Brakes

[Haymaker]

Many years ago I had an m38, I took the 11” brakes off an late 40s willys truck and put them on the m38 they fit fine and worked good felt like power brakes. Now I have a 62 CJ-5 which needs brakes. I do have some 10” backing plates and drums from a later jeep, the backing plates work but the drum center hole is too small roughly .010 also they have no screw holes. I can machine the center holes to fit and drill holes for the screws,but, the sidewalls of the 10” drums are thinner. Now am I just going to ruin a good set of 10” drums or might this work, any thoughts on this? BTW I havent seen 11” inch brakes advertised for years and not keen on disks. Mainly, because, I want to use 15” kelsey hayes steel rims.

[gmwillys]

I may be mistaken, but the 10" brakes came on the 1961 Tuxedo Park addition. Then the rear brakes on some CJs used 10" drums in the '70s. The trucks and wagons had 11" brakes, but the shoe mounts were the same as the 9" brakes, so they were difficult to adjust correctly. Now, as far as when the cut off is to where the 15" K.H. wheels, I'll have to dig around for that info. I would think that the Wagoneer hubs would work, but the axle is a different style.

[Haymaker]

I may be mistaken, but the 10" brakes came on the 1961 Tuxedo Park addition. Then the rear brakes on some CJs used 10" drums in the '70s. The trucks and wagons had 11" brakes, but the shoe mounts were the same as the 9" brakes, so they were difficult to adjust correctly. Now, as far as when the cut off is to where the 15" K.H. wheels, I'll have to dig around for that info. I would think that the Wagoneer hubs would work, but the axle is a different style.

Yeah that"s kind of what I was thinking if I could figure out which hubs to use, that would eliminate having to butcher up these 10' drums. And another thing is would 10' brakes be way better then the 9" or just slightly better?

[gmwillys]

There would be little difference in performance. I have had to perform emergency stops with both my 2A with the 9" drums, and with my wagon with the 11" drums. Granted the vehicle weight difference factors in, but all in all they performed about the same. Watching out for the other guy seems to be the greatest feat when braking these old Willys. You have to expect that the other drivers are going to do something stupid. The long suffering Misses and I were going to the grocery store last summer in the 2A. We drove up the isle towards an open spot, when this older gentleman decides to cut across the middle of the parking lot. We were maybe going about 10 to 15 MPH, but I was looking to my right toward the desired open spot. I didn't see the guy coming in hot from my left side. When I did finally see him, I had about 5' of reaction time to get the Heep stopped. I wasn't a happy camper, and he ended up hearing the amount of my displeasure.

The hardest part about setting up the Willys style of brakes is adjusting the anchor bolts. A good feeler gage and some patience works the best to get everything evened out for the best performance.

[Haymaker]

After having read up on this, and thinking about it, for my purposes, I believe the stock 9s will be good enough. So I will go with new shoes and either turn the drums or get new ones.

[gmwillys]

I agree. I wouldn't change my 2A either, unless I lucked into an overdrive unit. Then I would think more into it.

[LarrBeard]

After having read up on this, and thinking about it, for my purposes, I believe the stock 9s will be good enough. So I will go with new shoes and either turn the drums or get new ones.

Don't be surprised if the old drums won't clean up to modern legal limits. I ended up with new drums, shoes and cylinders all
around on the '48 and wow, does it stop nicely now. Much better than in the first two lifetimes.

We work to get them to run well, but stopping is really important too!

[Haymaker]

Yeah I am actually doing everything Starting with rhe master cylinder. Right now I’m doing the rear axle bearings, rusty worn out (no maintainence) my fualt. I don’t think the front drums will clean up, the lining was completely. Gone on the left one so steel against steel. I’ll get him fixed up and now that I’m retired I can look after it better. Plus it will have a lot less use.