I have read the disc brake swap article for 65-72 2wd trucks several times over the years, and am now actually ready to do it. I have a complete front suspension off of a 1978 or 1979 F-100, and want to know one thing...

Can I just bolt the whole assembly up, or are the I-beams, not interchangeable?

 

Supposedly, you can pull the ibeams and radius arms, with spindles/hubs as a unit and transplant the whole thing.

One fellow had a lot of trouble. I think the 78 or 79 also will have had stamped steel radius arms, as opposed to the nice cast pieces on your 65.

Can't tell you what to do -- but don't burn any bridges. You really ought to replace the radius arm rubber bushings, no matter what you decide to do. And, make sure you do this all at the same time.

Whatever you do, do something at least about the the single cylinder master that the 65 had. Probably the single most dangerous "feature" of a 65, right after not having seat belts.

 

Michael, Yes the whole assembly will bolt right up. Like CD says a great time to put in new rubber.

The tech article has some flaws in it. There is no difference in location of anything between 65 & 79. Ford did make a change in the radius arms from cast to stamped but no size change.

I have a direct bolt up on my driver and my project truck, and have helped many times with others upgrades.

John

 

I'm the guy who had I-beams that were NOT the same, resulting in way-excessive camber. However, it's easy enough to check yours before you start (unlike me, duh) by doing the measurement I suggest on my site. However, I think the extra work involved in doing the whole thing vs. just the spindles isn't worth it. Getting the I-beams and radius arms back in can be a real PITA requiring jacking, prying, and cursing.
Otherwise, this is a very worthwhile and even fun project to do on your truck. If you run into any snags not covered on my site or the FTE how-to, just give me a shout. It's still pretty fresh in my mind.

 

Thanks all, I thought long and hard about pulling kingpins and all that, and had to ask this question before starting. I tried pressing the pins out on a bent i-beam I had (darn minivan took out my 70's cab door and fender..), and had difficulty with trying to hold the beam, and keep all the bits in line, while trying to pump the press.

I do plan on using the cast radius arms, I found urethane bushings on the Energy suspension website, and will probably do the rear leafs as well.

I do plan on adding power steering, as well as power, dual reservoir brakes. I have the booster, pedal bracket (4-speed manual OD as well) pedal assembly, prop valve, MC... the whole works. Sounds like it is all going into the truck before I ship it off to Dad's.

ddavidv: I liked your website, and read about your MMS GRM car. I have a buddy who is building a 302 powered second gen Rx7 for this years comp, and a coworker of mine was involved with the Alpha Romeo Spyder that was in the 2003 challenge as well. I am trying to talk my buddy/neighbor into cutting up two of his cars into one wild car. Definitely more work than it is worth, but should be darn cheap and fun.. probably will be 2005 or 6 before we get around to it though.

Cheer's!

 

I had the same thing when I replaced the bent i-beam on my 70 with a beam from a 72 long bed parts truck The only thing I can figure is that there are different beams for diffferent ride heights. Afterall there is no way to adjust camber, aside from heating and bending the beams. That or figuring out a way to raise and lower the frame side...

 

ddavid, Didn't you have some mixed in parts in there?
When moving the complete beams and steering gear, there shouldn't be those problems.

John

 

Negatory John, the parts were all from the same truck. Since both wheels wound up being out of whack, I can only assume the I-Beams were made that way. The donor truck looked pretty decent, not beat to death, so I don't believe they were accidentally bent (it was a huge difference).
Let's just put a caution mark there and advise folks to measure them before proceeding.
My experience with kingpins is they do not need to be pressed out. Whacking on them with a good hammer and drift, and adding a little heat if they are stubborn worked just fine for me.
Off topic: Yes, the Mongrel Motorsports Challenge cars were fun, but a lot of work. Only one of the original four is involved anymore, and when the Chevy drivetrain of the new car was mentioned, I lost all interest.
My brother-in-law "owns" the V8 Miata and we autocross it. Hoping to get it on a race track this year.

 

ddavid, The ones that we have installed, were tight and didn't require pin replacement. We slid them without uncoupling anything and had no problems. I have worked with many of those upgrades and there has only been a couple with a problem.

To my knowlege those that did seperated and reinstalled the parts.

have a large Ford trucking day

John