Disc tool and part list please

[Joshpow]

I am gonna finally go disc!! Got a few questions. My truck is a 72. What do I need to swap and what can I leave. I know my tie rods are good so kinda like to keep them. Also kinda like to keep forged radius arms. What tools are needed to do the swap? Sizes of bolts would be a great help too. Can I leave my manual overbore master cylinder for now? Gonna live with some camber issues so how much can I cut on coils? How much drop? Gotta budget this thing for now so need help guys. Thanks in advance. Also, how is the best way to cut the rivets in the spring hangers on the rear?

[forrestbump]

http://www.fordification.com/tech/discbrakes01.htm ...pretty much says it all.

Center punch the center of each rivet you want to remove... close is important as you're trying to avoid drilling through the chassis or bracket.

Rivet removal begins with drilling an 1/8" pilot hole all the way through each rivet. Progressively increase drill sizes until you can see the edges of the chassis holes. Then you can cold chisel the head off the rivet.

When drilling, drip cutting oil on the drill bit for faster / easier cutting plus you'll extend the life of the drill bits. Plan on using up quite a few 1/8" drill bits, but the larger drill bit sizes should last just fine.

You can also just grind them off, but that will usually leave nasty scars on your trucks chassis or the brackets.

[sargentrs]

Somebody please correct me if I'm mistaken. I'm doing mine too. After many hours of searching and research, I came to the conclusion that the only real difference in the front suspension of a '70 with drum brakes and a '73 with front disc brakes was the spindles and the dust shields. I picked up both from craigslist for $175 (shipped) for the set. I came to this conclusion by searching manuals, casting numbers, part numbers, parts sites, etc. (and Fordification, of course) for both models and comparing, part by part, everything on the front suspension for both. Of course, there's the proportioning valve, booster/mc, brackets, hoses, etc. but the basic structural parts are interchangeable. As I said, if I'm mistaken PLEASE tell me before I start putting it together and find out the hard way. Thanks!

[Joshpow]

anyone got sizes for the nuts on radius arms and stuff? Love to know i got all the tolls before i get elbows deep! Thanks guys.

[sargentrs]

I can get you a definite tomorrow because I'm stripping my front suspension off starting in the morning, but I believe the one on the radius arm at the I-beam is a 7/8" and the radius arm nut is a 1-3/16. I know my largest impact set is a 1-1/16 and I had to go buy a bigger one to strip the radius arms off my parts truck.

[fordman]

1 1/8

[Joshpow]

thanks guys. big help. didnt want to end up there and not have tool to do the job!

[sargentrs]

Well there you go. Thanks fordman. Now I know what I'm digging for in the big chest o' tools.

[Joshpow]

man sargentrs. just now read your signature. thats cool you got your truck back. Like the idea of the ol ford saving the day on a breakdown too. that does seem to hold true. Noone respects our ol beat up trucks enough.

[fordman]

1 1/8 is almost the largest i have. i do have a 1 1/4 socket i think. but it is too large. i may have a 1 3/16 end wrench though. and maybe a 1 1/4 end wrench that i have never used.

[sargentrs]

man sargentrs. just now read your signature. thats cool you got your truck back. Like the idea of the ol ford saving the day on a breakdown too. that does seem to hold true. Noone respects our ol beat up trucks enough.

Yeah, I always used to laugh and say who'd steal this beat up ol' POS? I didn't figure on a burnt out gear head with an out of state warrant. Knew exactly what he was doing. Just caught a glimpse of him on the parking lot video camera but he walked up to my truck and 45 secs later he backed out and took off. I had just spent a week under the hood replacing gaskets, timing set, tune up, painted the engine and compartment and had her runnin' sweet. Took it for a test drive to the Walmart 30 mins away and she ran like a top. I pulled in at 5:30pm and went inside. At 5:40pm he drove off in it. I guess he was waiting for the right vehicle to pull in for his getaway car. Made it 70 miles up the road when he got pulled over for running a stop sign. They ran his ID and found the warrant, arrested him and hauled my truck to the wrecker yard. I had called the cops and filled out a stolen vehicle report but I guess they hadn't even gotten it in the system when they ran the plates because it must've came up clean. 14 months later somebody saw it in the wrecker impound and wanted to by the 9" rear end for a hot rod build. They figured they better run the plates again before they started parting it out and it came up stolen. Cops called me and I went and picked it up that day. Hooked up a jump box, poured a shot of gas in the carb, fired right up and drove it home. I figure it was a sign that I was meant to have that truck. I could never part with it now. My wife and our kids have all been through 2 or 3 cars each in the time I've had her and at some point or another I've had to go get every one of them in the bump. Funny tho', only once has somebody had to come get me and that was when my rear end gears locked up on me. I was back on the road in 24 hours for under $50 tho'.

[Joshpow]

Thats a neat story. keep the ol gal. definately meant to be yours! hopefully noone will ever take off in mine but if they do i hope it throws a tantrum like it has for me and leaves them sitting to get caught. sure hope id be that lucky for the ol gal to eventually find her way back to me!

[whiteblur]

I just got done doing my swap. Make sure to get the donor pit man arm. The easiest thing to do is to just jump in to the project and dont look back! I did my entire swap in either 2 or 3 days on and off, including, cleaning, painting, installing new hardware, and installation. It was easy as pie just trust me. Now all I have to do is run brake lines, that can wait till next week once i get back from camp. Good luck to you guys, and post some pics

[F100builder]

Take a look at this... http://www.fordification.com/tech/discbrakes01.htm
Most everything is interchangeable from '67-'79 but the kingpin changes size in '75 and the tie-rod ends are not necessarily all the same either. I just performed this job and my '69 steering linkage worked with the extensions provided with my DJM beams so I didn't need the dentside linkage or have to modify my spindles.

Here are more links that may give you more details. I posted my parts list somewhere in this first one...
http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 89#p547189
I started the following post which is a little more about dropping my truck than it is about brakes but I took care of both in one job using DJM's 3" dropped beams. I ordered the beams for a '75 as they come with new kingpins and my donor spindles are from a '75.
http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 15#p547315

If you have access to a compressor and air tools, they will prove invaluable as tearing this 40+ year-old stuff out of your truck is sometimes pretty brutal on your hands, arms, and back. I removed all of my donor truck stuff with just hand tools on my back in 2" of snow a while back and it sucked! After I got it home, I used air tools and it was much more pleasurable! An air chisel made short and easy work of all the rivets I removed during the rear hanger flip (all replaced with grade 8 hardware).