1966 2 WD front disk brake conversion questions

[66truckman]

Hi,
Can anyone fill in some blanks for me on what they may know about a direct bolt up front wheel disk brake conversion of a 1966 2WD F100 by using a disk-brake twin-I beam set from a 1973-1979 2WD F100 (I may have the exact years wrong). I confess that I am over my head here and trying to get educated. This is something that I was told but may not have fully understood. The idea was that you were suppose to be able to just replace the twin I-Beam's with the 70's something set plus add the booster and a proportioning valve and voila, a 66 with disk brakes. This all started when I decided that I needed to replace the radius-arm and pivot bushings and got to thinking that heck, it would be really nice to have disk brakes. Is this for real or am I making this out to be easier than it is?

[banjopicker66]

Well, it not quite that precisely simple, but it isn't all that hard, either!
You have the basic concept down correctly, but the devil will be in the details.
A disc brake upgrade can be done separately from a power steering upgrade, but if you have a donor truck to harvest the parts off of, it makes it a little easier to do them at the same time. I did mine separately, though.

I recommend you buy a donor truck. It will have everything you need, and the old calipers, master cylinder etc will pay you back in core charges.

I suggest that you drive out the kingpins and re-use your existing I-beams. There are cases where the donor truck had a bent I-beam that made it impossible to keep the geometry the same on the receiving truck. Keep your existing suspension to avoid problems.

One devilish detail is the brake line stands, where the rubber line attaches to the solid line. This stand is bolted on one side of the '70s truck, but is riveted on the other side - which means a boneyard trip. It is possible to keep the '66 stands and use an '80s Chrysler front brake hose - I think. Someone here can chime in which one it is - but I decided to use all '76 Ford truck parts to make it easier to make repairs and find replacements without having to consult a mix and match list.

You will of course need to replace the brake lines. Get a complete set for your donor truck from Inline Tube, if you do not want to make them yourself. The lines won't match exactly for the rear, and you'll need to do some minor modifications. Pay attention to where the proportioning valve mounts, and mount it the same on your '66 to avoid bending and re-bending lines (ask me how I know this!)

The pushrod from the brake pedal will need to be modified. there are several ways to do this. If you choose to go with a '70s power booster, get one from a '78/'79. Instead of a rod, it uses a flat bar. You can redrill the bolt hole for the brake pedal bolt and cut the bar shorter, which for me was easier than cutting the round pushrod and threading both ends.

One thing that gets left out is the brake warning light to let you know a circuit is out. It is activated by a switch in the center on the proportioning valve. It isn't hard to wire up, and you can use a very nice looking light socket from a '68 - '72 truck. When you get to that point, let me know if you need help.

Best of luck to you!

[bruceandersson]

I've done this conversion a couple of times. I simply took off the old radius arms and i beams a and replaced them with the later model ones. This took about 4 hours each time. I also used the power brake setup fromt he donor truck and just had to fill in the old hole in the brake pedal arm and drill a new one to fit the location the power setup wanted. I mounted the proportioning valve on the frame brace in the same location it was on the later truck. You have to re-plumb the brake lines a little to use the dual system. I think this is one of the best upgrades you can do and well worth the effort.

[bmcgc]

When I do my disc conversion Im thinking of going with this unit.

Its a little spendy but the booster is much smaller than the Ford unit and it includes the firewall brackets and has an adjustable pushrod.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-brakes-FO ... 8d&vxp=mtr

[bmcgc]

Banjo, I looked at the inline tube website, I was going to use the lines off my 76 donor, but I like the ss lines much better.

How do I decide which year brake lines to order?

I have a 66, my donor is a 76. I thought I would order a 67-72 set since the wheelbase and width are the same as my 66, but there is a different p/n for each year.

Since Im useing the 76 porportioning valve, should I order a 76 set so that the lines from the m/c to porportioning valve are the same?

[limpysmalls]

I just did this swap on my 65 F250 2WD. I grabbed the entire front suspension from a 78 F250 since I wanted to keep my 8 lug wheels. Bending the brake lines is a bitch so measure where the proportioning valve is located on your donor truck so you can use pre-bent lines. I got 1" longer bolts for the hard to soft line mounts on the frame and 1" spacers from Lowes. This makes the soft lines long enough when you are turning.

The biggest issue I ran into was the steering. My 65 had the steering mount to the spindles on the bottom but the 78 setup mounts on the top of the spindle arm. I had to use the steering linkage form the 78 which would not fit into the pitman arm. These are hard to find for our trucks and the local auto yards will not sell them separate from the power steering box. Luck for me my brother had just purchased a pitman arm reamer for his 68 Bronco project. We reamed out the pitman arm till the 78 tie rod end fit.

For me again I will say the brake line bending was the most difficult thing.

bmcgc: That unit looks nice and will fit the engine bay better then the Ford unit I used. I think the price is not bad either. I paid close to $150 for the stock stuff from Autozone. Now I can not take the driver side valve cover off without removing the booster.

[chris401]

After all the modifications from my 73 donor, I found a FE powered 72 that had the smaller diameter booster. It was a direct bolt up.
Chris

[DV65CustomCab]

Guys, guys...it's all laid out for you on my web site.
http://mongrelmotorsports.homestead.com/f100discs.html
You may want to print and save it because I'm not sure I'm renewing the site when it's due Aug 1.

[bmcgc]

Im going to see if my donor 76s pedal assembly will swap into my 66.

I dont want to screw with bending brake lines, Im looking for a plug-n-play solution.

I would like to put discs on the rear as well, but dont want to spend $500 doing it.