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Copyright 1996-2004 Dan Wentz
Brake Upgrades |
quick liNksmaintenanceSpecifications modificationsF-Series historyCanadian Ford & Mercury Trucks Early F-Series in Film & Television Online ToolscommunityMy 1950 f1 |
I'm all for keeping your truck stock, but the brakes on these things are unsafe for daily driving on modern highways. The master cylinders are just plain unsafe. Period. Here's some things you can do to make it better. Front disk brakes. Something like 70% of all the stopping is done by the front brakes. It's a simple fact that disk brakes have better stopping power than drum brakes. It therefore makes sense to have disk brakes up front. There are many kits available for doing this conversion, which all work about the same. Click here for the details on my successful disk brake installation. Click here to read about a problematic installation that can teach us all a lesson. Rear disk brakes. Not as important as front disk brakes, but some people just gotta be a badass. Go get yourself a 9" rear out of a Lincoln Versallies and you're set. If you have a 9" out of something else, or don't have a 9" then see what Wilwood has to offer. Power brakes. Power brakes have some obvious advantages. I briefly had power brakes on my truck. I didn't like the feel of them though, so I replaced them. For details of the installation click here. Better manual brakes. The stock master cylinder is dangerous. It has 1 piston and when it goes out you have no brakes. Modern master cylinders have 2 pistons, so you have backup. There are different donor vehicles you can use, but there is a kit available for using a 72ish Mustang master cylinder. That makes it the easiest. The details of installing the Mustang master cylinder are really basic. Sacramento Vintage sells an adaptor for about $50 that bolts to the original master cylinder location. You then bolt your Mustang master cylinder to that. Once you plumb it and bleed it you're set. |
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Copyright 1996-2004 Dan Wentz |