backing plate question

[brianproctorla]

While looking at Big rear drum brake options for a 65 stang, I came accross this:

"For extra-extra fun, if you've already converted your front drums to discs,
you could see if the backing plates from the front drum brakes (10 x 2 ½")
will work on the back. I thought of this while driving home and realized
that if the front backing plate bolts up to the rear axle all you'd have to
do is drill a hole for the parking brake cable and save all the junk yard
hassle. I'll leave that job to someone else though."

from:
http://mustangsandmore.com//ubb/RearBrakesbySamGriffith.html

Has anyone tried this?

 

[66HertzClone]

I did and I am very happy with it. No problem at all installing it, I was able to re-use the existing wheel cylinders. I paid $50 for the pair of backing plates from Junkyarddog.com I bought new HD drums from the parts store along with new brake springs and hardware.

 

[brianproctorla]

Thanks

Wow, that's crazy.
I wonder why more people don't do this?
You would think it would be a much talked about mod, as most people are going with front disks anyway, and the front drums are just as big as $400 big drum rear kits.


Did you have to do any mods, besides drilling a hole for the parking cable?

 

[brianproctorla]

I posed this question at fordsix.com

A poster had performed the sway using the rear backing plates with the front drums and shoes.

The biggest problem was that the cylinders were not centered on the wider shoes.
Any ideas about a ford rear brake cylinder that would correct this problem.

 

[66HertzClone]

There was a hole in the new backing plate and the cables fit thru without modification. You're right, these monsters work great, while they don't have the "bling" factor that discs would have, but they work great.

 

[brianproctorla]

So the front backing plates you bought required no modification and you used the front brake cylinders correct? Did you have any problems attaching the rear brake lines to the front cylinders?

 

[66HertzClone]

Hold up here, I just reread the original post, my install was in the rear of the car not the front. I used rear drum brake backing plates that once were on the rear of a 89 Crown Vic.

No mods unless you count new paint to the backing plates. I used the original rear cylinders for these brakes in the rear.

 

[brianproctorla]

Did you put the front drums on the rear?
Did you use the front shoes?

 

[66HertzClone]

Did you put the front drums on the rear?
Did you use the front shoes?

I did this,
http://mustangsandmore.com//ubb/RearBrakesbySamGriffith.html the same link/procedure you posted when you started this topic.

 

[brianproctorla]

Sorry, I was referring to a paragraph on that page:
""For extra-extra fun, if you've already converted your front drums to discs,
you could see if the backing plates from the front drum brakes (10 x 2 ½")
will work on the back. I thought of this while driving home and realized
that if the front backing plate bolts up to the rear axle all you'd have to
do is drill a hole for the parking brake cable and save all the junk yard
hassle. I'll leave that job to someone else though.""

Someone on fordsix had used the wider front drums on the rear.
You put the front shoes on the rear backing plates.
You will need to either use the wheel cylinder from the front (with brake line fitting modification) or a larger bore rear cyinder (so the cylinder will center on the wider shoes). I'm looking at a rear cylinder from a 74 ranchero (for 10" drums") that might possible work for this.
Sorry for the confusion.