I'm working on getting my 40 ford deluxe road worthy and going through the brake system I discovered my front and rear brake drums and rims are not the same??? front wheels have 5.5" bolt pattern and rear is 4.75" bolt pattern. Someone modified the hubcaps on the front to fit these rims, so I'm guessing the front is the unique pattern? the rear is the banjo style but have no idea if its original to the car. Why would someone have mixed things up like this? Car appears to have/ been built sometime in the early 90's possibly.
Abone, that's what I would have thought as well but why would the front hub caps which appear to be correct ford hub caps have to be modified to fit those rims. that's a problem for another day....
I didn't catch that, thanks for astute observation. why in the world would someone do that.... sure as heck, went out and measured. those metal plugs are 5.5" for certain. So someone changed the hubs to a different bolt pattern for some reason. would it make sense to change the hub back to the 5.5", of course I would need new rear wheels then also.
Yep. Some genius changed the rear bolt circle to that of a Chevy! Now, IF the fronts have the '40 Ford type small caps, how about a pic of the wheels and modified caps?
here are some pictures of the front. Both the front and rear rims have multiple bolt hole options but still aren't interchangeable. go figure. also included the modified hub cap for the front, the rears aren't modified.
note a chevy wheel stud is 7/16 the 5.5'' pcd studs in your original drums are squeezemyfied into the stamped steel drum. i had a pair in my hands last week and I am sure the studs are not the common or garden variety and they have a crescent cut from the head and sit against the the inner hub as it comes from the flange. basically you need new drums that the knurling of the stud no longer needs and you need the press in studs for the cast new style drums. something like that. oh and undo the hub nut with the wheel on the ground. yes, definately do not remove the complete rear axle and torque tube and attempt to undo them..... dont forget the new 1/2'' wheel nuts. and if you are then going to use oem wheels, the wheel nuts are a funky taper with something different, and they are not 3/4'' either. the wheels are aftermarket the fronts dual drilled 5'' and 5.5'' the rears are drilled 4.5'' and 4 3/4'' the aftermarket steel smoothie wheels that you have are designed to use a 7.5'' hub cap, stock ford is 8 1/8'' the caps have had the snap ring brought in from 8 1/8 to 7.5 it was probably easier and cheaper 35 years ago to redrill the hub than buy new wheels i would leave it all be....
thanks for the info Nobby and everyone else. I will most likely leave it be. the only issue I will run into is if I need to replace those rear drums I guess, unless someone sells some that match my bolt pattern.
yes, thats the trouble, you need a puller to get the drums off too, there is a long woodruff key in there. the hub is wedgemated to the axle. so don't mix them up side to side. if you need new drums you are in the **** because you will need to not only buy new drums, but 10 studs and new wheels!! damn. the funny thing is, i have those wheels and had those hub caps 'new' and planned on doing what someone there has done and bodge the caps on, but i sold the caps and bough the plain baby moon type, now i am going to get seies 14 gennies that take the 42 car 46 truck caps stright off the hop. - those arent 42 car caps, i didnt look hard enough its something about the later non standard early rim having a snap bead for a modern tyre 'clincher if you will' and not an inner tube and no safety bead / snap bead.
I have the puller, already had drivers side off. the brakes were locked up when I bought the car. they are all free now and I'm going through the brake system. I was bone dry, bleed the brakes and waiting to check for leaks.
The good thing you have going for you IF you want to go back to original Ford. The hubs are on the inside of the drums, so you can find a stud that will fit, install in the hub and drill the drums out (making the drums a slip fit on both front and rear). You won't need new drums, just wheels with a 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/ford-lug-stud-new-drums.278605/#post-2955889
how does the hub separate from the brake drum? are they press fit? when I removed the drivers side rear, I had to pull the hub off with the drum.
Originally the studs had a small lip at the inside end of the thread that is swedged, holding the drum tight to the hub. Your modified ones may have had the threaded portion of the old studs cut off and the swedge is still there. And, the center hole of the drum is pretty much a press fit on the hub snout too. So even after you drill the swedged studs out and press the stud remnants out with proper support on the backside, you will still fight getting the drum loose from the hub without bending. If I am removing a drum, I basically know it’s going to be trash. I know of no reason to have the drum separated if it’s still good shape.
If you can center punch the cut off old studs, then drill down just enough to cut the Swedge with a 9/16” drill bit (I didn’t have to go more than 1/16” deep), then you can knock the remains of the old studs out. Then drill out the holes to 39/64” and press in Dorman 610-034 studs (1/2”-20). Just did this yesterday. I removed the old drum which was bad with just light pressure on the press, came off easier than expected.
The studs do not appear to be "tight" in the drum. some were able to be removed easily. the only reason i was contemplating separating was to have the drums turned.
^^^^ Great info on the Dorman#, my local parts source (NAPA) was befuddled over the right studs for '40 Ford p***. car, also longer studs for my 9" rear.
Here’s my thread showing install of new studs in 40 hubs for use with repro drums. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...t-question-new-studs-in-40-ford-hubs.1128114/
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