Hi Guys,

I have a newbie questions for you in regards to Drum size. Is it possible to determine drum size based on the Car VIN Plate? The reason I ask is because I just recently obtained ownership of this 1969 F250, the truck was neglected and is in need of a new clutch. Currently the truck is in my driveway with blocks behind the tires to keep it from rolling therefore I don't really have a way to measure diameter and width where it sits. I need to determine the front and rear drum & pad (shoe) sizes so I can hopefully pull this into my garage and start working on it. Below is a pic of the VIN plate. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!



Your VIN number: F26YRE31394
Your Model Year is November 1968.
Truck Series: F250 4 Wheel Drive
Engine: V8 - 360cid, 2BBL carb
Assembly on: San Jose, CA

 

You will have to tear it down to find the rear brake size, pretty sure. At 6800 GVW, it's not the heavy duty so it could have had standard or optional brakes.
Also Ford changed a lot of those parts, like seals, mid year on the 69 so it's always good to take your VIN number anytime you need any parts
Another bit of advice, don't give up your old shoes for cores until the job is done, sometimes you need to re-use the pressed in anchor pin from your old ones.

 

1966: Ford introduced 12" x 2 1/2" brakes for F250's. Came standard equipment on 1966/72 Camper Specials and 1968/72 F250 2WD's with optional front disc brakes (rear only obviously).

On other 1966/72 F250's, it depends what the GVW is...if it has 12" x 2 1/2" brakes or 12 1/8" x 2" brakes.

Drum brakes: Front/rear is the same size.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's a way to tell without taking the drums off, but I don't think you can tell by looking at the VIN.

You'll have to get underneath the truck and take a look at the e-brake cable.

I know this applies to my 1970 F-250 CS, and I'm assuming it will also apply to your '69, even if it isn't a CS.

The cable from the under-dash (parking brake) pedal connects to the cables for the two rear drums via a yoke. If that yoke pivots on the frame, you have the smaller shoes & drums. If it connects to a free-floating yoke, you have the heavy-duty shoes and drums.

This is a picture of my "free-floating yoke":



Number Dummy helped me figure this situation out a couple of years ago, when I bought an e-brake cable from LMC that didn't hook up correctly. Apparently, the determinig factor in which e-brake cable to use was the size of the brake shoes. The LMC catalog only showed one, and (of course) it wasn't the one I needed.

For safety's sake, have someone standing by to sound the alarm while you're under the truck. If the truck moves while you're under it, you won't be in a position to deal with it.

 

thanks for the feedback everyone! I'll be pulling things apart shortly to investigate. It's definitely the free floating yoke for the rear brakes.