So a while back I purchased a dropped tube axle for a ‘46-8 Ford car. After getting it and learning a bit more, it had a ‘40-42 Drum hub and brakes? on it. Okay, so not knowing it was ‘40-42 I purchased a set of ‘46-8 hubs, aftermarket old stock ‘46-8 drums. Will all this work together, ie ‘46-8 drums/hubs on what I have ?
Early Ford, '40-42 had the hubs swedged on the inside of the drum. '46-'48 had the hubs on the outside of the drum. Either one will work in its factory configuration. If you decide to use new aftermarket drums, you need the inside mount hub, with the lug studs carefully removed and replaced and the new drum will slip on like a modern drum....
Besides the hub placement (inner vs outer), the difference is the later backing plate had an extra set of adjusters (4 instead of 2 ).
Yes, I have ‘46-8 hubs and drums, wanting to see if tgey work with the backing plates, etc I have. Thanks
Nope. The shoes are different, and the bottom link and brass cams are different. OP, yes you can use the hub/drum combos on the other era backing plates. But you cannot mix the years of hub to drum, as they have different offsets as explained above.
Duh, I didn't stop to think. The adjusters are on the bottom on the newer backing plates . Corrected my original post.
Ford sold the hubs and drums assembled together as a set fitting 1940-48 passenger cars (51A 1105 A) so what you have should work. What won't work is trying to use the early drums with the late hubs and conversely. Be sure the shop that assembles the hubs and drums know what they are doing as it takes knowledge and a very large press to install the studs. Maybe ask for a recommendation from someone at a local Early Ford V8 Club. Charlie Stephens
I think you need shoes through 1941. I would try to find someone to reline my original shoes or at least be sure you deal with a reputable supplier if you get new ones. I have read that some of the reproduction shoes had holes mislocated but I am not sure how widespread the problem is. Another problem I had was the relined shoes I bought had been arced for .030 over and my NOS drums would not go on. I returned the shoes to be arced to the correct size and after they fit fine. Charlie Stephens
I would also advise having your current shoes relined. Have them use the softest material they have. You can also have them arc the shoes to perfectly fit each drum. Send them the precise diameter of each drum. I use https://brakeandequipment.com/
Ok, so your backing plates are the early ones, '39-42. See the two castle nuts at the bottom of the outside side of the backing plate? These are adjustments to center the shoe within the drum. Use these adjustments with the other adjustment bolts further up on the backing plate to adjust the shoes. The late backing plate does not have these lower adjustment bolts. The way to adjust this is a little drawn out so I'll let you look into that and we can leave that to another thread. The shoes look the same between the early '39-'42 and the late '46-'48 but they cannot be interchanged with the incorrect backing plate. The difference is at the bottom anchor point, the early shoes have a round hole the late shoes have the same hole at the bottom but they have two flat "sides" to the holes. So you must get the shoe to fit the backing plate you have, in your case, you need the early shoe with the round hole. About the drums, It seems you have bought the late '46-'48 drums/hubs, these drums/hubs have the hub on the outside of the drum. The early drum/hubs have the hub mounted on the inside of the drum. The good news is that you can use the late drums with the early backing plate and shoe assy. This is exactly what I have on my Model A.
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