Hey everyone, I got a Ford 9 and its bare. I want to run drum brakes on it. How do I figure out what brakes I need? The F9 is a big bearing off hand I cant remember if its the old or new style. Is there anyway to put drum brakes on it for less then $300 like all the kits you can buy? Thanks in advance for the help.
Tricky when you consider all the variations what with 2 bearing sizes and several backing plate offsets as well as drum diameter.
Big bearing backing plate needs to match the axle housing flange , if they match , drum needs to match the axle flange bolt pattern . The offset of the backing plate determines shoe width , and drum width for shoes . Ford changed lots on there cars and trucks , meaning one after the other being ***embled can have completely different , suspension , brakes, engine , trans , etc , depending of what use it was designed for . 2in or 2 1/4 in stuff easy to find 2 1/2 can be a little tuff . I do think Explorer rear disc is an option you may want to think about , price may be cheaper in the long run that drum brake stuff and it will stop way better .
It would be nice if anybody reading this thread who has a chart or list of rear brake drum and backing plate offsets and shoe widths could post it up for folks that may need to search out rear brakes in the future.
Thanks for the info. I have disc on the front of my car so I figured drum brakes on the back would be just fine. They do have more stopping surface then the disc brakes do.
For the average front engine/rear drive vehicle (not T Bucket) the weight distribution and weight shift when braking puts somewhere around 70% of the braking effort on the front brakes. Sport utilities may have a different balance for obvious reasons, anyway, my point is the almost any decent sized drum brake that fits your housing will do the job. A disc system won’t hurt it any, but is unnecessary......IMO Edit: Also, it is more important that the center hole of the drum fits the axle shaft shoulder (register) than the lug bolt pattern. The lug holes in the drum can be drilled to match the axle flange bolt pattern. For that matter the center register can be altered too......either b6 marching the drum hole larger to fit the clever or making a press on bushing/sleeve for the axle register flange to upsize to drum bore.
Those brakes are easy to find just go to a U-pull it and snag some. if its big bearing pickup truck or wagon will have your biggest brakes. See if it still has the tag on it that should tell you what you got.
i have a pair of used big Ford old style backing plates with 11 x 2-1/4" shoes and ALL the hardware/wheel cylinders/springs/shoes/parking brake stuff etc on them...they will need rebuilding , they are as taken off an old 9" rear. i can't remember from what i also have a pair of used big Ford old style backing plates only that have been sandblasted/primed and painted if this stuff will help you out , you can have it all for free if you can figure out how to get it to California , or pay shipping. HAMB relay maybe? if someone comes to pick it up they must also take a bare 9" rear housing add up the cost of shipping , new wheels cylinders, new shoes and hardware to rebuild the $300 is probably not too bad
Thanks I sent you a pm. I'm going to look and my housing tomorrow to see if its the new or old style big bearing and will let you know. Thanks again
Do be sure to check what the backing plate bolt pattern is, especially if if has been narrowed by someone else. There are some aftermarket versions out there that are drilled for brakes other than Ford.
So I finally got a chance to look at my rear end and it’s the new style big bearing. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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