Has anyone used original splined hubs on a ford rear end with drums? Can they be bolted on or modified to work?
I used the splined hubs on a ford rear end. But mine has disc brakes. When I got the car it had a Ford 9" rear end with drum brakes and bolt on wheels. The wheels sat a little wide, so I had the rear end narrowed. I converted to after market disc brakes, but I saw some sites that talked about using OE ford parts. I found splined hubs on ebay and a machinist friend drilled them to fit the Ford bolt pattern. Every thing has worked fine for the 3000 miles I have driven the car. I currently have the wheels off while I am doing some body work. I will post a picture.
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Thanks for the pic! I was just looking at mine and it definitely looks like the rear end would need to be shortened. I've been looking to see what options are out there for bolt on wire wheels also.
http://www.daytonwirewheel.com/
Thanks Paul,
Yes, Daytons would be nice.
Here's mine. Ford 9" narrowed, Strange Engineering Axels. Originally had the Dunlop 72 spoke wire wheels but the car had been sitting for 20 years when I got it so we had to get rough with the wheels to get them off. Replaced with Daytons. They work great.
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Janelle, where did you get your splined hubs from?
My car was built by a good friend (he was a professional custom car builder) in the late 1980s for a client. He normally built Cobras with his own space frame so the Healey was a bit unusual for him.
The car came back to him 25 years later when his client was getting rid of his collection. All that to say... I'll ask him if he remembers where he got the hubs.
When I was researching the Dayton wire wheels I think they had adapters to put wire wheels on newer cars. I was thinking about them when we were unsure if my rear hubs would be any good. Turns out the hubs were perfect so they didn't need replacement.
Not sure if these would work with the drums.
http://www.britishv8.org/Articles/Dayton-Wire-Wheels.htm
I Finally got around to installing splined hubs. I had a machine shop redrill the rear hubs to 4.5 to fit my Ford rear end, they work great! Very happy with the install.
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