MTFCA Forum

i have a friend with hayes wire wheels can he put rocky mountain brakes on the car using the existing drum riveted to the wire wheels or would ac brakes be the answer i would help him but i have no knowledge about this set up.

To answer your question, what is the outer diameter of the drum?
The Rocky Mtn came in/for two drum sizes. The larger drum set that was use in conjunction with the original small drum, 1925 back and the 1926/27 that used the existing drum.
The AC would be for the original small drum.
So, the only Rocky Mtn that could possibly work with what he has, would be the 1926/27 set if he has a big drum rearend or the AC set if it's small drum.

I have seen small drum Hayes wires with AC style rear brakes.
I plan to do same thing on one of my 25 Roadsters if I can live long enough. Dan

Many Hayes small drum rear wheel centers are unusable due to wallowed out keyways and worn tapers. For this reason, a number of Hayes rear wheels have been created from Hayes front wheel centers welded to Ford wood wheel rear hubs. If this is the case, the brake drum will be same as stock Ford and so can use the accessory Rocky Mountain drums

If your Hayes small drum rear wheels are unmodified, the rear brake drum will be integrated into the rear wheel center, and so not removable or able to accept the larger Rocky Mountain drums. I have seen pics of someone who had AC small drum brakes mounted to the Hayes small drum wire wheels

Let’s not forget that there was also ‘26-‘27 big drum version of the Hayes rear wheels. As I recall these had spokes laced into the offset in the face of the rear drums, so may be compatible with the ‘26-‘27 Rocky Mountain brakes. Have not seen this done tho

On Hayes wire wheels the brake drum is integral to the wheel. The spokes are laced directly into the drum.. I would not consider fitting any outside brakes on these wheels. If you must, then devise some stops on the inside of the band to prevent it migrating outwards and chewing up the spokes.

If the car is driven within its braking capabilities, there is no need for auxiliary brakes.

I have 30" Hayes wire wheels on two of my T's. My chocolate van has covered some 30 000km of mainly city driving and i have never had occasion when the standard transmission brake has not been adequate. On one occasion the stop was so abrupt, I split a pinion gear, but it still stopped, and made a dreadful clunk as limped the car to the curb.

Allan from down under.

Thank you for all of the answers i will let him know they are a small drum brake he has on his car he got in a big hurry and bought rm brakes i mentioned ac brakes to him.

Those R-M brakes he purchased have to be used with a larger drum, supplied with the R-M set up. That larger new drum is sandwiched between the existing small drum and wheel. [ i.e. the new larger drum goes on the wheel bolts, then the original small drum is placed inside the new larger drum and nuts fastened, for the original parking brakes function.] So the fixed drum on his wire wheels makes those unusable.

The A-C type are made for existing small drum, so perhaps they will fit his wire rear wheels. This photo shows A-C type on a typical laced wire wheel.

Dan's photo shows a laced wire wheel with spokes laced directly into the wheel rim. Hayes wire wheels have demountable rims, with the spokes laced directly into the outer felloe at one end and directly into the brake drum at the other end. This places them much closer to the brake shoes. If there is any run-out in the drum, you do need to make sure the shoes cannot ride outwards onto the spokes. It is not hard to do.

Allan from down under.