I've came across an F350 with power steering and power brakes. Is any of this setup compatible for my 70 F100?

 

Steering could be, what year? is engine same? Brakes not.



John

 

What model year F350?

 

I believe it's a 68 or 69, but didn't look at any numbers yet. No engine

 

The power brake booster/brackets can be swapped over. Most likely if the F350 has a factory booster, it'll be the dual diaphragm unit.

As far as the power steering goes, if it's a '68, it's likely to have a Bendix power steering gear box. If it's a '69, it's likely to have the more desirable Saginaw power steering gear box.

If it's the Saginaw, you would need the compatible shorter steering column, along with the larger column seal on the cab side of the firewall and the shorter column support bracket that mounts on the engine side of the firewall.

You didn't mention which '70 you would possibly put this in but, the power steering pump brackets for a 302 are not the same as a 240/300 and are not the same for a 360/390. Each engine group has specific brackets that apply to each group.

How to Install Power Steering in a 2WD F100/250/350 - FORDification.com

 

I went back and read the power steering article again (probably read it a 100 times so far ) and it says that all F350's had the saginaw box. So, I should be good on that. Will the pitman arm be the same?

Sounds like I'll pull the brake setup as well, since the brackets will work on my truck at least. I'm sure the booster is shot, but it will work for a core. Do I need to get the pedal assembly as well?

 

The brake pedal between your truck and the donor will be the same. No change required.

 

Ah...that's interesting. I've learned a lot.
On my Mustang, I know that it's not that simple. The pedal ratio is different between the manual and power cars.

Just out of my curiosity, do you know how they made it work in these trucks with the same pedal?

 

I also have a '68 Mustang. On it, it requires a longer brake pedal, mounted at a point higher up on the pedal support, to reduce the mechanical advantage if a power brake booster is installed.

On the Bumpsides, the mechanical advantage doesn't change between power or manual brakes, since the pedals are the same and remain at the same pivot point on the pedal hanger. The only way to change this is to install a bellcrank type booster from a Dentside truck or, to tune the brake response through a change in MC bore size if the booster brackets are not the bellcrank type.

I have a dual diaphragm booster from a '75 F350 on my '69 F100. I took the sensitivity out of the brake system by going up to a 1-1/16" bore MC (from a 1.00"), since the input rod to this booster is a straight connection between the back of the booster to the brake pedal and doesn't go through a bellcrank bracket assembly. --the original F350 MC that was on this booster had a very large 1-1/4" bore, too large for my application of this installation on my truck.

 

idealtrucks may I suggest you stop this nonsense and find a 73- 79 donor F100 that has the same engine (I see you have 2 listed) that you have and transmission that you have or want to convert to. You buy this piece and have to look for that piece. Should you buy a donor truck you will have every piece needed including a complete I-Beam swap. That is what I did. I pulled a 76 F100 beside my 66 F100, dropped the complete I-Beam slid it under the 66 and bolted it up. I had all the little pieces needed including brake line clips. Power steering pump mounting bracket, ALL.

By the questions you are asking I feel you would be going down the wrong path with what has been suggested. I have done this more than once, sold parts from the donor that I didn't need and my cost was -0- when I sold the carcus.

Why screw around with this or that when you can get it all from one place?



John

 

I've done the front disc/suspension swaps on a '69 F100 and a '72 F100, as well as added power brakes to both. I didn't use a (single) donor truck for each swap.

I sourced the parts I needed from donor Dentsides in the wrecking yard but, I knew what I was looking for, before hand, because I did my research FIRST before investing any time or money into gathering the parts. I also didn't want to have the eye sore of a parts truck lying around or having to deal with getting rid of the hull afterwards but, this is just my personal preference.

Getting a donor truck isn't a bad approach if you aren't sure what all you need or, don't mind a junker lying around on your property in the mean time. Finding a donor truck with ALL the desired parts on it may be tricky though.

On the other hand, if you put the time into finding out exactly what's needed, you can source the parts from a donor/donors, bring the parts home, install them and not have a hull to get rid of when the swap is finished.

I've also added a Dentside tilt column to my '69 F100, intermittent wipers, front and rear sway bars, power steering pump/brackets/pulleys that came from an '82 Bullnose Ford pickup, 31-spline axles and a Ford 9-inch N-case 3rd member with a 31-spline Traction-Lok differential, as well as parts that came from some Ford car lines. All these things came from multiple different vehicles and not from any one source.

If I had to buy all the vehicles to have gotten all these parts from, it would look like I was running a wrecking yard around here.

 

ultraranger I am sure you can, and you have some awesome photos to show for your work. The concern is recommending to someone that may not be as surefooted as yourself about the mixing and matching of parts. Buying a donor regardless of where it is stored until swap is complete has a factory engineered brake system that I value for safety. I don't want to recommend something to your grandson that is grabbing this and that takes it out on the road gets in a bind and can't stop or as in a recent thread truck goes sideways and he gets hurt.

I am not challenging what you know or can do, but can't back away from an inexperienced reader getting hurt thinking this will work.


John

 

Thanks for the information guys.
I know a donor truck would be easiest, but finding exactly the truck I need to make a direct swap is quite difficult around here. 15 years ago when I started with these trucks it was easy, but nearly all those model trucks have been crushed in the yards around here, so it's hard finding one. I've not even seen a dentside truck within 200 miles with 300 in it on Craigslist for parts in a long time. I wish it were as easy as it used to be. I actually did buy a donor for the 302 power steering swap just a few weeks ago, and will be selling it. Even it was a daily driver, and will be swapping the manual steering back on it and selling it.
It also seems like parts for these trucks just keep going up, at least in my area. Has anyone noticed that?

 

There are some Bumpsides parts trucks in my area and quite a few Dentsides to source parts from, as well as Bullnose trucks too.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few Bumpsides and Dentsides that have also gone through the crushers here that had good parts on them.

For the most part, the parts I've gotten off any donors was pretty reasonable and even in a lot of cases they were pretty cheap.

 

Thanks for the compliment. While I grew up around a truck like this (my dad's truck, from the time I was 6 years old until I was 22), we didn't do any kind of modifications to it.

I didn't really know a lot about them until I bought my own truck in 2011 and the majority of information I have learned has just been in the last 5 1/2 years.

I read a lot and thoroughly research anything I plan to do BEFORE I actually do it. This greatly reduces the uncertainty factor and the number of surprises encountered.