I'm building my 79 to pull a camper so now I'm at the brake stage. I have the factory discs on front, drums on back. I'm thinking of putting hydroboost in and was wondering about ditching the back drums for disc's and also adding upgraded disc's to the front. Questions are 1. Is the disc swap worth doing 2. Has anyone done this and what kit(s) did you use. I've been looking at a couple different ones and they all seem to be different. Oh and yes the camper has brakes as well.

 

I did the hydro boost conversion/upgrade to my 77SB4x4. Night and day different in brake pedal ease and pressure you can put on the brakes. I was thinking about doing rear discs but at this time....don’t feel the need to. I do pull a trailer with ATV’s on it. So rough weight up to 3000# is what I’ll pull with it.

You don’t say if your truck is a 2wd or 4wd. F150? F250? F350. If a F350 or camper special etc...you might have the really big dual piston calipers on the front. My 77 F350 was a camper special and that would stop with no problems.

Also would help to know how much weight your camper is that your pulling.

Off hand though if a F150....your factory brakes should be plenty. Hydroboost is nice though! My Hydroboost kit came from Wild Horses 4x4 and was a plug and play set up. Couldn’t have gone easier on the installation.

 

Thanks...its a f150 but I have heavier leafs and springs on it. Trailer is 7400 lbs loaded...6400 empty. 460 automatic 4x4. Im actually looking at a hydroboost system. You kept your stock front disc with your conversion?

 

Cool on the more info you provided!

Yes I kept the original front calipers/rotors on my truck.

I did put Deaver soft ride rear springs on my truck. I took the factory 3” spacer blocks out and with the Deaver springs in the back it did raise it up about another 1” to 1.5” in the rear. Don’t let the phrase soft ride springs fool you in a bad way. It does ride nicer in the rear vs the factory springs but they are heavy duty as well in my opinion.

I did put in new front springs/leveling kit prior to that from Skyjacker I think it was. The shocks that came with my kit where not much better than the factory. I did last year put in Rancho 9000xl adjustable shocks in the front. The rears won’t clear the axle tube. So I made a set of new/slightly extended rear extensions (got one done and test fitted it and have to make the other as of yet). The Rancho shocks just in the front helped the truck ride night and day different.

My rear hitch is.a class 5 that I pulled off the Camper Special when I stripped it for parts. My truck is also an automatic. I pulled the factory trans cooler off the F350 and installed it in the factory location on my SB4x4.

I’m not a total expert on these trucks in terms of pulling weight they can handle etc...but has been quite a bit of talk about it in the past on the forums here.

I would recommend you replace/get all new brake hoses to the caliper and brake junction block hose that runs down to the front axle and rear differential when you do the Hydroboost upgrade. Especially if yours are original. I did the braided hose for the rear differential but couldn’t find them for the front so I just installed new brake hoses for the calipers and junction block. .

 

hydro boost isn't going to make the brakes hold any more than they do now. all it does is take a little less pedal pressure .

Spend some of the Ronco hydro boost conversion money at the gym getting in shape and you'll have the same braking capacity and be healthier at the same time.

 

The calipers on your truck can be replaced with Lincoln mark v calipers of the same year. This gets you an upgrade in caliper piston from 73mm to 79mm. This requires some rework of the brake line to caliper fitting or custom brake lines. If you are going to go rear disc you can use the Lincoln master cylinder too as it was made for rear discs.

Before you go to the trouble of a hydroboost swap you may want to change to a newer model booster. I changed my 79 F350 12” booster for a 2001 F150 dual diaphragm 9.5” booster and it’s night and day different. If hydroboost provided any more assist than what I have it would be too much.

The way Ford front caliper brackets work there is no way to go to a larger disc unless you wanted to build your own caliper mount for different calipers. You could go to slotted or cross drilled rotors but that only helps with brake fade and does not help with brake feel.

I believe hawk makes pads for your truck. They are not cheep but they should stop better

 

The hydroboost does have more apply pressure, it should be sized with the correct bore master cylinder and downstream cylinder fluid volume needs to be considered. The stock booster is good for around 750psi brake pressure a typical hydroboost will put the same system above 2200psi.

 

Thanks everyone. Buckin..when you changed the booster, did you have to do many mods to attach to brake pedal and did you have to go with matching master cylinder or did you reuse the original?

 

If 750 PSI will lock the wheels up exactly what does 2200PSI gain you ?

Braking is a simple matter of turning motion into heat and physics must be accepted. while these brakes worked fine for the intended loads the vehicle was designed for if simply applying more pressure to them was the answer Ford would still be running 12" drums on a new F350 with 6,000 PSI hydro boost. .

So you can do whatever makes you feel good but all you're really gaining is a lighter pedal pressure . big deal.

 

I totally agree with the theory but maybe I have a worn out system cause I'm not locking this truck up. When I pull my 16ft fishing boat I can feel a big difference in stopping power. I have to allow greater distance. So, yeah im nervous pulling a 7K trailer behind me though I've been told by others that they found it easier to stop due to the trailer brakes. But at this point in my build if I'm going to upgrade anything I want to do it now

 

Trailer brakes make HUGE difference.

7,000 lbs should be okay if your brakes are in good shape and your trailer brakes are set right. but you're still going to have to drive accordingly anytime you're towing . these old pickups don't handle a trailer like the new ones , and brakes are only a part of the difference.

my wife pulled loaded goosenecks out of the mountains all the time with these pickups when they were new so I get a chuckle out of the he men who get sore legs pushing brake pedal on the way to McDonalds . but you had to drive like you were serious it wasn't a game.

 

In my personal opinion I don't think hydro-boost is as beneficial if you're not upgrading to rear discs and maybe even bigger rotors while you're at it. I'm sure it improves pedal feel on stock systems with original discs and rear drums but like 440 said, not really going to improve performance. I have it on my list of upgrades but only because I'm going to swap in super duty axles with much larger rotors and rear discs.

 

Have you ever done a hydroboost conversion? I guarantedamntee it works better than what the stock system does. New master & working stock booster couldn't lock the brakes unless absolutely slammed to the floor & even then iffy. Hydroboost my truck stops just like a newer rig even with 39.5's on it. Pressure is what makes the system hold, chief..........

 

Hydroboost is also a nice and needed upgrade if you build your motor to make more power and your motor puts out less vacuum at an idle to operate your power brakes. Something else to think about.

 

I have used hydroboost for about ... 10 years? I have a 1975 f250. I used a SuperDuty master and hydro so they would be compatible. I also swapped the power steering. to a saginaw pump with dual return lines. I used to haul and tow a lot. The hydroboost is one of the best mods I've done to the truck. The brakes are fearless.

Attachment 280175

Attachment 280176 Off a 76 LTD with a 460.

Attachment 280177

I bought the caliper brackets from a guy who sells them on ebay and some forums. They only aspect of the hydroboost was that I also installed rear discs. I used the Chebby calipers that worked great, but without a parking brake. I've tried two of the El Dorado parking brake type calipers, and the p.brake worked badly. I've considered going back to a drum set-up, but we'll see.