Disc Brakes

[Billy G]

Question....Im in the process of a disc brake swap. Have all parts from a 76 I think....spindles, rotors, calipers, tie rods, centerlink,ect. My question is...If I use the brake proportioning block off the 76, where is the best place to mount it? My plans are to use a new 76 master cylinder...the brake tubings as they are mounted on the 76, as well as locate the block on the crossmember frame brace as the 76 is mounted. Will this WORK???? I'd appreciate any and all ideas.

Thanks..

Billy G

[Tx Firefighter]

I've know fellows who did like you're saying, and used all of the stock later model brake lines. They mounted the proportioning valve down by the radiator like the later truck originally used. It all looked very nice, and the lines didn't look like they had to be tweaked very much at all.

This also allows you to run the long style 73-87 front brake hoses. That's the main sticky when swapping these trucks to disc brakes, is working out the details on brake line routing and hoses. On mine, I wound up buying special conversion hoses that ECE sells to do the job. I wish I would have done exactly like you are doing yours

Here's what a nasty old junkyard stock 71-72 setup looks like....



And here's the S-10 proportioning valve I wound up using...



I still wound up building new brake lines from scratch twice and I'm still unhappy with them. I'm going to wind up redoing them again soon to get them lookng like I want them to.

You're on the right track...

[Billy G]

I am right in assuming that you can use all 76 parts...ie ball joints...tie rods...ect???

[Tx Firefighter]

Yes.

The upper control arms bolt to the crossmember with 2 nuts on each side.
The lower control arms bolt to the crossmember with 2 little u-bolts per side.

You can either leave the crossmember in the truck and swap everything from there out, or you can take the whole crossmember as an assembly, leaving all of the arms and stuff in place, and swap it in complete.

It's your choice, but myself, I prefer to leave the crossmember and swap all of the later stuff onto it. That way, the engine stays right in place without having to support it with a hoist while the crossmemember is out of the truck.

I hate having a jack or hoist in my way when I'm trying to wrestle that big, heavy, cumbersome front crossmember in place. I rather like to do each side seperately, it's much more manageable, and no jack or hoist in the way.

You'll use the steering stuff too, as well as the steering box off of the later donor if you'd like.

[Billy G]

OK...well....another question.....when I install the spindles, I think Im going to use the 70s crossmember.

Which ball joints (upper and lower) do I use ????...the 70 or 76???

Which brake fluid lines...at the caliper do I use???

Thanks...

Billy G

[Tx Firefighter]

Use ball joints to match whatever year spindles you use.

The brake hoses must be disc brake type. They are completely different on the caliper end than a drum brake hose. I recomend you call Early Classics and order their special drum brake to disc brake conversion hose set they sell. Cost is 60 bucks.

The steel brake lines on the disc truck are also completely different versus the drum brake truck ones. It's either fess up for the ECE special hoses or bend a new set of steel lines for the front crossmember area. If your truck is assembled and the engine isin place, it's a royal pain to bend those new lines all over the place and those 60 dollar ones from ECE look real good about that time.