Help with 10" drum brakes

[DangeRanger69]

Hello! I have an 88' Ranger, 2.3L L4. I am swapping the rear axle for one out of an 85' Ranger to take advantage of the 4.10 LSD dif. vs. my 3.73 current open dif. (Both 7.5") While I have the axle out I am changing all the brakes, I have everything set to upgrade from 9" brakes to 10" brakes and as far as I understand it will all go onto the same backing plate. The only issue I am running into is I cannot seem to find the E-brake levers or the driver (left) side Parking brake strut! Everywhere only has the right strut. I also noticed there do not seem to be any pins in the cylinders new or old that remove? Just want to check about this since I've never seen that on drum brakes. Any advice appreciated! Thanks.

 

[2011Supercab]

The backing plates for 9" and 10" are different, believe it or not by 1"

 

[Uncle Gump]

Yeah... you will need 10 inch backing plates.

Seems those are hard to find these days.

 

[19Walt93]

I'm not sure I'd spend money to go from 9's to 10's unless you're towing or hauling something heavy, and with a 2.3 you're probably not. I used a Mustang II 8 inch housing in my 93 Ranger behind a 351 and was planning to use the 9" brakes it came with but the Ranger 10" backing plates bolted right on. I would buy premium quality shoes for whichever system you use, though.

 

[don4331]

To OP: Hopefully, you picked up finned Aerostar 10" brake to maximize the upgrade.

2.3 in my '94 S/C Ranger (or 2.5 in my S-10 before that), never stopped (pun intended) me from loading it to capacity and/or wanting larger brakes.