Straight Axle Disc Brake Swap for 61-64 F100's

[64f100sixcylinder]

This is how I put disc brakes on my 1964 F100 with the kit from Speedway Motors. Speedway Motors had a Holiday shipping special of $7.99 on orders over $99 (I think), so the kit was $287 delivered to my door. Two heavy boxes arrived, one contained the rotors, the other had everthing else. The kit was complete, minus a master cylinder, and every part is included (even a few extras, like caliper bolts and bearing races) however the instructions are not the greatest.






Here is the before picture, 50 year old drum brakes with a leaking wheel cylinder on the passenger side


Disconnected and plugged the brake lines, removed the four 3/4 inch backing plate bolts, removed the spindle nut, and now I do not have drum brakes!


I laid out the hardware

[64f100sixcylinder]

I started with the caliper mount. The calipers are 71-76 Impala and should stop an F100 just fine.

See that steering stop below? It will need to be adjusted later or the caliper will contact the I-beam.


It says in the instructions to grind this bump, you will need to pretty much remove it to mount the caliper.

This is what is should look like after you grind it

ALMOST DONE....unless you have American Racing Wheels like I do


The AR wheels are not hub centric like a stock wheel, and even worse the centers are smaller than a stock rim, causing them to not sit flat on the rotor. So I had to grind a taper into the rotor so the American Racing Wheels would sit flat on the rotor. It took about an hour per rotor but my wheels now fit. A metal lathe probably would've worked great, if I had one.


Passenger side. I connected the new flexible brake lines to the stock hard brake lines, leaving the original routing. I had to "adjust" the Speedway brake line bracket with a hammer until it was flat, then mounted it about 1/2 off the frame with a spacer so the retaining clip can be accessed.

I bled the brakes with the stock "fruit jar" master cylinder still in place, it will not work with these discs, it does not push enough fluid, the brakes are spongy. I am going to put a correct manual disc drum master cylinder with new lines on next week, but until then I can at least move the truck in and out of the garage under its own power.
The installation was pretty easy and the price was great, and I'm sure with the correct master cylinder this setup will stop great.

[Toyz]

I believe your original wheels were "lug-centric" ; utilizing the original style tapered lug nuts should work well with the AR's as long as you have ground adequate clearance at all points. I don't see any indication that you have ground the fit back entirely to the shoulder, a "blue" ( DyKem, etc.) contact check might be well-advised.
Keep in mind that your original "fruit jar" should have contained a residual valve, which will cause the discs to drag.
Paul

[64f100sixcylinder]

There is no need to grind all the way back and remove "the shoulder", the American Racing rims just needed what I removed to clear and sit flat on the rotors. I'm not sure what the original rims were, my truck came with 87 F150 rims which I replaced with AR rims. My AR rims are lug centric and fit fine after grinding on the rotors. As I mentioned, the fruit jar is only there until get the correct disc/drum master cylinder from the parts store, this allows me to move the truck in and out of the garage if needed.

[unibody madness]

Great write up, I have a set of these I will be putting on one of my trucks. I have disk brakes from an ifs set up on one of my trucks and can help some if you run into problems with yours.
Keep in mind that a proportioning valve will need to be installed to the rear lines, if the proportioning valve that you need to get for the dual master brake cylinder, does not come with one.
John

[64f100sixcylinder]

Thanks, I will be installing a proportioning valve with the correct master, probably an adjustable one.

[skidoorulz]

Informative write up and nice wheels. I think the old school look on these old trucks looks great

[Toyz]

I don't have an opinion of whether a spare may or may not fit correctly; unless you have a fifth AR, it might warrant verification.

[64f100sixcylinder]

I purchased the correct master cylinder part M1386 from AutoZone and plumbed it with new lines. A few things you need to swap the master are a 3/16 inch brake tee with a 1/8 NPT port for the brake light switch (NAPA), a 3/16 inch brake tee for the front brakes, and new 3/16" brake lines. A tubing bender is a must and line wrenches will make you swear less. The master cylinder push rod will need to be shortened, and dont forget to swap the plastic bushing or it will clunk.
I got everything installed, bled the brakes and went for a ride.The truck stops great, I did not install a proportioning valve in the rear line, and so far I don't think I'll need one (I'm sure someone will disagree).

[Truckrat]

Nice write up on the disc brake conversion. Looks like this needs to be copied and put in ''Hints & Tricks'' section too. Great pics you took and plenty of detail! Thanks for
posting this. Gives folks who haven't done this on their trucks an idea of how easy it is. My son and I did the same thing on his 63 and it worked great. TR

[64f100sixcylinder]

Here is the last piece of my disc brake swap puzzle, the adjustable proportioning valve for the rear drum brakes. I bought this on eBay for about $32 with shipping. I installed it on the frame under the truck cab as I had a union there already, once it is adjusted I probably will not have to ever do it again. I bolted it to the frame with a spacer so the adjustment wheel could be turned. It seemed necessary to bolt it down so that it did not bounce around and fatigue the brake lines.I bled the brakes, and once the arctic conditions subside, I will take it for a test drive and adjust the rear brake bias.

[Fiveoh108]

Thank you for the write, very informative. I wanted this set up and was wondering how difficult installation was. Post an update with the proportioning valve results, when you have a chance! Thank you again