BRAKE TIME

TSM Mfg’s easy, affordable way to upgrade any Ford 9-inch from drum to disc brakes

- Christian Hazel

Hey, there’s nothing wrong with drum brakes, but that doesn’t mean you have to keep them forever. As long as they’re properly maintained and adjusted, drum brakes actually stop pretty well. The downsides to drum brakes are things like a higher potential for packing with mud, silt, and debris off-road; poorer wet-weather performance; and more complicated servicing. They also tend to run a bit hotter and are more susceptible to fading and overheating than disc brakes. So, if you’re custom building an aftermarket axle like we were, prepping a junkyard takeout, or want to upgrade your daily driver, TSM Mfg has what you’ll need to do a disc brake conversion on your axle, like the Ford 9-inch conversion kit we used for our project.

1 TSM Mfg offers several disc brake conversion kits for almost any common rear axle out there and has several for the Ford 9-inch. Before ordering, the first thing you’ll have to know is the bolt pattern and bolt diameter of your rear axle. Our Ford 9-inch used big-bearing axle shaft ends with 1 ⁄2-inch bolts and a rectangular backing plate pattern.