35 wires to later ford drums

C

camswax

Junior Member
Hi i have 35 wires on later ford drums not sure what year drums but the wheel studs are in the drum there is no hub both front and back. i bought the support rings from speed way but they are not thick enough can any one direct me in to the right direction? this is my first post so iam not sure how all this works thank you Jason (australia). i was going to make another thicker ring to go behind the speed way rings does that sound ok? thanks again.
 
What drums? If up to 48 the wheels should fit ok with the support ring.

If later (49 and Up), whole nother story
 
Back in 64 I used 35 wires on 42-48 drums-with drum behind hub & installed two 7/16" flat washers filed a bit to fit over each wheel stud,then ground the drum balance weights or even knocked one or two off so the outer hub of wheel would seat properly on drum.drove for 1,000s of miles with no wheel problems such as cracking around lug nuts etc.
 
Ford wire wheels need a inner support ring when mounted on 1940-1948 Ford car brake drums ( 1940-1947 Ford truck drums).......there are two kinds of rings....one kind is a simple ring that has to be epoxied in place and the other is a stamped plate with 5 holes and with an edge that just slides on the drum and easily removes to a new drum when needed. Richard Lacy of Early V8 Garage has both types and can tell you which ones you need. His phone# is 626-338-2282......good luck,....Matt in Alameda
 
The one that fits on the lugs may make the lugs too short on stock/original '40-'48 dru-m/hubs preventing lug nuts from threading completely on lugs. I would use the simple rings held on the wheels with RTV on these. The repro drum/hubs have slightly longer studs and can use either type of spacer mentioned above. This is most likely what Richard Lacy will also tell you.

I make my own spacer rings using 4" galvanized water pipe or black iron pipe, 4" ID x 4-1/4" OD, cut off on a lathe at 0.190" +/- 0.005" long. I use RTV to hold them in place on the back of the wire wheels because I can remove them if I want to switch tires/wheels around on different cars that use different drums.
 
Last edited:
I used Vern Tardel's on '40 drums, tack welded them on the drum, they worked fine. Vern's are made in the *USA*, where are s-way's made, you know the answer if they don't work right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top