I've got an early 60's big bearing 9 inch in my '49 F1, the kind that is a total bolt in, which is nice. Stock truck brakes blow, but I pulled the backing plates and drums from a '76 Lincoln rear I had. It looks like it will all bolt right on and give me 11"x2.5" brakes with self adjusters to boot. Just have to have the drums drilled for the big bolt pattern. I have not seen this upgrade mentioned in my searches. Is it just so obvious that nobody talks about it, or am I missing something? Seems alot easier and cheaper than the early T-bird swap I saw online....
Sounds like a cool swap. My fiance has a 51 F1. I might have to look into that setup on hers. That old Dana 44 is no bueno. It's geared like a tractor. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for further info.
I am posting some bad pictures. I never saw the Lincoln the axle came out of, just was told it was from "one of those big ol' Lincolns." I got rid of it when I realized it was way too wide for anything I had, gave the carrier away. The guy I gave it to wanted to know what year it was, so I found the tag in my shop and ran the numbers, came out as a '76. If you look up drums for a '76 Continental or Mark IV on a parts site, you see drums just like the ones I have, available new for about $50. I think '73-'79 are the same. I'm still waiting for someone to say "Hey *****! Did you happen to notice (reason it won't work)?!--because obviously I haven't. On the axle swap subject, the early Ford truck 9" into F1's, that's about the easiest swap out there. Spring pad spacing is the same. Depending on your trans and mount, you may have to use some degreed wedges to tilt the axle to phase it up and eliminate vibration. And the shocks I think have to be dealt with. I did the swap in high school in '80-'81 and can't remember much that far back. I think the axles from Ford trucks all the way into the '70's will work. You can get 31 spline axles and a trac-lock pretty easy with those. There's lot of info out there on this swap.
Some of the "brake offset" is in the axles and some in the backing plate. If the axles have the same offset, it should work great!
Yes, the axle flange/backing plate/drum relationship I figured would be the sticking point. I measured the truck axle backing plate to outer axle flange distance and come up with about 2". I dropped the backing plate from the Lincoln with the shoes still installed into the drum and did the best I could to position everything where I though it should be depth-wise. The inside of drum to outer part of the backing plate measurement also comes out around 2", maybe a hair more (see pics). Either way it's probably within 1/8"--close enough, I would think, for a guy with some washers and an angle grinder to get it to line up. Found the axle tag right next to the computer, under some unopened junk mail--go figure: WGC-A5 6CD 2.75 9 470E I have a '70 K10 burb project and a '41 Ford 2 door disaster in progress right now, so I'm not going to be able to bring this thing home right away. If anyone else wants to be the guinea pig, please keep the thread going. If it turns into a fiasco, I apologize in advance.
Was thinking I might re-drill one of the drums myself and see if this would work or not so I could stop thinking about it. Turns out the center hole or pilot hole on the drum from the Lincoln is larger than the truck drum, so it won't fit tightly down on the axle. That also prevents me from using the usual low buck method of redrilling. Probably a way to make some spacers, I guess. D'oh. It had to be something.
a simple machined ring that slips over the axle pilot will take care of centering the drum. rip it all apart and see if it fits.
I've read on the Ford-Trucks site that you can use a p***enger side axle from the 70's Ford p***enger cars on each side of the Ford Truck housing. Apparently, the housing had an offset pumpkin on the p***enger cars so the p***' side is longer than the driver's side. Though I guess it's like a half inch shorter than the stock truck axle, but will still work. You will still need to drill the axle flange, and the drums to match your wheels, but at least the drum would fit the axle. Otherwise, if you're running steel wheels with caps, you could just get the wheels that came with the axles.
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