Howdy, I want to swap my drum brakes to disk on my 61 Ford Country Squire. According to the companies that sell brake kits (such as Wilwood) they require bolt pattern spacing (which I meet as small bearing) and 2.5" or 2.66" axle flange spacing. I only have 2". What options do I have? Wheel spacer? Custom axles? Complete new rear end housing? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. BTW you guys helped me build my 61 Impala, you can see it on Longboards journal.
Sounds to me like you need to have axles with the wider axle stick-out dimension. You might be able to find a stock replacement axle from a newer application that will work, you'll just have to measure up what length each of your axles is to get started.
There is also the new custom axle route, Moser is probably the best route there.
A spacer could be fabricated for your current axles, it would have to go on first, up against the axle flange, then the rotor, and then the wheel so it would need longer studs.....but this is really a not very good idea in my opinion, puts too much stress too far outboard on the stud.
When I converted the rear brakes on my '56 Ford F100 I had to have Moser built a set of custom axles. It took a couple of phone conversations to make sure that the build dimensions were understood and correct. The finished parts worked out perfectly and the Wilwood brake package bolted in without any issues.
I used 2000 Crown Vic rear disc assemblies on my small bearing 9 3/8 Mark IV housing, they utilize the same small bearing retainer bolt "circle" and 5 on 4.5" BC rotors. Here's a couple pics:
This pic shows where the lower axle flange needs to be slightly trimmed to fit the CV caliper mount assemblies, gives necessary clearance to E-brake cables.
Used assemblies cleaned and painted with new E-brake shoes/hardware installed.
Here shows the necessary spacer required to take up the space difference between the drum brake backing plate and the newer CV caliper mount backing plate. In my case I needed a .221" spacer between the retainer and wheel bearing. I had these spacers made on a lathe and installed when I installed new wheel bearings/locks, they can also be installed with the spacer being more of a "U" shape so new bearings would not need to be installed, I went with new WB's so it was a full round spacer for me.
Hope this gives you another low cost option which uses off the shelf, easily found replacement parts. Good luck.
What's wrong with the rear drum brakes? I try to avoid lots of work to get marginal gains, but that's just me. How do you intend to hook the emergency brake?
I have a '59 Ford with a front disc conversion, stock drums out back and it stops well. I need the e-brake since I have a 4-speed. I spent a lot of time getting the e-brake to work right.
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