Im working on a '66 F-100.. Just now starting, does anyone know of any good disc brake conversion sets for that year? Ill also need to beef up my front end suspension, im putting the 429 with a T56 6 speed.. a bit heavier and a lot faster.. Good suspension and brakes would do wonders

 

Yes! good brakes are a must! i think you should read this before you get going


f100discs
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

and Welcome to FTE!

 

There is a large and vocal group of members who will recommend you find a '73 - '79 donor truck, acquire same, and cannibalize all the brake parts, plus possibly power steering parts, and maybe steering column parts, and anything else that strikes your fancy, then sell the remaining hulk and have done your conversion for a small cost. If for some reason you can't do that, or would like another alternative, then Master Power Brakes sells a Power Disc Brake Kit for the '66 F100 based on '73-'79 Ford truck brakes that comes complete in three heavy boxes and eliminates the trips to the junkyard, having to use the stuff from the donor truck for core samples, and the guesswork. It is significantly more expensive than the first method, but there's a lot of time that can be saved and it comes with a warranty. Your choice.

 

Hey there,
Welcome to FTE. Yep...I'm one of the "get a donor" guys. This is by far, the most common question on the site,
so you can bet there is a ton of info available and people to help...search the forums using the search engine,
and of course, with the link Bill W posted.

My advice though, is to heck with the kits....get all of the parts off of a solid donor vehicle at a wrecking yard,
or by purchasing a truck cheap...from what I understand, these kits can be a hodge-podge of this and that and
be somewhat tricky. Trust me, you save time and money getting the original already built set-up...prior to install,
that's when you do all the cleaning, little changes of this and that...seals etc.

I completely disagree with the previous poster on kits saving time....and my advice is to go to a yard and spend
some time getting to know the parts involved, and how it all comes apart.

I pulled my set for an F250 at the yards in about two hours of muscle work.

Best,
Jason

 

ive have been thinking the same but is there a way to keep the TWIN-I BEANS and get a disk set up? i like my I-BEAN's and dont want to switch?
(((((( sorry for hight jacking the thread ))))))

 

That's the whole idea of the '73 - '79 donor truck. It will have I-beams with disc brakes ready to transplant.

 

Originally posted by Rgd9664

"I've have been thinking the same but is there a way to keep the TWIN-I BEANS and get a disk
set up? i like my I-BEAN's and dont want to switch?"


The 1968-1979 donor vehicles all have twin IBeams. When you pull the parts from the donor,
you're going to pull the Twin IBeams, Radius arms, drag link and tie rods...it gets pulled as a
unit. You also need to pull the brake booster/dual master and proportioning valve along with
the little brake-light switch from the pedal.

Here is what I'm talking about...top is the disc set-up.....second are the old drums/radius
arms etc...you'll use your old springs.

The bottom pic shows the proportioning valve on the left...you won't need
the metering valve on the right if you're doing an F100.

 

SS, I am one of the leaders of the vocal group. I base my opinion on experience. I have not seen this kit that it referred to, so I fell I can not comment on it.

The method of keeping your beams and swapping spindle out can require a lot of pounding on kingpins to make that swap. Some folk like it but That extra work scared me.

When one purchases a donor and harvests his parts not cannibalize the parts he will have everything needed to complete the swap. Does this kit come with everything including the new brake line bracket that is needed?

I dono




John

 

I'd love to see the shipping charges on these parts...Overall, you're looking at well over a hundred pounds in Ibeams, rotors, calipers and various other parts!
"Guesswork"? How is there any guesswork with the harvesting method....it's not a puzzle...all the pieces are right there, and you see how they are mounted (prop valve + lines & booster) for when you put them on your ride.

 

Having recently done this, I can attest to skipping the kit and hitting up your local yard (or donor truck).

If you have a friend to help you out, you can have all the major parts pulled from both trucks and installed in a single day. The brake lines took a little bit longer for me to do but I am a total newbie and this is my first project.

Even if you do not have experience doing this work yourself, this forum has about a billion people eager and willing to help out with advice, opinions, links, etc.

You should also consider doing the power steering swap at the same time if you are considering doing it at all.

One thing to note: Taking junkyard/donor parts is not without its drawbacks. I ended up pulling a power steering box that is now leaking. This may have just been due to my own inexperience; someone with more of a trained eye might have spotted a problematic part and avoided it.

Hope that helps!

 

Jowilker and CropDusterMan - I have no intention of casting aspersions on the method of acquiring disc brakes via the donor truck/ junkyard find method. Your system certainly has plenty of merit. If you feel I was doing that, I'm sorry, that was not my intent. I simply want to let people know that there is a high quality kit available, from a well-known reputable company, at MUCH GREATER COST to be sure, in the event they cannot, or do not want to, do it your way. My kit cost $1095 earlier this year. Shipping from North Carolina to Arizona was $142.34 for a total of $1237.34. I am in the middle of a body off frame restomod. Before I took the truck apart I trial fitted everything and had very little to complain about. The biggest aggravation, which was not the kit's fault, was pressing the king pins out of the axles, getting them machined with new metal bushings (as opposed to nylon ones) to accept the new spindles. Another, but not a surprise, was having to buy new wheels which would not foul on the new calipers. I was going to do that anyway. I am replacing all of my brake lines. It seemed like a good idea after 45 years. Some new ones would have had to be fabricated anyway. The kit comes with virtually everything you need, all new or reconditioned to be like new, and uses '73-'79 Ford stuff so it's essentially factory. In reading other members concerns about stop light switch mounting, correct proportioning valves, problems with brake pedal pushrods, correct booster, booster mounting issues - these things are all taken care of in the kit. Not sure which brake line bracket you are referring to, but I don't think I am missing anything. I am very happy with it. When I get the truck done in a couple of months I will post some pictures for those who are interested.

 

I have done mine piecemeal, but I am not unhappy with how things have gone.

I looked for a good '73-79 donor, but to get a good one, first off, they were costly. IIRC, around $1500-$2000. to get a running example. For less $, I could have got one in poor shape that needed quite a bit of work and had it towed to my home, but that is not the best starting point if you want to salvage several good upgrades (unless you find just the right truck).

Secondly, I really don't have the space for another vehicle and,

Third, figured that once I stripped it, I would likely decide to move all the old removed parts back to the donor since I would already have them, which would have been twice the work.

It all depends on your individual situation and SuperSabre's kit advice is one good way to upgrade. So was the donor vehicle advice and I also don't want to cast asparagus on CropDusterDude and jowilker, although I really like it with that cheese sauce.

Truth be told, I was also worried that if I got a good '73-'79 donor, with the engine combination and equipment I wanted, not to mention A/C and more cab room, I just might not make the upgrade and end up moving into the later truck. My first new truck was a '73 and it sure was sweet!

 

Hey SuperSabre,

Don't worry Mate, didn't mean to rag on ya at all...I'm just an opinionated fart sometimes.

Why not post more details about the kit for the guys who don't want to risk tetanus crawling around
in the yards... Post some pics of the kit and details...hope you took lots of pics of the install.

Definitely post pics of your swap...I'll be envious of the shiney parts!


And OldHarley, these disc brake swaps are probably tough for guys used to working on Schwinns.

All the best,
Jason

 

CropDusterMan - thanks for that. Am taking lots of pix for future posting.

 

if you truck turns out as nice as your 65 Falcon i can't wait to see pic's of it