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I'm presently doing a rebuild of an 1949 ford f2 that was found in a salvage yard with my grandson.We find that the rear brake drums were not salvageable and in doing online searches we have found no one makes aftermarket. I would rather not change out the rear end so am looking for a pair of good usable ones someone may be willing to sell. Any help would be appreciated.
Hello Mr. Bodge, and welcome. You are looking for a hard to find set of drums. In ten years I have not found one single new drum. Used ones show up periodically. I had a full set of used ones for sale earlier this year and a guy happily drove from two states away to get them.
I only have two 14" drums left from an F3 that I would give free to a member here if they are wanted. The shipping will be a lot though. That is why the guy drove far to get the 12" ones.
Your best bets are to check local junkyards for a F2 to plunder from, or watch E-Bay closely and often for a set. The F2 drums are not interchangeable with any other truck to the best of my knowledge.
Good luck,
Tom
That's what I have found out. Everything on this build had been a project. I drove overt 4 hours for a set I thought were right only to find out upon returning to my project that they were the later series drums.
Add my welcome. You’ve already learned that the 12” F-2 Lockheed rear drums are made of “unobtainium”. The original Ford number for them was 8D 1126, then Ford decided to change the number to 8D 1126-A. The Kelsey Hayes number is 31087, and National Wheel Rim Association (NWRA) cross reference number is X-21302. A cross reference, though, is useless here because the references show that nobody else used that brake drum. If anybody were to have a set, or know where to refer you, it would be Chuck Mantiglia of Chuck’s Trucks in CT. Below is a link to his site. Stu
Hey J Bodge,
You may want to revisit the decision to keep the rear Axle original.
The original gearing on these things was very low … making modern highway speeds difficult.
We swapped out our F1 rear end for an Explorer 8.8 in axle with 3.73 gears & rear disc brakes. I was worried about
using the Explorer leaf pack as it only had (3) springs vs. our original F1 pack of (8?) but it's been fine. We've hauled all kind
of things with no issues & we've now got 28K miles on our truck.
I supposedly bought the last two in existence three years ago. Bill (numberdummy) found them for me. Ask him as maybe more have been found. They were almost $200 apiece including shipping. I finally sold the axle and replaced it with a more modern 2001 8.8" Ford Explorer Sportrac rear axle for $100 and 2 new drums for $60. So you would be far better off replacing the axle with a readily available 8.8" or a 9" Ford rear axle unless you are determined to stay stock with everything.
The problem you are accepting by going to one of the half ton or SUV axles is mix matched wheel bolt patterns.
Seems I recall an old discussion where Chuck spoke up suggesting that the Timken axle can be retained for originality reasons (if that’s important to a guy) but the brakes from the backing plates outward can be replaced by commonly available modern F-250 Bendix 12” pieces. That’s a question to ask him if you make the phone call. Stu
The problem you are accepting by going to one of the half ton or SUV axles is mix matched wheel bolt patterns.
Seems I recall an old discussion where Chuck spoke up suggesting that the Timken axle can be retained for originality reasons (if that’s important to a guy) but the brakes from the backing plates outward can be replaced by commonly available modern F-250 Bendix 12” pieces. That’s a question to ask him if you make the phone call. Stu
That might be cheaper if it includes different drums. And yes the bolt pattern could be a problem if you were keeping stock wheels. Usually the updates include larger rear tires so the wheel/tire assy is not interchangeable with the front anyhow. Also the 8.8” or 9” will probably give you a more drivable truck on the highway for no additional $$$.
Staying purely original might be a long road. But unless you are working toward a Dearborn Award in the EFV8 Club nobody will know but you that you’ve taken an alternative solution. The ‘48 to early ‘51 Lockheed equipped F-3 axle would seem to be an easy fix except that your 16” wheels won’t fit the 14” drums. A later ‘51/‘52 Bendix equipped complete F-2/3 axle with 12” drums would at first blush seem an option, but the parking brake on them is on the tranny, not located at the backing plates. I’d again suggest a call to Chuck. Stu
08-20-2018, 03:07 PM
