Thread: 8" rear drum brakes

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Well, now that you can take those numbers and the measurements from flange to flange, and pretty much know what car your rear came from. Then you can go to any auto parts store and ask for whatever parts you need to complete the package. Looks like you are going to need wheel cylinders, a hardware kit for each wheel, the star adjuster mechanism that goes at the bottom (this might be a toughy as most auto stores don't carry these......maybe NAPA might) shoes, and drums.

You actually scored a pretty good rear end setup, and the posi is a plus. I'm not normally a fan of posi in a short wheelbase, light car because it tends to sometimes want to make the car go straight on turns, but you will be able to determine that when you start driving it. Some do, some don't. But the 8 3/4 is certainly strong and good looking. The only other problem you might have is that the snout on the rear is pretty long and T buckets have a short driveshaft even with an 8 inch or 9 inch rear, so you will have to see how that works out.

Good luck,

Don

BTW, I've been studying the picture you posted of your rear axle, and although it's hard to say for sure from the photo alone, there are a couple of things you might want to look at:

1) The spring that I mentioned earlier needs to not have those bends at the end. It not only inhibits the spring from moving properly, but it creates a spot where they can snap.

2) Your pinion is angled down and should be pointing up about 3 degrees.

3) It does look like your transmission tailshaft is close already to the u joint carrier on the rear axle. Ford transmissions are a little long anyway, but the extra length of that Mopar rear axle isn't helping. You might find you actually have to move the spring perch to the back of that rear crossmember to allow you to make a longer driveshaft. My Son is running a C4 transmission in his T bucket and the driveshaft ended up shorter than we would have liked, certainly shorter than the one in my T that has a turbo 350. Even if you leave the rear spring perch as is, I think it needs some additional gusseting.

4) If you cut those brackets off of the rear axle and use the ones Speedway sells that drop the radius rods down below the axle it will give you a better angle on the radius rods. They will be more level and not pointing up as they are in the picture. Not only will it look better, but it will give you more clearance between the radius rods and the back of the body.

5) There is a Volvo oil filter that screws right on the Ford and is waaaaaay shorter. It looks like yours is pretty close to the frame rail. I will get you the part number off of mine and let you know what it is.

Hope you don't mind me mentioning these things, but as long as you are redoing some stuff these might be better to do now than if the car is done.

The picture below shows how the Speedway brackets go and you can see how the radius rods lay on a more level plane.

Don

a company called ply do.

Ply-do only does Mopar parts up to 1952. Not likely to have parts necessary for this rear. Either Mopar or NAPA, or one of the Mopar specialty vendors may be a better choice. There is a Mopar parts web ring (www.moparts.com) that provides parts vendor listings.

I never mind anything that could make my car better.I will look into what you mentioned above.Thanks again. What should I do about the springs, bend it back or just get a new one.

I wouldn't bend it back, it would probably create a weak spot there. You could either go to a local spring shop and have a new main leaf and secondary leaf made up or buy a new rear spring......something like the one Speedway sells for the rear of a Model A. Probably cheaper to just buy new.

I think the previous owner did those bends for two reasons. First to drop it a little, an secondly to get some clearance between the bottom of the frame and the spring. They look a little close there. What do you think about moving the axle to the rear of the crossmember with a new perch? It would eliminate any clearance issues, and would give you a longer driveshaft.

BTW, what is the distance between your tailshaft and the rear axle yoke? We talked about this before but I don't think we ever found out. I am posting a picture of the rear of my '23 showing how a Model A spring lays to give you some idea.

Don

From going by the drive shaft it seems to be about a foot in between.

Is that one foot between the tip of the tailshaft and the middle of the u bolts that hold the rear u joint in place?

Don

Yes at least that is what it looks like because I am going but how the drive shaft
looks since the motor and trans is out.

If it is truly that short of a distance, you may want to really consider moving the rear back to gain as much room as possible. A short driveshaft works on some very odd angles and the u joints can bottom out against itself on up and down movement. You figure, by the time you get a tranny yoke in there and a rear yoke, your shaft will effectively be like 6 inches long.

Just a suggestion, but I would slip the engine and tranny back in and measure for sure. That extra long pumpkin on the 8 3/4 rear really chews up some valuable space.

Don