units.

I was working on a '57 9" and had to mix two Willwood kits to make it work.

 

I thought those 2" offset brakes were unique to the axle offset. Moving up to later model brakes would require changing axles too??

 

I definitely don't want to change the axles.

 

I put a small bearing 9" in place of 2 different 8" rears and both times the brakes from the smaller rear fit like it was made for it. The only down side at all is that they were 10x1.75.

 

The 57/59 rears and the 60/64 rears have the same bearing offset.

 

There was a 2 1/4" offset in 68-71 F100/150 Ford 4x2 rears.
I was lucky enough to get one of those odd balls !

 

I'm thinkin that the offset for wider binders is built into the backing plates of the wider ones .

 

correct

 

I have a big bearing '57-'58 9", this originally had 11"x2" brakes. I read somewhere on the HAMB that
re-drilled early F-100 front drums would work with a centering ring on the pilot; but when I experimented with the pieces I found the drums were not deep enough. Played around with some other parts and ended up using re-drilled F-1 front drums and 1-3/4" shoes. Had to use a centering ring on the pilot and trim a little off the drum flange to make it work. I also have a '59 small bearing rear that originally had 11" x 1-3/4", playing with the parts it looks like this set up is where the early F-100 drum would work.
Neither of these set-ups would be economical unless you had the stuff laying around, which I did; so it worked out in my case.
There was another thread on here that outlined how to install later 10" brakes from a Lincoln; but that was limited to small bearing rears.
They do make repop drums for either width brakes; but they are pricey, and many times out of stock.
They are full cast drums and I have read they are not real concentrically cast.
Best bet may be to switch to some early '60's big car backing plates as the drums are still available for those in replacement parts market.

 

Thanks Krylon