Thread: Roadster pickup getting front disc brakes----

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The forum is acting weird today---first it didn't show my new post, then it double posted it.

So---Today 2 big boxes of parts showed up. One complete front disc brake kit with everything (except maybe flexible front brake lines). Plus one 2 pound residual check valve. ---Total damage--$736.17. (Which for a pleasant change is LESS than I was originally quoted.) I HAD TO take all the bits and peices out and look at them. (They are currently spread all over the coffee table in the living room.--Its okay---my wife understands.) Maybe tomorrow I will put the front end of the Wild Canary up on jackstands and start taking things apart and taking pictures.---(and not post about what I'm doing on the HAMB!!!)

It begins!!! My yellow friend is up on Redneck jackstands (two 6x6 timbers under each side of front axle)--back wheels are blocked to prevent any possible rollback of car.
REMEMBER---LOOSEN THE WHEELNUTS BEFORE YOU JACK THE CAR UP!!!
First, and very important step, before you get into it any deeper is to make sure that the bolt pattern is correct for YOUR WHEEL, and that the "register diameter" on the new hub fits into the hole in the center of your wheel.

Next step---Drum and hub combination have been removed. All that nasty dust inside is powdered asbestos from the wearing down of the brake shoes, and is highly carcinogenic. (causes cancer). A poor mans solution to this is to spray everything with a spritzer bottle of water. This lays the dust down. This is the passenger side of the car, and I needed to take this picture so that I could keep track of how everything is arranged before I dismantled it all.

Brian,

Thought I'd jump in here too. I also post on the HAMB and I believe you were the one to tell me of that site. I've used lots of the information from you and others over there.

The last Hot Rod I built and which was also the first was a traditional one, only I didn't know it at the time because it was a '34 Ford and the year was '62. The juice brakes came off of a 48, 39 tranny, 4" dropped axle, '48 Merc, wide whites, red '49 Merc rims, baby moons. Traditional, right..... but stopping had much to be desired.

When I started building the '26 coupe and threw that Traditional stuff away and am going with front disk brakes and the little Buick V6 engine. The rest of the car.... I'm building it my way.

Just think how happy you are going to make (and a nice chunk of money back in your pocket) when you sell that old Traditional set up to someone on the HAMB

Here we see the naked spindle. I had forgotten that the entire backing plate with shoes, cylinders, and adjusters come off as a unit when the 4 bolts which hold the backing plate to the spindle are removed. That was a bonus. Of course, I also undone the flexible brake line where it attached to the rigid brake line, so it also come off with the backing plate assembly. A couple of observations here---#1--Damn I'm glad I used antiseize when I assembled all this stuff 5 years ago. #2--Cotter pins and castellated nuts are life savers, but they sure make you say a lot of nasty words when you have to remove them 5 years later.

This is the bracket which holds the caliper. It comes with hi strength bolts, Nylock nuts and spacers. The spacers fit between the bracket and the back side of the spindles.

This is the bracket installed. Nothing too special about this. Only thing to note is that the nuts go on the same side as the wheel goes on, and the edge of the nut sets up tight against the raised diameter on the spindle. This prevents the nut from turning. No cotter pins required as the nuts have a nylon insert to keep them from loosening. I did use anti seize on the threads, and of course the open "mouth" of the bracket which holds the caliper faces towards the rear of the car. We are still looking at the passenger side front wheel here.

Well, its been a long day with a really steep learning curve. The calipers with this "kit" are for a 1979 to 1987 Chev 1/2 ton pickup. There is a "lump" on the casting, which interferes with the bracket. The instructions say to grind the lump off, that it serves no real purpose. so we got out the trusty grinder and did a "lumpectomy" on both calipers.

