55.2-59 Heavy Duty Front Brakes

[1project2many]

I'm working on a project to recreate the "heavy duty front brakes" option available for '67-'71 1/2 ton trucks. I'm using parts from a few different models. So far I've collected NOS front drums from a '67-'71 3/4 ton G van; backing plates, wheel cylinders, and hardware from a '59-'64 full size car, and NOS hubs from a '63 1/2 ton as these are six lug and use tapered wheel bearings. I've also collected a few different sets of shoes since aftermarket information is a bit muddy. If this works it will give 11" X 2.75" brakes vs OE 11" X 2.00" brakes.

The goal is to assemble the parts to see how they fit together before disassembling the truck. Does anyone have a stock spindle they would be willing to part with for a reasonable price? Or does anyone know of a source for a reasonably priced spindle? '55 - '59 definitely work, but GM parts books show the same forging number from '47 - '59 although they have a different part number before 1950.

Thanks,

[mr48chev]

I see no mention of "heavy duty brake option in the GM heritage center archives.

Three years of GM heritage center archive brake info does not show any option on brakes for 3100 trucks> I am just curious as to where you got the info on Heavy duty brake options for a TF 3100.

[1project2many]

There's a listing in the old parts books for front backing plates for 55-59 1/2 ton trucks with heavy duty brakes. I haven't found anything in sales literature about it though.

I'm happy to post a link to the parts listing tomorrow.

[1project2many]

This has been a while in the making. I had to go back to my notes. The HD brake option was actually for 67-70 2WD trucks.

I started with Raybestos 2058 which is listed as fitting 55-58 trucks.
https://www.raybestos.com/brake-drum-2058.html

This is a six lug finned drum, 3" deep, which does not match the TF truck drum so I was curious. After some searching I found GM 3964550, listed for 67-79 C10 w/ HD brakes and 70 G20.
http://www.gmpartswiki.com/getpage?pageid=221001

Working from that listing I find backing plates 3957193 and 3957194, also for the early '70s G20 and C10, with note "field fix only to convert 1/2 ton truck front brks to 3/4 ton."

After that it's a matter of piecing parts information together. There's conflict because some sets of shoes listed for HD brakes are sized at 11-5/32" X 2.75" and others are listed at 11" X 2.75" but the drum max diameter is 11.09" so it's definitely not made for an 11.156" shoe. Passenger cars after '58 also used 11" X 2.75" front brakes and folks older than I have installed passenger car hubs and drums onto TF trucks. I'm planning to stay with six lug wheels but the backing plates and hardware are still usable. The '63 truck hubs are just to satisfy my own curiousity to see if the later hubs with tapered rollers will fit onto the older spindles.

If you happen to know of a source for a reasonably priced spindle, I'd be grateful. There's a rusty pair on Ebay for $125. I'm not sure if that's a fair price but I'm hoping to spend less.