Ok, so I've had a hell of a time trying to find definitive answers on this so let's give it a go. I've got a ford 9inch from a 58 ranchero and trying to see if other drum brakes will fit. I've heard 61' up ford truck brakes work but the bolt pattern is 5 on 5.5 whereas as the rancher bolt pattern is 5x4.5 anyone have any info/ideas on this?
Let me ask a silly question. What are you wanting to gain? A bigger shoe surface? A bigger diameter drum? A more readily available drum? The reason I ask it there are different pieces that interchange based on what you actually need.
I’m guessing your 58 has 11” shoes which continued until the early to mid 90’s whether the rear was a 9” or 8.8. You’re looking for more width. The last 8.8’s has 2-1/4” wide shoes. My replacement drums have 3 hole patterns so that’s not go into be a problem. I don’t know what the 58’s shoe width are but you need to start there. It may take different backing plates or axle length. Good luck
I’m pretty sure the Ranchero and station wagons already had wider brake shoes than the Fairlane, Custom models.
I currently have no brakes at all, so I'm starting from scratch in that aspect. I just want to figure out my best options
You have a big bearing housing, so most any full-size Ford rear brakes up to about '64 should fit. You can go newer still as long as you make sure they are for the big bearing housing. Best bang-for-the-buck is this IMO... Ford 9 Inch Rear Explorer Disc Brake Kit With Shoe Style Park Brake (quickperformance.com)
Do you have backing plates? If so check and see if '63 - 64 drums will fit and not interfere with the backing plate lip. I was helping someone awhile ago find something to fit and I think we were able to fit '64 rear drums on it.
Yeah, these guys are correct. You are actually a lot better off having the big bearing housing. You got it made now.
I'll note that there are two different big bearing backing plate bolt patterns, you do need to check to see which one you have.
Didn't the early 9 inch rears have an odd 2 1/4 brake spacing on the axle compared to the later 2 3/8 or 2 1/2 versions? I tried to get custom axles for a 59 F100 rear end I narrowed and moser said they couldn't do it and I ended up putting 70s F100 brakes on it .
Maybe swap to explore tube ends and run early 90s explorer drums? I know a lot of guys swap to explorer ends to aid in disc brake swps
Well from what I've been reading, it seems that 1963 galaxie brakes should work, and atleast it shouldn't be to big a deal to get parts for them
Ok, so looking for a different option than the galaxie brakes now, I'm in canadia and it's a lot harder to get some of the parts like that. All said and done it was gonna be like $950 for drum brakes. Anyway I can get a big bearing newer version with 2 1/2 shoes from a buddy and I'm thinking I can plug weld the existing holes and re drill for the old style flange. The axle spacing is 2 1/4 so I'm thinking put the 2" shoes on and the 63 galaxie drum (those parts wherent to bad of a price). Does this sound like it might work to anybody?
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