1972 f250 disk brake questions

[SteveC]

Ok got few quick questions. I have the entire front end from a 72 f250 with a 8100 gvw and the calipers have what looks like rubber bushings in them can I get new ones? The next queston is how hard is it to find brake hoses? Is it possible to get different bolts that go through the calipers and hold them to the spindle? And when looking through the lmc catalog. They say that 72 is a one year only what is different from 68 to 71 calipers. Thanks for the help. Hopefully this comes out ok since I'm on my blackberry phone. And if I need to post pictures I can thanks.

[robroy]

Ok got few quick questions. I have the entire front end from a 72 f250 with a 8100 gvw and the calipers have what looks like rubber bushings in them can I get new ones?

Hey Steve! Good to know another 8,100lb GVW F250 like mine!

Yes, you can get those bushings. Do you mean the small rubber bushings that are pressed in to the anchor plate (the plate that's bolted to the spindle), or some bushings that are part of the brake calipers themselves?

The bushings that are pressed in to the anchor plate can be bought from NAPA. Part# 82116A. Here's a photo of one of those bushings installed in my anchor plate:



And in this photo, those anchor plate bushings are shown at the bottom. At the top are bushings that are part of the calipers:



I had the new anchor plate bushings pressed in at a machine shop. My old ones were absolutely fused to the anchor plate steel so the machine shop pressed those out too.

The next queston is how hard is it to find brake hoses?

It wasn't hard for me to find them--they had the hoses at NAPA. There are a couple of different styles but if you have your old ones in hand you shouldn't have a problem getting the right ones. Sorry I don't have the part numbers handy.

Is it possible to get different bolts that go through the calipers and hold them to the spindle?

You mean new bolts that are exactly like what the factory used, right? Or bolts that are different somehow?

You can order the new bolts, but they also come with rebuilt calipers. If you punch in your 1972 Ford F250 info in to the NAPA online parts locater you'll find the bolts.

And when looking through the lmc catalog. They say that 72 is a one year only what is different from 68 to 71 calipers.

This I'm not aware of. My calipers came from RockAuto. Here's a photo of one of the new calipers next to the old one:



Let me know if you'd be curious about the part numbers for those calipers.

Thanks for the help. Hopefully this comes out ok since I'm on my blackberry phone. And if I need to post pictures I can thanks.

You're welcome, and your post looks just fine!

-Robroy

[FLATBEDFORD]

Robroy,
You are an F250 disc brake expert now.

[robroy]

Hey Steve! Yeah it does a lot for my ego to have my ratio of questions asked to questions answered jump from 500:1 to 500:2. I've just doubled my value as a contributor to this site!

-Robroy

[SteveC]

thanks those look like what i have, and 3 of the 4 bolts came out of the calipers ok but the last one was fused to the rubber bushing, it was a pain to remove.
Truthfully i missed typed that first question a little. I only have the front end.. the rest of the frame is gone but the truck its self lives on as my efi project.

The front end its self after getting all need bushings will be put under my 67 f250.

i maybe get new ones or rebuild mine.. though the roters looked new just rusted from setting so long.

[fireguywtc]

thanks those look like what i have, and 3 of the 4 bolts came out of the calipers ok but the last one was fused to the rubber bushing, it was a pain to remove.
Truthfully i missed typed that first question a little. I only have the front end.. the rest of the frame is gone but the truck its self lives on as my efi project.

The front end its self after getting all need bushings will be put under my 67 f250.

i maybe get new ones or rebuild mine.. though the roters looked new just rusted from setting so long.

Just so you know you don't have to do the whole front end swap. I just did my 67 F-250 and put 71 disc up front. All you need to swap for the 67 is the new spindles on the old I-beams. It's a lot easier but if you wanted to swap the whole front end anyways, ignore this

[SteveC]

from what i read i should just be able to bolt on the backing plate to my spindles and go from there,, the problem is that all my bushings need replaced so ill have to drop the i beams anyway. and im gonna go with power steering at the same time so ill be busy trying to get this all done

[FLATBEDFORD]

Just so you know you don't have to do the whole front end swap. I just did my 67 F-250 and put 71 disc up front. All you need to swap for the 67 is the new spindles on the old I-beams. It's a lot easier but if you wanted to swap the whole front end anyways, ignore this

Shouldn't even have to switch the spindles. The caliper brackets can be swapped with the backing plates without removing the spindles.

[fireguywtc]

Flatbedford,

I thought that too when I first started my quest for front disc, but that is not the case on the 67 F-250. The drum spindles are smaller in diameter then the disc spindles of later years. I tried to put the wheel bearings for the disc spindles on the drum ones and the spindles are way to small. I don't know if that is true for the 68+ drum spindles, I haven't delt with those personally. So you must swap out the spindles to have front disc on the 67 models. Obviously the disc spindles are a direct replacemnt onto the I-beams with the same size king pin diameter and spacing, so it is not neseccary to replace the entire front end if you don't want to.

BTW, I think a 67 F-350 may be different. They may have a larger front drum setup with larger spindles. When I ordered my wheel bearings for my new setup, I ended up with F-350 bearings. I don't think they are any different. I have 71 F-350 bearings with the rest being 71 disc F-250 hardware. HAHA clear as mud?

[FLATBEDFORD]

I see. I was under the impression that F250 and F350 stuff was interchangeable. I have been following Robroys posts and it seems that there are heavy and light duty F250s and they use different brakes bearings etc. Maybe the HD ones use the bigger spindle that the F350s do? The F250 is a kinda weird thing. I just checked the listings at rockauto.com, finding parts for an F250 looks very tricky. F350 stuff is pretty easy. I learned something today. I may have to edit some posts I've made.

At least we all agree that you don't have to change the whole font end. Now we know that you may have to change the spindles. I guess if you wanted to, you could easily upgrade your F250 brakes to the bigger F350 brakes.

[SteveC]

well i dunno if the i beams are more heavy duty from the 8100 gvw that they came from but i figured if i have them with all the new bushings and everything i can justpull all the old stuff and put the new ones one. I know its more work but id have to pull all mine anyway to replace my bushings like i said before.... but i as well thought the spindles were the same but i learned something as well.

thanks for all the help everyone.... maybe ill remember my camera at school to take pictures for a project up date

[SteveC]

would also need a link for new bushings wanted to go with the graphit impregnated polyuratene

[robroy]

Hey Steve, I'm not sure if you regularly look through the different forum categories here or not, but I just made a project updates thread that might be interesting to you. It has lots of photos of the 1972, 8,100lb GVW spindles, anchor plates, rotors, bearings, and grease seals. I'll keep it updated as my disc brake adventure continues.

http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 22&t=38822

-Robroy

[SteveC]

that will help out a lot thank you

[robroy]

You're welcome Steve! Glad to help. -Robroy