Hey everyone, I have recently started looking into swapping out my front drums to discs and I am hoping to keep the I beams and not swap the whole front end to keep the stance original. Do you guys know of any reasonably priced kits or any other options that wont take months to complete as I would be doing the work myself and the truck is my daily driver.

 

Jman2221 Welcome to and the Slicks forum.

The subject has come up many times and there are kits, but in my Opinion there is only one way for a newbie to do this, BUY a 73-79 DONOR with like engine and transmission that currently have or you wish to run. Harvest ALL parts needed, sell parts not needed then sell the carcus. I have done this several times, it works. Do a complete power steering and power disc brake upgrade at once. When you need anything in the future you know what year parts to order because they came from that year truck. Stay with the same engine family and the stance stays the same. Parts are bolt hole swappable from 65 to 79.


John

 

Are you sure you need discs? I'm extremely happy with my power drum brake setup. You could try that first, and add the prop valve and discs if you're not happy with it. I daily drive my 66 F100 and never have any problems with brake fade, even in stop and go suburban traffic.

 

Using the entire disc brake front suspension from a '73-'79 F100 or from a '75-'79 F150 won't change the stance when installed on a '65-'72 F100.

I have the entire disc brake front suspension from a '77 F100 under my '69 F100 Ranger.

 

Probably not necessary to go to discs when using these trucks at the speed and payload they're designed to handle. My guess is some people go from worn out drum brakes to new discs, see a big improvement, and thus the need.

Also possible some trucks benefit more from discs than other trucks even of the same year and model. For instance, a manual tranny and 4.10 rear may slow down better than a truck with an auto tranny and faster rear. My F250 with four corner manual drums stops as well as any all disc car or truck I've ever driven so I haven't seen a need for switching.

 

As with all Bumpside F100s, my '69 came with (manual) drums all the way around. 2 days after I bought the truck (in 2011), I went through the ENTIRE brake system and replaced everything with all new shoes, hardware, MC, wheel cylinders, drums turned, etc.

I added a power brake booster to the all-wheel drums in 2012. I drove it with all-wheel drums for 3 years until I replaced the front drums with discs in 2014. The front discs made the biggest improvement to the brake system.

 

Swapped in the front disc kit from MP Brakes. They work great but these suggested routes are probably much more affordable.

I did have a proportioning valve go bad on me and start leaking, but MP swapped it out and the new one has been fine.

Didn't upgrade to power brakes, and I don't feel like I need them with this truck.
Power steering on the other hand... oof. That would be nice.

 

IMO, that's the best way to do it...design your disc system to not need power assist for safety's sake...them maybe add the power assist later for convenience. Today's modern cars and trucks need power assist in order to work. Lose your assist (vacuum or hydro) for any reason and you've pretty much lost all braking. You can try shutting a modern car off on a hill, slip it in neutral, and then let off the brake to start it rolling. Then try to stop it...dang near impossible.