3" wide shoes for 73-79 d60

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i recently picked up a 74 d60 from a 3/4 ton 8 lug f250. my problem was that 35 years have not been too kind to the brake assemblies and the backing plates were completely rotted out. so i trashed the backing plates and kept the drums and hubs since they were pressed together with the studs.

i decided to take a walk in the local scrap yard where i knew of an early 90's f250 would be. to my surprise the f250 was gone and my hopes had been crushed, until i came across a 99 e350 7.3l turbo diesel. im not an axle expert but the axle to me seemed to be a d60. which i would of thought it should of been a d70 at least. but i began disassembling anyway.

i started by jacking up the vehicle
removed the wheel
pulled the drum (wasnt easy because the auto adjusting had the pads right against drum)
removed the 8 bolts holding the axle in.
slide the axle out.
remove the spindle nut.
removed the hud. ( at this point i noticed the backing plate mount seemed to be further in on the axle tube) i decided i would complete my goal of removing the brake assemblies and if i had to would re-fabricate the backing plate mount if i had to on my 74 d60.
removed ebrake cable while keeping the complete brake assembly together on the backing plate.
removed the 4-3/4 bolts holding the backing plate to the axle.
i then repeated this on the other side.

I now had everything i believed that i needed to get my d60 ready to put under my truck, since the axle already has 4.10 gears and i don't plan on putting in a locker until later.

parts recieved :drums, hubs, and complete brake assembly mounted to backing plates.

once i got back to the shop i now was positive that the backing plate mounts were closer to the spindle on the 74 f250 axle then the 99 e350. i tried mock up by loosely placing the backing plates against the mount, and then tried putting the new hubs on. the wheel bearing inner diameter on the new hubs was larger than the 74's, and the hub was also hitting the brake parts. i was now positive i had the cut the old mount off and slide it back and re-weld it.(which i didnt want to do) for some reason i turned to the old hubs because of the wheel bearing inside diameter, and the fact that the drum mounted behind the wheel mounting surface of the hub. i thought maybe the offset of the wheel mounting surface on the old hub is different from the new hub which i was right.

this is the only picture i got, but clearly show the difference in hubs.

old hub on the left and new hub on the right

i took the old drum and hub over to the press and knocked out the studs. walked over to the axle with the hub and placed it on the spindle. there was clearance between the brakes and the hub. i then took the new backing plate and set it in the new drum. measure from the mounting surface of the backing plate to the mounting surface of the drum. it was ruffly 4 1/2" apart. i then measured from the outside of the old hud to the backing plate mount on the axle and it was ruffly 5".

To shorten this all up i ended up using:
new backing plates with complete brake assembly
new drum
old hubs

bolted backing plate to axle
drilled stud holes in old hub
pressed studs from new hub into old hub
grinded outside of old hub down to lower lip to fit inside new drum.(wish i took pics)
replaced wheel seals in hub along with wheel bearings
placed hub on spindle and torqued up nuts.
slipped on drum and what do you know perfect clearance.

will try to get more pics later