so I'm in the middle of a brake job on my 72 f250 and I've run into a bit of a crossroads that is wondering which way I should take. The front brake shoes and drums that are on my truck are the heavy duty 2.5inch wide shoes with the 2.5" deep drums. I've already got some new 2.5" shoes but I'm having a hard time finding the 2.5" deep drums, all my local parts places want 200$+ per side (I live in Canada). Now I've found some on lmc for 120$ a side, which isn't to bad. But they sell the regular duty 2" deep drums for 60$ a side, that's half the price.

what I'm wondering is if I exchange my 2.5" shoes for 2" ones and order in the 2" deep drums will everything install fine with no issues? I know it will effect how much I can tow and haul but I'm now planning on doing any heavy pulling with this truck anyways.


anyone have any opinions on this?

 

Bump thread

 

Ok I have not done this nor do I have your year truck but this is what I have found on other drum brake cars/trucks.
The backing plates are different between the 2 systems beside the drums & shoes. May also have different wheel cly sizes between them too. Master bore size could be different too.


I can tell you what I ran into with front disc brakes on my 81 F100. I have 2 trucks 1 a project the other for parts. The project has 5x5.5 wheel bolt pattern the parts truck 5x4.5 wheel pattern.
I wanted to use the parts truck suspension but the 5.5 pattern disc. so I could run my after market wheels.
Brake calipers are the same size/part number and how they mount so thinking just swap disc....nope!
Spindles are different between the 2 wheel bolt patterns and the disc hits the caliper mounting bracket. BTW IIRC the wheel bearing are the same between the 2 disc.


That's not the only thing different, the king pin sizes are different and the small wheel pattern comes with power brakes the other non-power brakes. Brake pedals are different between power & non-power trucks.


So with that said and not having the parts at hand or someone posting you can OR can not do this I would say it will not work.


Now if you want to dig deeper and have access to a Ford parts book look up things like the spindles for both size brake systems. if they are the same numbers "maybe" you can do the swap using your spindles.
Check the backing plate numbers, wheel cly size & numbers.
I would say check wheel bearing sizes but after what I ran into I don't think that will work too well but is nice to know if the same any way.


Good luck and a bump
Dave ----

 

That might be a can of worms to cause more confusion since there were 2 different king pin sizes that year too, probably on a GVW split but can't say for sure. Just biting the bullet on the expensive drums might be the cheapest way out. If you do decide to swap the backing plates and go with the 2", take fuzzface advice and look up every part in the book, including the wheel bearings/seals to see which parts are comparable. Could be the 2" are light duty and everything including the I beams would have to be swapped (due to the 2 different king pin sizes for that model)

 

Ok thanks guys you bring up some good points, I think I'll just go with the more expensive drums and save the possibility of a hassle later down the road.

thanks again

 

Check out RockAuto!

 

The best option is to pull the front suspension out of a 1970 to 1979 F250 with disc brakes. That way you get better brakes and easier to find parts. But that's just my opinion.

 

Always thought rock auto was US only, but just looked and found the drums for 65$ a piece! Right on! Thanks man you just saved me quit a bit of cash

 

Those will work, but they are probably composite drums, not cast, made you-know-where. Check for runout or out of roundness. A lot of guys will make a light face cut on a drum machine just to be certain they are true.

 

Rock auto lists a couple of different makers. One is Raybestos, and the other Centech(I think) the drum weighs 29 pounds, sounds like metal to me.

 

Not cast in one piece. Brand names don't mean much anymore.

 

Which one of those brands is the better choice? I'm really not too familiar with either of them

 

Raybestos.

 

Ok. Thank you