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Hey, new here I’m currently rebuilding a 50 f2 and was looking for advice on brakes, I was hoping to keep the drums all around but can’t seem to find anyone who has drums for an f2. Does anyone know where to find drums?
Welcome to the forum. New drums for an F-2 are NLA. If you find good used you’ll also need to be alert to the fact that yours are the Lockheed ‘48 to early ‘51 version. Late ‘51 and ‘52 have Bendix brakes. Your best hope is that a forum member speaks up and has an available set. Stu
Call Chuck at Chucks Trucks in Hamden Ct. he will set you up and knows exactly what you will need. He sorted out my rear Brakes on my ‘55 F250. I used ‘57 drums and a thicker shoe.
I also just purchased an 8 lug front disc conversion kit which will fit your truck as well. Others on here know better but I felt the safety of front disc brakes and a dual master cylinder was more important than keeping the original stuff. You can’t see it anyway behind a steel wheel.
Thx for info I guess it comes down whether to keep the 8 bolt wheels or convert to 5 bolt. Can anyone advise on the rims 2nd pic, I read that the stock f2 rims are window makers but they don’t look like them to me, I thought WMs were the ones with split ring 1st pic
F-2 rims are 16” with one piece drop center rims. Can’t tell from the second pic if that is a 17” widow maker or one piece 16” F-2 wheel. The first pic is a locking ring two piece that is not the bad widow maker style. Has a Goodyear split ring design and is very serviceable. Stu
The wheel in the first picture looks like a more modern wheel than what came on the truck and won't accept the stock hubcaps.
What do you want to do with the truck? If you want to keep it stock stay with the eight bolt pattern wheels. If you want to modify it without changing the stock appearance you can get a kit to adapt disc brakes in the front and swap out the rear axle with a pre-73 F-250 axle with higher gears.
If you can find a decent set of stock drums be aware, there isn't must material on the drums to turn them down. I have the original drums on my '49 and have had them turned but they shop had to leave a few grove lines in to keep in tolerance. I try to keep an eye on the shoe and have them relined when they get close to being thin.
For future reference, like Stu stated, there are two designs for the F-2s:
Thx guys, I took the wheels off last night and they are the dreaded WW. Wrapped some chain around them and pulled the valves, I’m guessing someone must have swapped these for the original f2 16s at some point or maybe up here in Canada they came with the 17 WWs. So, based on Stu’s comment pre 2014 econoline 250/350 rims will fit. Will they fit over the rear drums and will the dogdish caps fit on them?
If you have an F2 in Canada, it must be US production. In 1950, the options for Canadian light trucks was F47 (F1) and F68 (F3). There were no F2's in Canada.
Yeah, that changes everything. 17" wheels were spec'd for the F3/68. The 3 you have are likely original and the one was replaced with the lock ring style. I'm not sure if the later model drop center 16" wheels will fit over your big brakes. Hopefully Stu will come back with answers. For sure if you do use the later wheels, the stock center caps won't fit. The stock caps require the "innie" nubs like on your original wheels and Ford stopped using those in the mid 60's.
Ouch. It’s an F-68, and like Wayne said that changes everything. You have 14” Lockheed rear brakes that a 16” wheel won’t clear. Before I rattle off the swap options, which will be an involved discussion, if you are thinking of an axle swap this might be your easier option. Stu
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