1960 Drum Brake Upgrade
 

Hello,

Greetings! A complete newbie here. I've just registered in a quest to find info on the refurb of my '60 Custom Cab. I've owned and written about old Fords and other old cars most of my professional life, but this is my first old F100.

The truck has been sitting for quite a while. The gas smells like it's old enough to vote. You should see the nasty black sludge I found at the bottom of the fuel tank. Looks like it could be an X-File. I've got the fuel system well at hand, but I am asking your help in rebuilding the brakes which are completly inop. I don't want to go the disc brake conversion route - I want to keep it pretty much stock looking, but I'm wondering if anyone has swapped bigger brakes in place of the stock 11 x 2 front/11 x 1 3/4 rear. Some literature I have shows that the Courier has bigger brakes: 11 x 3 front/11 x 2.5 rear. Just wondering if anyone has been down this road already.

Thanks very much.
BTW, how do I upload a couple photos of my truck?

All the best

Welcome to FTE.

I believe the Couriers have metric threads, so they prolly won't work. The 1963/64 Galaxie HiPo's had 11x3 finned drums in the front and 11x2 1/2 finned drums in the rear, but the bolt pattern is too small.

The 68/72 F100 has 11x3 front drums. 11x2 1/4 rears. What is involved in switching these to a 1960 F100 may be known by someone here.

Welcome to FTE to upload some pics you can create a gallery by going into quick links where that blue bar is then go edit options then it will take you to a page then look on the left hand side got to edit gallery there you can create a gallery and upload pics of your computer for us to see:D hope this helps

Add a hydra-vac and duel master with the bigger brakes

Welcome to the board!!

Here's something else to consider while you are messing with the brakes; upgrade them to have the self adjusting hardware. I think ford went to self-adjusting brakes in 66 or 67.
I am running a 1960 F100 9" differential under my 49 F1. I upgraded my brakes to have the self adjusters. You'll need to buy a hardware kit and a spring kit for each drum. The parts are readily available and inexpensive.

Bobby

I haven't done it, but i would suspect that the larger rear brakes from the 68- 72 should bolt right up. the axles interchange between the 57 - 72 Fords, so the brakes should also interchange.

you will need everything from the newer truck such as the backing plate and hardware, but i suspect it should be a direct bolt on replaccement affair.

not sure on the emergency brake cable, but that should also swap between the two or use the one from the donor truck.

as long as the distance from the rear end housing flange (not the backing plate) to the axle flange face are the same between the two, they should bolt right up.

rgds
Mike

Thanks guys. I just did some checking and the front drum brakes on a '62 T-Bird are 11 x 3 inches wide, front and rear. That's pretty big stuff. Car and wagon brakes are 11 x 2.5 front and rear. I wonder if those T-Bird brakes would go on my truck axle. I guess I'd have to get the specs from the bearings.

I got a new set of lines from Inline Tube in preparation of the brake job. I've also got a solid roof, hood, gas tank (I got about two big shovels full of some kind of super-nasty black tar-like sludge out of it) and rust free seat frame coming from California. I've still go to deal with a rusty bed floor and some soft spots in the cab floor.

I'm having the carb rebuilt by the Holley Custom Shop, and refurbing the fuel system with all new stuff. Got a POR-15 kit to clean and seal the fuel tank. I've used 'em on motorcycle tanks with very good results.

Thanks for the help. Adding the self adjusters is a great idea.
Tom

Hopefully someone more knowlegable will chime in, however to provide more drum width something else has to change. It may be the offset (setback) on the backing plates. I do not know myself. I know that on my 9 ich rear I managed to find a 68-72 F-100 rear. The backing plates were pitted and I got a later nice clean set. I verified all of the measurements comparing my pitted ones to the later ones. They are identical except for the Bendix part number. If you want to compate detailed measurements on your 60 rear backing plates to my later rear backing plates, PM me.

I've considered swapping rear ends, but I'd only gain 1/2 inch. I'm not sure that would justify the effort. Could you tell much difference in your brake performance? Did you change your front brakes at all? Since the fronts do the majority of the stopping, I'm thinking I should concentrate my efforts there.

Bill, the retired Partsman, mentioned using 68/72 F100 11x3 front drum. This sounds interesting.

You are on the right track. I read somewhere that about 70% of the braking is done with the front brakes and on trucks where very little weight is on the rear that percentage might even be higher, so I would concentrate on the front. You can convert to front discs and still remain stock looking. :)

Hello,

Can't help with the brakes, new myself, but I was only able to upload pictures after I downloaded and installed the Firefox browser software. Then it was simple and easy to do. Only wish it was warmer here in PA so I could do some work and take some pics.

Dennis
52 F1

I'll keep working on it. May call John Vermeersch at Total Performance in Detroit. He's about the best Ford answer man I know.

I've upgrade my early 60's F100 9" rear brakes from 11" x 1 3/4" to 11" x 2 1/4". The '79 Ford Van E150 9" rear backing plates, drums, hardware w/ self adjusters, I used fit right on. The only modification needed was enlarging the 3/8" mounting holes in the backing plates to 1/2". The emergency brake cable from the early 9" worked fine. My truck is still in the build stage not running, but there is a dramatic difference in appearance with the larger drums.

After installing new axle bearings, new seals, all new brake hardware, and new brake shoes I'm having difficulties installing the drums completely on to the axle hubs. I suspect the axles are a wee bit short causing the edges of the brake shoes to rub on the drums. Needs further investigating. May have to try 2" wide brake shoes.

I put 11 x 3 front drums on my '64. It had basically the same brake setup the older series trucks had., as well as up to 1967. I was able to mount the 11 x 3 backing plate and then only mod was using the larger '69 wheel bearing. But wasn't difficult and a big difference in braking, going from 11 x 2 to 11 x 3.

LOL the guy who started this thread hasn't been here since March 22 ,2007..kids are all grown up...