1979 Ford F150 4X4 brake job - Page 3

batty1214 · 04-11-2009, 08:26 PM

Hey, I use alot of blocks to hold up the 777 Caterpillar haul trucks, when I have to change a tire in the pit.......... I never do anything with just a jack...... did when I was younger and had too many near misses.... Even if you use the tire that you pulled off...... anything to keep the thing from falling on you completely...... anyway, enough preaching...........
As to how mush it is going to cost you, go price around at the part stores...... take a detailed list of everything you need, and have the part stores price it all out..... then decide who you want to go through........I do it at work all the time.... I have found that going through the Gm dealer here was cheaper for some of my brake parts than the part stores where.

hotrodpc · 04-11-2009, 09:38 PM

Your Buddy was lucky Batty. I lost a friend under a car for not using jackstands. He had 2 wheels up on the curb, the other 2 off the ground with a floor jack. The frame slipped off the jack bowl and dropped the truck on his head. The only relief his family got, is to know he probably didn't even see it coming and it he did, it was only a tenth or 2 of a second. No excuse. You can find just about anything for safety reasons. I even have used old rims and tires, You can slide your tires under the truck in the right place with a single 2x or 4x4. Noone says you have to set the truck down on it, but at least have it there, in the event the jack fails, it can only drop so far.

hotrodpc · 04-11-2009, 09:49 PM

Also just to mention since you are going to end up doing a complete brake job on the rears, and as I and batty mentioned get your drums and rotors turned, as cheap as your brake parts, its probably a good time to get a new brake hardware kit for the back too. New springs, retainers etc. Sometimes they even include self adjusters, sometimes they don't. If your threads are OK, you can probably get by with cleaning them good, and I like to use white lithium grease on the threads too, to keep them moving and operating freely. Wheel bearing grease is to thick and gunky and it make your adjusters not work.

ErwinRommel · 04-12-2009, 01:00 PM

So how much would this all cost? Could I keep some things like the calipers?

75K30 · 04-12-2009, 01:17 PM

drum brakes and mud do not do well together. Mud gets into the drum and cant get out. Nothing but problems when the two are mixed, plus the mud accelerates brake shoe wear. With semi flater axles, the drums can easiily be removed and cleaned, but I do not see many peopple doing this. Disc brakes are the way to go.
Compare some prices, and consider the swap. It might not be the ideal thing to do for this truck, but if it were in my driveway, I would have discs in the back of that thing.

Chevy caliper brackets (Blazer)- junkyard- $15.00 for both
Chevy calipers (78- 1/2 ton) Autozone- $13.99 each
Pads (same) Autozone- $7.99/ set
Ford rotors (78- 1/2 ton) Autozone- $23.99 ea.

Only thing I left out was a new bearing retainer plate from Currie Enterprises. This has 100 thousandths clearance difference. Cheap part too.
I have used these with stock Prop valves as well as adjustable units with success.
Total $99

ErwinRommel · 04-12-2009, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 75K30

drum brakes and mud do not do well together. Mud gets into the drum and cant get out. Nothing but problems when the two are mixed, plus the mud accelerates brake shoe wear. With semi flater axles, the drums can easiily be removed and cleaned, but I do not see many peopple doing this. Disc brakes are the way to go.
Compare some prices, and consider the swap. It might not be the ideal thing to do for this truck, but if it were in my driveway, I would have discs in the back of that thing.

Chevy caliper brackets (Blazer)- junkyard- $15.00 for both
Chevy calipers (78- 1/2 ton) Autozone- $13.99 each
Pads (same) Autozone- $7.99/ set
Ford rotors (78- 1/2 ton) Autozone- $23.99 ea.

Only thing I left out was a new bearing retainer plate from Currie Enterprises. This has 100 thousandths clearance difference. Cheap part too.
I have used these with stock Prop valves as well as adjustable units with success.
Total $99

Well year model chevy?
I got a 79 ford f150 so 79 ford rotors.

New bearing retainer plate? How do I get?

Um, do you have the "HOW TO" to install all of this?

crabtruck · 04-13-2009, 12:17 AM

There will be a short delay while he tries to get it on a 3x5 card...

ErwinRommel · 04-13-2009, 10:04 AM

Hah, good one. Well I'm trying to find an article about it but no luck

75K30 · 04-13-2009, 11:44 AM

If you take the backing plate off of the axle you will expose a flange, and this flange is about exactly the same as a chevy front caliper bracket. It will require a slightly larger hole in the bracket to fit the bolts through, but only a very slight amount.
These will go from .375" to .469"
The inside diameter of the bracket will have to be clearanced to clear the seal, but this is minimal, about .100"

This 4wd front caliper bracket will allow the use of the ford front caliper in the rear, and will use a chevy front caliper in the rear. The spacing is perfect and everything aligns with minimal modifcation. (no welding)
Since the Chevy caliper bracket is .250" thick and the stock ford drum brake bracket being replaced is .150" thick, it needs a .100" thick spacer between the retainer plate and the axle seal to keep the axle from moving back and forth .100". Currie, makes a retainer plate with this spacer machined into it for one of thier disk brake conversions. Above costs do not include this plate. Not expensive, and not a deal breaker. Some have used the correct plate and some have just made a spacer so this was intentionall left out, plus, with the spacer, it makes this upgrade a little over 99 dollars, and a 118 dollar disc brake upgrade did not sound as cool.

Now before we get carried away with this, you will have to be a fairly confident mechanic, and this upgrade is not for everyone.
My concern here is that the current brake system is not working properly from the beginning, and converting willnot fix this. The system has to work properly before any upgrades should be considered.

Fix your brakes before you go any further.

