I'm going to rebuild the brakes front to rear on the 70 this spring, and I want to have the parts ready to do as soon as this snow melts. If I'm replacing all the wear parts from the master cylinder down, with front disc rear drums, what do I need to know, check, and measure before I order my parts??

 

You F250 should have the early style dual piston discs (Before M80,001). I understand some of the caliper springs, pins, bushings, and rotors can be problem to spec and find.

The 8-lug disc swaps in the Tech Info Compilation contain lots of pics and part numbers for your information & reference... Flyboy's 69 and Robroy's 72 threads are what ya wanna review.

Measure your rotors to see if they need to be replaced.

 

Also you may want to think about replacing all the rubber & steel hard lines if they have not been ever done.

Those old rubber may look good but old rubber hoses get hard brittle an unreliable for the long term.

The hard lines slowly start to rust inside along with the rubber hoses flaking off stuff sending all kinds of sediment throughout to the whole system an into the P-valve block that will most likely need to be cleaned or replaced.

So you'll have your work a head of you, so guys buy all per-cut fixed hard lines.

Some guys buy fixed lengths and piece an cut to size one end an with the use of a tube cuter & a tube fixture to reforming the ends into the needed double flaring tool can all be had at your loco auto parts or online stores.

Then other guys buy a 25' roll of 3/16 tubing and new tube nuts to complete the whole job.
Just say in
Orich

 

Replace front wheel bearings and cups while you're in there. Also three rubber brake hose like Orich recommends. Spring kits for rear drums, wheel cylinders, inspect brake backing plate pads for excessive wear, they will often show deep grooves on a well loved truck causing the shoes to stick. Drum ID should be checked for oversize condition, cracks. Check to see what you have before ordering. Use the Shop manual, it's very helpful for brake jobs especially. Brake spring pliers or a worn screwdriver are useful here. Watch how its done, it will save lots of aggravation. Speed bleeders are really nice when it comes time to finish up.

 

The dual piston calipers used on 1968/72 F250 2WD's and F350's were crap. People had nothing but trouble with them.

The OP's truck may have the original calipers, but may not. OP needs to look at the calipers and get the 8 digit number off them...to see which type they are.

See 2B120 in parts catalog pic.

D3TZ-1102-C (replaced C8TZ-1102-A) .. Disc Brake Rotor-Use with dual piston calipers - 1968/72 F250 2WD & F350 / 1973/74 F250 2WD / 1975 F250 2WD before serial number V80,001.

 

So the later version, with the single piston would be better for a Drum to Disk swap?

 

Swap in 1973/79 F250 2WD dual piston calipers, avoid the CRAP dual piston calipers used 1968/72.

 

Anecdotal statement.....

Describe/detail exactly why you consider them 'crap'.

 

Earlier dual piston calipers have cross pins that are known to break. Later dual piston Dayton calipers did away with the pins and the caliper anchor bracket has slides and a caliper key design more like the single piston calipers have.

Front disc brake components I have from a '78 F250.

 

Because the calipers were problematic. In post #5 I posted a pic of the parts list and said to look at 2B120 to see all the variations (5 different part numbers!).

If there weren't problems, there probably would only be one part number.

Plus, the caliper locating pins were also crap, because their threads would snap off.

Ford replaced the 1968/71 originals (C8TZ-2B296-A) with the 1972 type (D2TZ-2B296-A). It didn't solve the problem.

JEFFFAFA may chime in, he has an F250 with discs, but he didn't get into the parts biz until 1977, so may not be aware.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I started in 1962, was a back (shop) parts counter guy for most of my 35 years in the biz, so I'm well aware of the problems.

 

Thanks Steve and ND for following up. Just stating they were crap without any supporting description wasn't helpful hence my question.

Were the heads snapping off the pins a matter of metallurgy, design, or ham-fisted, knuckle-dragging DIYers and techs?

 

IMO, a poor design. This is basically a long bolt with indented threads on the end (see 2B296 in the pics).

If you look at a 1968/71 original and the 1972 replacement, there's hardly any difference, so the problem still existed.

Upper pic: 1968/71, 1972 before serial number M80,001.

Lower (upper) pic: 1972 from serial number M80,001.

But, one could not go by these serial numbers...back then or today. One has to ID which one of the five different calipers could be present.

 

I really appreciate the ream of knowledge guys, this is helping me figure out the route the truck needs to go.

two problems I'm struggling with to decide how I want to go about the brakes - I'm not sure I want to do that kind of intensive work in the front end, since I haven't so much as changed a shock when it comes to steering/suspension. My parts man at ford can source the rotors and kits and such, I'm tempted to just rebuild the brakes that are already there.

But on the other hand, I will be towing a camp trailer with Spot, and would like to be fully confident in my brakes when I do so. Plus it would be a good excuse to run through the front end while I'm at it and push in new poly bushings. Thoughts?

 

Does titan is your FTE user name refer to the Nissan Titan? If so, if you're worried about brakes, the Titan rotors were very prone to warping.

 

I doubt it was a problem of the bolts breaking by the installer. As far as I can gather, it was a problem straight from the factory just due to its design. The bolts go through the ends of the brake pads. When the brakes are applied, this would put the bolts in shear as the pads try to wiggle up and down with the bolts running 90° to the pads.

I'm not sure at what point the bolts and coil springs (brake pad anti-rattle devices) went away on the Dayton twin piston caliper setup but, as I mentioned, the setup I have came from a '78 F250 and it doesn't have any of that stuff on it. The caliper slides on the caliper anchor bracket and is retained with a key and spring arrangement much like what's on the single piston design.

If you wanted to install this later design on your truck, I'm sure it would bolt directly onto your spindles. It would be easy enough to pull them from a donor truck in your local wrecking yard and you probably wouldn't have much trouble selling off the older design you currently have.

No bolts going through the caliper bracket or the ends of the pads. The sort of "Z" shaped object on the outside of the caliper is the brake pad anti-rattle clip.