Ford "wide five" Brake Drums

mercman from oz

mercman from oz

Well-known member
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Shown above are some front Brake Drums to suit the "wide five" Bolt Pattern. The top pair are marked 1936. If you look at the one with the red wheel mounted, you will see that the centre extension is much shorter that the ones marked 1936. I know that these "wide five" Wheels were only used between 1936 and 1939. What year is the one with the short extension and what years did they change from long to short? Thanks for your help.
 
36 is the only year with the long snout and the 36 spindle to match.

37 to 39 are short and the 39 is a 2 piece hub/ drum. 37 to 39 will interchange
 
I climbed the ladder into the attic above my upper shop to see what these were. I have always liked the looks of the wide 5s and knew I had a couple up there. Not sure if that's long snout or short, but they are certainly bolt on drums. I like the high dome bolt heads. They look like rivets. Would these go onto most old ford spindles?
 

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Man, I've lead a sheltered life for sure. Even though, I thought I knew a little bit about old Ford runnin' gear. Now, for the life of me, where the heck did those weird, flanged-hubs come from? Those ain't your every-day '36-'39 drums! Is that early 'house-trailer' stuff? DD

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They were probably on a utility trailer I bought many years ago. So it may have been a trailer axle. I certainly never bought a '30s vintage vehicle and don't remember it. I have another utility trailer with wide 5s I will check out tomorrow. Heck, some might have really good drums, but on an old box trailer with lumber stacked on it for drying, who would care?
 
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To add to the confusion about the varieties of "wide five' Brake Drums, what are these "open" 1936 Ford "wide five" Brake Drums? One person told me that they are called "Rocky Mountain" while another told me that they were called "Spyder". Were early 1936 Fords equipped with these "open" Brake Drums? If you have the "open" type on the rear, should you also have the "open" type on the front, or were they mixed? Can anyone tell me the history and usage of the "open" 1936 Ford Brake Drums. Thank you. Regards Mercman <><
 
GB, very common to see model T hubs grafted onto more modern wheels as clincher tires became harder to find in the neighbors junk pile. T's, how ever, were six bolt hubs, and your are 8. so in this case i suspect the home made wagon they were made to fit was some brand x and not ford. whats the back look like?
 
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Never heard of that open drum called a spyder. Spyder hubcaps yes were an accessory.

Open drums like that i always heard called rocky mountain drums and the explanation was it was for better cooling coming down steep hills.

Most of the 32 to 34 ford stuff i have had , had open drums so i dont know how true the term fits.

The 36 open drums.are really cool looking and are fairly rare
 
mercman from oz said:
439678


439679

To add to the confusion about the varieties of "wide five' Brake Drums, what are these "open" 1936 Ford "wide five" Brake Drums? One person told me that they are called "Rocky Mountain" while another told me that they were called "Spyder". Were early 1936 Fords equipped with these "open" Brake Drums? If you have the "open" type on the rear, should you also have the "open" type on the front, or were they mixed? Can anyone tell me the history and usage of the "open" 1936 Ford Brake Drums. Thank you. Regards Mercman <><
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My 1 previous owner 36 in avatar has open drums front and rear. Would have been Canadian built then shipped to New Zealand. Now In US. I am 99.9% sure they are original to car.
Cheers
Tony
 
i have an axle in my junk pile i brought home from Canada with the open drums too. maybe it was a Canadian thing?
 
i have gotten a couple PM's about my open drums, so i thought i would post this for the historical curiosity. the two open rears, as you see are different. one is one piece, the other has the bolt on drums. sadly, they both have a rusted stuck bearing in the hub, so not usable unless one did the modern bearing conversion that has been brought up here in the past. the one piece drum measures in at .020.
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looking at this stuff jogged my memory, and these came from an auction in western south dakota. the odd ball front drums with the big fin on them came from canada. any one seen these before?
 

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Getting back to posts 6&7, back in the 70's, there was a late 20's Dodge that sat in a shed not far from where I worked, and it had fitted to it V8 wide 5 type wheels, not wooden wheels as it should have. I never checked out how/why this was, but possibly it used the same drums as pictured in the above posts I allude to?
 
Brian said:
Getting back to posts 6&7, back in the 70's, there was a late 20's Dodge that sat in a shed not far from where I worked, and it had fitted to it V8 wide 5 type wheels, not wooden wheels as it should have. I never checked out how/why this was, but possibly it used the same drums as pictured in the above posts I allude to?
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1929 Dodge wheels. I spy those 8 hemispherical bolt heads
 

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cas3 said:
i have an axle in my junk pile i brought home from Canada with the open drums too. maybe it was a Canadian thing?
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I'm from Canada and have seen a few wide fives over the years. None like those spyder type in the photo. Not even in the 1929 to 1949 Fast Moving Parts catalogue that I can recall.
 
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