I have a project i'm working on. It's a 79 F-150 shortbed, stepside, however i put the axles under it from a 75 F-250. On the axles it's all drum brakes, now mind you that i have about 13%26quot; of lift on it so i'd like to convert the front drum brakes to disc brakes but i'm having trouble finding something like that for a 3/4 ton pickup. I%26quot;m thinking that any 3/4 ton rotor would work between 73 and 79, but i'm not sure. Any idea on where i can look for this stuff, also, what all do i need to have to change over the brakes like this. I've never done it before, but heard its not that big of a pain. Any info would help. Thanks!
Converting drum brakes to disc brakes on 79 F-150?
Excerpt:
While there ARE disc-brake conversion kits available, the easiest way to convert your truck to disc brakes is to simply find a '73-'79 donor truck and salvage all the brake hardware. If you've got an F-100, you'll need to find an F-100/F-150 to donate it's parts, as few F-250 disc brake spindles will fit your F-100 I-beams. (In addition, the F-250 calipers are a dual-piston design which is not as desirable and would give you an 8-lug setup on the front instead of 5-lug.) And contrary to what some people say, the '73-'79 F-100 I-beams are NOT any wider than the '67-'72 versions, so your track width will not increase.
However, there IS a difference in some disc brake setups used on the F250/F350 trucks. Depending on the axle rating, some F250 disc brake setups use F-100 or even F-350 parts. And if that's not enough, the larger units also have 9/16%26quot; wheel studs vs. the 1/2%26quot; studs of the smaller units. Therefore, when performing this swap on an F250, be sure to check the GVW rating on the donor truck to be sure that you know what you're getting. Use this handy chart I put together after spending an entire evening researching kingpin diameters:
