I searched high and low for this info and couldn't find it, so I decided to buy a bunch of parts and figure this out for myself and the future builder. I'm by no means a pro at this, this has come about during my first build which I am in the process of now. This is just a technical comparison at best. My original question was if the Speedway Hubs (part number below in pics) would be a cross over for 53 to 56 Hubs. In fact they are not, however I did find out some good info so let's get this going. I purchased an unmolested set of 53-56 F100 brakes a guy had cut off the truck and stuck in his parts shelf for years. I also picked up a new set of Speedway hubs and ***ociated bearings and seals. A little info on the Speedway stuff. Currently they do not offer the bearings and seals as a separate part number on thier website. I called to order them instead of ordering the kit they sell separately on thier website. This will save you around 40 dollars. The bearing races are already installed into the Hubs from them so why buy more races? Again part numbers are all in the pics below. Start with a side by side comparison. For some reason the opposite side didn't upload, but ya get the idea. Speedway hubs is the clean new one, the 53 to 56 hub is the rusty looking one for future reference. Bearing depth for the outer is the same dimensions from the top of the flange area to the top of the bearing race between the 2 hubs. Pilot hole for the drum is a bit different between the 2. The drums I'll be listing below will need the center hole machined out. Not just ground out but precision machined since it centers the drum correctly. Stock 53 to 56 hub pilot hole size Here we have the flange heights and the difference between the two. It's the same either way ya flip it, but I figured I'd show both sides. Next is the rear bearing race depth on each. Again both are the same on this as well. Here are the bearings and seal for the Speedway hubs. There is plenty of info on the F100 parts so I won't go into that. The inner bearing also has the proper radius on it to match the spindle. This is nice so you don't have to grind it down. Next is the inner diameter of the bearing race locations. These do vary from hub to hub as the measurements will show. Front of hub to drum flange location on each hub. There is a height difference on each one. The bolt patterns are the same 5 on 5.5 The outer bearing ID is 3/4 on the new Speedway hub. From the looks of it both the F100 hub and Speedway hubs have the same outer bearing, but they do not. They just share the same ID on the outer. The inner bearing ID is 1-11/16" on the Speedway hub. This is the same as the F100 bearing. The F100 bearing has a larger ID on the bearing though, so make note of that. The seals are also different. The original F100 hub is a larger OD with the same ID. The Speedway hub has the same ID as the factory hub but the OD is smaller so they don't interchange. The two hubs do sit on the spindle pretty much the same. The F100 hub sits a little deeper on the spindle then the Speedway hub. Maybe 1/16" total. Next is drums. I have a stock 53 to 56 F100 drum, a new 56 f100 1/2 ton drum from Napa and a new 1980 Ford Bronco drum from Napa. The only one that works with the Speedway hub is the 80 ford bronco. The others do not work, they sit to far from the backing plate. Both the new 56 and old 56 drum do fit the stock F100 hub. Remember as stated above the pilot hole in the drum will need machined out on the Bronco Drum to fit properly. I hope this info helps some of you guys that might want to use the Speedway hubs. I'm going to run them, along with updated self adjusters. Thanks for checking out the post, have a wonderful day!
Boy, you sure did your homework, Sherlock! Nice tutorial! I did note one thing... The studs in the Speedway hubs have a shoulder protruding on the wheel side that might stop a lug nut from tightening all the way down on your choice of wheels, depending on the thickness of the drum.
Here are a few more pictures. This will show ya the drum location on each hub. One other quick note. You don't have to use the Speedway bearings. After receiving them I started to cross reference the numbers. The outer bearing Timken # is 09074 and the inner bearing crosses over to the Timken 15118. This is the 80 Bronco Drum on the Speedway Hub. As you can see it fits well. Could go down about another 1/8" but after it's machined it should be good to go. Here is the Speedway hub with the stock 56 drum. Way off of course. EDIT: this was the rear drum not a front, I had them in the wrong parts box swapped. This is a 1-3/4" drum from the rear on the front. The front one from Napa does in fact match up to the original Factory stuff so of course this all works well together, but for reference these were all done on the same spindle and backing plate. Here is the part number for the Speedway hub.
I would not open up that pilot hole on the drums, then you would have ******* drums . I would take the hubs to a machine shop and turn down the o d of the hub to fit the i d of the drum.
That was noted in my findings, but I wouldn't advise. The way the hub was cast, if you take that area down you significantly weaken it. It is already thin enough in that area, machining the hub down would not work. You could try, but a failure on that would not be acceptable and would surely cause an accident. If it did fail, the hub would basically break in half.
I like that you're doing a Recap on this generation's old info for the young guns. This swap has been around since I was a Kid and I'm now post 70. I also was big into the 53-56 F-100 stuff and still am. Thing is about getting this Old is sometimes everything we know gets a little mixed together. To add to my confusion, I also own a 50 Merc and have done way to much Mix-n-Match over the years. One thing I couldn't help but notice on your used so called F-100 hub is the 3 threaded holes on the face of the drum flange. For the life of me I don't believe I have ever seen a bolted on drum on any F-100's. Seems they used a spring clip over the studs to retain the drums on the ***embly line, not bolts. Now the reason I brought up my 50 Merc is I do know those front drums used 3 bolts to fasten the Drum to the hub and they are also 5 on 5.5 bolt circle. Am I once again looking back into a Fog Bank of confusion?
Are the Speedway hubs sold as F1 or 53-56 Hubs . I know there is a difference but can’t remember what is different . I do remember the register where the drum seats is the same on both . Different than what is on the speedway hub .
Great tutorial and thanks for posting the pictures along with your homework - hopefully we can get a sticky on this thread !
They are sold as an early 40 ford design on their website. It says it on the box to. I do believe these are a good hub if one is replacing a bad F1 hub not an F100 hub. I'd need to do a side by side with an F1 hub though, which I don't currently have. I do realize that some of this info is out there. I really wanted to highlight the differences between the new hub vs an old one. I figure more info is better than none, especially on something that we can buy new to save from hunting for used items. I appreciate the friendly comments, as it was a fair amount of work to gather all the parts and put it all together in a tech thread. I enjoy helping where I can.
The Jalopy Journal
