Could someone be so kind to walk me through the differences in Ford Bendix brakes? How different are the F-1 and F-2 etc? Any differences in the rear ones besides hand breake cable and mechanism? Photo courtesy of @RICH B Thanks in adavnace.
A Bendix is a Bendix is a Bendix. Other than size differences, and mounting flanges, the Bendix brakes are basically the same all the way up to current production. As Stud said, the F-1 and early F-100 are 11", and the F-2 is a 12". Both will fit on an early Ford spindle, with the F-2 requiring a little filing of the mounting bolt holes. Finding the proper hubs and bearings takes a little finagling, but has been done a million times.
The big difference other then what has been said already is that the shoe (and stock drum) for the F2s (12") are harder to get then the F100/F1 (11"). I believe there was a post on here about using GM station wagon rear shoes from the mid 70s (?) or have yours relined. A quick look on Rockauto confirmed that most of the F250/F350 (53-56) shoes were listed as 11". I was looking at those backing plates from the ads also.
Cheers fellas. So the F1 brakes are an inch smaller (11") than 40 Ford car brakes (12")? If so why would that have been designed that way when a truck would most likely need as good, if not better brakes than a car? Did they go that way with the introduction of the bendix style brakes thinking they would be more effective then transition to 12" with the bigger trucks. Were there 12" Bendix on the rear of the F2 that bolt up to banjo rear ends? Thanks
'53-'56 F100 are 11" and are Bendix. They work very well on the front of my '40 Std Tudor. Much better than the original '40 12" brakes. Dave
The Bendix front brakes from a 49-52 F-1 are the same brakes as the 53-56, except the hubs and drums are offset slightly different. Not much, and shouldn’t make a difference on a hot rod.
The servo action of the Bendix brakes were better then the Lockheed style is why I THINK they only needed 11" brakes for the later trucks (F1 and on). I also remember reading on here that the F2 rear brakes are NOT a bolt on to the banjo rears. You can either modify the backing plates of the F2 or F1/F100 to fit the banjo or go to Lincons for Bendix rears. A lot of people have had no problems with running F100 fronts and stock Lockheed rears.
Thanks fellas. Anyone know whats involved in fitting F2 12" rear brakes to a banjo rear end? What else did the rear bendix brakes come on in 12"?
Pinhead, you could probably do just fine with less rear brake, the fronts do most of the work, especially on a light weight rod.
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