The kit comes with two "spindle adapters" that must be fitted to the stock 1940 spindle to adapt the inner bearing surface to be compatible with the rotors/hubs which it appears are from a 1973 to 1993 Ford F100 or F150 two wheel drive pickup. The instructions say to "drive it on with a peice of 1 1/2" diameter pipe." I rooted around in my scrap pile untill I found a peice of pipe the right size and beat on the adapter quite royally untill it seated up against the step on the original spindle. I put a bit of grease on the spindle first, and put a bit of rag between the end of the pipe and the face of the adapter to keep from marking it up with the pipe. this took a LOT of beating to get it into place. I was afraid that since I had to force it so hard over the spindle that it might have actually swelled the outer diameter of the adapter. (The instructions say if this happens to dress it down with some emery cloth.) Anyways, I guess I got lucky, because the new inner bearing fit over it with no trouble.

I don't have pictures of the next step, but I will mention it here. The Ford hubs/discs come with the outer and inner bearing races pressed into them. The inner bearing race is okay as is, but the outer bearing race has to be removed. I frigged with the damn things for an hour trying to get them out, then finally gave up and took them both down to the local brake shop. The technician there used a small punch from the far side and had them both out in about 5 minutes. I kind of felt like an idiot, but after watching him do it, I now know I too could do it---Its all in the technique. He was a good guy, and only charged me $5.00 I took the new outer races down with me, and he used a nifty little "bearing race installation tool" (a punch that matched the inner contour of the race) to install them for me.

Once I got the adapter installed and the outer races changed in the hubs, I was able to go ahead and mount the disc/hub with the proper bearings which are supplied in the kit. That part went very smoothly, and they fit like a charm. I reused the original spindle washer and nut to hold everything together, as per instructions. I also installed the caliper (it fit the bracket just fine after the "lump" was removed from the casting). Its been about 12 years since the last time I installed a set of disc brakes on anything, and I couldn't remember how the pads went into the calipers. Rather than guess at something as important as brakes, i went down to the local 'Partsource" auto store, and they showed me the correct relationship between pads, pad retainers, and calipers, and sold me a bottle of "anti rattle" goop and some special lubricant for the bolts and bushings that hold the calipers to the brackets.---another $5.00----I then turned the steering "lock to lock" to ensure that the caliper and rotor were not going to interfere with any suspension parts. fortunately, there was no interferance, so I then bolted the wheel in place to check for clearance between the wheel and the new brake parts. Fortunately, they are 15" wheels, and everything cleaqred with no trouble. (The rotors are 11 3/4" in diameter.) I also turned the steering "lock to lock" with the wheel in place, again to check for clearance.---And Oh Yes---One VERY IMPORTANT THING---On the picture which shows the caliper in a view from the rear side you will notice that the bleeder (looks like a silver grease zerk) is on the top. IF YOU INSTALL THE CALIPERS ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE CAR (WHICH IS POSSIBLE) AND THE BLEEDER IS NOT ON TOP YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO BLEED THE BRAKES!!!!!!!!!

Once I got this far, I decided that I had worked enough for one day, so I took everything apart, and painted both caliper housings and brackets with some "zero-rust" black frame paint. Hopefully it will dry overnite and tomorrow I will reassemble all the passenger side stuff and then do the drivers side.-And by the way, I "THINK" I will be able to reuse the same flexible lines to the new calipers as I was running on the 1940 drum brakes. I tried one in a caliper to see if it fit---the thread matches and the seal area is the same. This will be a GOOD THING because I know that flex lines aren't exactly cheap.

Better put a big pad on the steering wheel, Brian!!!!! With all that braking power you might forget and put your nose into the steering wheel!!!!!!!

Looks good Brian. BTW, you can recoup a fair amount of our outlay by putting those old parts on EBAY. Don't sell them as an assembly, they bring more if you put the backing plates with hardware on as one sale, and the drums as a separate sale. I've probably sold 4 sets of these or more on Ebay and they always bring good money.

Also, you might want to look at the drag link tie rod end that goes in the back hole in your passenger side steering arm. Might be the picture, but it looks kicked a little, like it is worn. I'm sure you are smart enough to catch that, but I thought I would mention it anyway.

Don