Pic of the bracket:

Pic of the bracket and caliper:

hotrodpc · 04-13-2009, 11:53 AM

yep, I agree with 75. Fix all your other components first. I see why you would want the upgrade at some point, but maybe best for now just to fix everything the way it is and make it a safe runner. Get the know the truck a bit and see that other systems are all going to be OK before you start doing mods and spending money. Although, $118 for a conversion is a steal.

75.. I am curious, how does this system work with an E brake or does it?

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04-11-2009, 08:26 PM	#21
batty1214 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Vernal Utah Posts: 1,127	Hey, I use alot of blocks to hold up the 777 Caterpillar haul trucks, when I have to change a tire in the pit.......... I never do anything with just a jack...... did when I was younger and had too many near misses.... Even if you use the tire that you pulled off...... anything to keep the thing from falling on you completely...... anyway, enough preaching........... As to how mush it is going to cost you, go price around at the part stores...... take a detailed list of everything you need, and have the part stores price it all out..... then decide who you want to go through........I do it at work all the time.... I have found that going through the Gm dealer here was cheaper for some of my brake parts than the part stores where.

04-11-2009, 09:38 PM	#22
hotrodpc Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: OKC, OK Posts: 2,847	Your Buddy was lucky Batty. I lost a friend under a car for not using jackstands. He had 2 wheels up on the curb, the other 2 off the ground with a floor jack. The frame slipped off the jack bowl and dropped the truck on his head. The only relief his family got, is to know he probably didn't even see it coming and it he did, it was only a tenth or 2 of a second. No excuse. You can find just about anything for safety reasons. I even have used old rims and tires, You can slide your tires under the truck in the right place with a single 2x or 4x4. Noone says you have to set the truck down on it, but at least have it there, in the event the jack fails, it can only drop so far.

04-11-2009, 09:49 PM	#23
hotrodpc Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: OKC, OK Posts: 2,847	Also just to mention since you are going to end up doing a complete brake job on the rears, and as I and batty mentioned get your drums and rotors turned, as cheap as your brake parts, its probably a good time to get a new brake hardware kit for the back too. New springs, retainers etc. Sometimes they even include self adjusters, sometimes they don't. If your threads are OK, you can probably get by with cleaning them good, and I like to use white lithium grease on the threads too, to keep them moving and operating freely. Wheel bearing grease is to thick and gunky and it make your adjusters not work.

04-12-2009, 01:00 PM	#24
ErwinRommel Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Southern Georgia Posts: 563	So how much would this all cost? Could I keep some things like the calipers?

04-12-2009, 01:17 PM	#25
75K30 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,992	drum brakes and mud do not do well together. Mud gets into the drum and cant get out. Nothing but problems when the two are mixed, plus the mud accelerates brake shoe wear. With semi flater axles, the drums can easiily be removed and cleaned, but I do not see many peopple doing this. Disc brakes are the way to go. Compare some prices, and consider the swap. It might not be the ideal thing to do for this truck, but if it were in my driveway, I would have discs in the back of that thing. Chevy caliper brackets (Blazer)- junkyard- $15.00 for both Chevy calipers (78- 1/2 ton) Autozone- $13.99 each Pads (same) Autozone- $7.99/ set Ford rotors (78- 1/2 ton) Autozone- $23.99 ea. Only thing I left out was a new bearing retainer plate from Currie Enterprises. This has 100 thousandths clearance difference. Cheap part too. I have used these with stock Prop valves as well as adjustable units with success. Total $99

04-13-2009, 12:17 AM	#27
crabtruck Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: on your 9 Posts: 3,192	There will be a short delay while he tries to get it on a 3x5 card...

04-13-2009, 10:04 AM	#28
ErwinRommel Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Southern Georgia Posts: 563	Hah, good one. Well I'm trying to find an article about it but no luck

04-13-2009, 11:44 AM	#29
75K30 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,992	If you take the backing plate off of the axle you will expose a flange, and this flange is about exactly the same as a chevy front caliper bracket. It will require a slightly larger hole in the bracket to fit the bolts through, but only a very slight amount. These will go from .375" to .469" The inside diameter of the bracket will have to be clearanced to clear the seal, but this is minimal, about .100" This 4wd front caliper bracket will allow the use of the ford front caliper in the rear, and will use a chevy front caliper in the rear. The spacing is perfect and everything aligns with minimal modifcation. (no welding) Since the Chevy caliper bracket is .250" thick and the stock ford drum brake bracket being replaced is .150" thick, it needs a .100" thick spacer between the retainer plate and the axle seal to keep the axle from moving back and forth .100". Currie, makes a retainer plate with this spacer machined into it for one of thier disk brake conversions. Above costs do not include this plate. Not expensive, and not a deal breaker. Some have used the correct plate and some have just made a spacer so this was intentionall left out, plus, with the spacer, it makes this upgrade a little over 99 dollars, and a 118 dollar disc brake upgrade did not sound as cool. Now before we get carried away with this, you will have to be a fairly confident mechanic, and this upgrade is not for everyone. My concern here is that the current brake system is not working properly from the beginning, and converting willnot fix this. The system has to work properly before any upgrades should be considered. Fix your brakes before you go any further. Pic of the bracket: Pic of the bracket and caliper:

04-13-2009, 11:53 AM	#30
hotrodpc Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: OKC, OK Posts: 2,847	yep, I agree with 75. Fix all your other components first. I see why you would want the upgrade at some point, but maybe best for now just to fix everything the way it is and make it a safe runner. Get the know the truck a bit and see that other systems are all going to be OK before you start doing mods and spending money. Although, $118 for a conversion is a steal. 75.. I am curious, how does this system work with an E brake or does it?