early a lower ball joints.

You might verify that. rockauto and others show one PN ball joint for drum brakes and another PN for disc brakes. They don't distinguish 9" or 10" drums. I understand that the 2 ball joints have the same spacing, but disc ones have larger bolt holes. The disc ones are much cheaper, so maybe one could add a tube spacer for the smaller bolt, though (as mentioned) you can find drum ones cheap if you search and wait. I know 73+ ball joints have a wider bolt spacing since I got some in error.
Correct. Up through '72 they use one ball joint for drum brakes and the same one with bigger diameter mounting holes for the disc brakes. You can swap them if you drill out the hole or sleeve them as the case may be.