front brakes

[57 imposter]

I know this is a mile off topic but I am trying to help a friend and am out of ideas.  Does anyone know if there are any later model backing plates that will fit 1949-1951 Ford spindils that will allow him to put self adjusting front brakes on his 1950 club coupe. At this point, a disc brake conversion is not an option

[geraldchainsaw]

u might get mpore info from these,       shoeboxfords.com

[geraldchainsaw]

heres another group of guys that can help ya out,    ford flathead v8,  1932 thru 1953

[Tom S]

Can't find a pic of '49-'51 brakes but I don't think they are much different than '57-'58 brakes.  No?
When I put new shoes on the rear of my 58 Ranchero I just bought the self adjuster parts for another Ford with the same diameter brakes. 1966/75 Bronco I think. (shoes too)
Including a new adjuster with different size teeth on the star wheel, some springs for the same brakes or adjusters.
There did not seem to be enough room to get the upper spring back on the tit after that thin eye loop on the upper end of the cable was on.  Weird.  Added some room by grinding out some space on the inside of the tit with a cutting disk on a dremmel type tool.

This ain't mine but I think this *may* be all he needs. 
Nothing attaches to the backing plate.

[Ecode70D]

Tom  ...............   That was a great job of explaining it. 
57Imposter ......   Like Tom stated  "Nothing attaches to the backing plate".   It can't get any more simple than that.   Just buy a handfull of small parts and hook it up like in the picture.

[Tom S]

Tom ...That was a great job of explaining it.

"A picture is worth a thousand words." 

[57 imposter]

Thanks for the ideas The main reason I was hoping for backing plates is because., if memory serves, the early brake shoes were 1 1/2 inches wide while I believe the later shoes were  2 inches and up in width. This wound create drum problems. I think I will look into getting some hardware, and seeing if perhaps the stock brake shoes can be modified to accept it. Should only be a couple of attaching holes and a new adjuster...... Might work

[Ecode70D]

     Why do you want to go through all of this work?  Do you think that this will help the car to stop better? 
     The car wills top just as well if the brakes are adjusted properly.

[gasman826]

I manually adjust my brakes every oil change.  Properly working self adjusters keep an unmaintained brake system from loosing pedal but self adjusters may not necessarily adjust  the system correctly or to the best adjustment.  I've pulled hundreds of shoes worn out at the top and never touched at the bottom.  I've also driven pre self adjuster vehicles that required pumping the brake pedal to get the shoes to engage.  A little manual adjusting and the pedal was at the top and the vehicle stopped.

[BWhitmore]

Do you want to install self adjusting brakes or self energizing brakes? I do not know if a 1950 Ford uses self energizing brakes or not.  Self energizing brakes use a primary brake shoe (front shoe) and a secondary shoe (rear shoe).  When the brakes are applied, the primary hoe pivots with the drum and through the brake adjuster link at the bottom wedges the secondary shoe into the turning drum thereby providing additional braking force.

The system pictured by Tom is a self adjusting system that is also self energizing.  As pointed out by Tom the system pictured is for the rear.  The important thing about doing a brake job on a self energizing system is to ensure that the primary and secondary shoes are properly located and that the entire shoe system is able to pivot slightly.  There is also a difference in the brake shoe return springs (primary and secondary return springs).  They also need to be installed in the proper locations.  The backing plate ledges should not have any grooves and should be lightly lubricated with appropriate brake lube. 

[Tom S]

I do not know if a 1950 Ford uses self energizing brakes or not.

I think Ford went to  self energizing brakes in 1949.  I put the '49-'52 or so Ford F1 pickup self energizers on the '37 spindles on my '31/'32 roadster.  Popular swap for early ford drums.

[Tom S]

I think I will look into getting some hardware, and seeing if perhaps the stock brake shoes can be modified to accept it.

I don't think his stock brake shoes will need any mods.  They should look just like the ones in the pic I posted.  I believe the pic shows early Mustang brakes.

[57 imposter]

wouldn't be messing with this at all except the original builder either didn't  know or didn't care anything about brakes. He used an 8 inch rear end with self adjusting brakes but left the manual brakes up front. He then used a power brake swing pedal with no booster. nothing in this system is matched or balanced. I have a booster and proper master cyl. coming that should correct that issue now if I can find a reasonably simple solution to the  front to rear brake balance issue, I can return to my own neglected project. Thanks for all the ideas think I'll look into the early mustang brakes today

[Tom S]

... think I'll look into the early mustang brakes today

Forget the Mustang brakes!  Nothing different or special about them. They are the same generic Ford drum brake & shoes as found on any 1949 & up Ford with drums except that the older cars & pickups did not have self adjusters.  It was just a clear pic I found to show what all the self adjuster parts look like.The self adjusters can be added to any of 1949 & up Ford drum brake shoes.  Just use the self adjusters from a car with the same diameter drums.
Edit:
Not even sure if that same diameter part is even very important.  For all I know the all cables might be the same length
I shouldn't have said that. Knew better. Gotta be the right length,so ...
but it seems logical to use ones from the same diameter drums. Too long or too short won't work.