Putting your foot to the floor could mean one of two things: mashing the gas pedal such that the throttle is wide open, usually resulting in a grimace of delight, or it could mean stomping the brake pedal to its full extent--often with both feet--in a last stitch effort to stop, the ensuing grimace being quite the opposite of delight.
Ford essentially used the same drum brakes in their cars and trucks for over 20 years from their introduction of the use of a hydraulic brake system in 1940. Yeah, there are differences through out the years like when they when to a self-energizing set up in '49, but still nothing to speak of after a couple of decades. They might have worked sufficiently for the first years of their use, but these days Joe Jerk in the Honda in front of you doesn't care that it might take you the length of a football field to stop from 60 mph in your old truck as you plow into the back of him and leave your
front bumper in his back seat or worse. Don't get mad, get even! We have to equip our classic trucks with the necessary parts to survive on the road today or the inevitable is bound to happen. We have for a great example this '60 F-100. It was subject to an armature resto attempt that made the truck look decent, and that's as far as it went. The mechanicals were left untouched which is good and bad. The good part is that it hasn't been messed with too much, but the bad part is that it wasn't maintained too well and fell victim to the "ride 'em, wreck 'em, never check 'em" mentality.
Out at California Speedway we put the F-100 through its paces and found out exactly how inept the stock drum brakes were. This truck wound up with the second worst braking test results of all that we've tested. From 60-0 mph it took the old Ford 279.27 feet to come to a halt! That's bad, real bad. Just for comparison, my stock '94 Chevy 1500 stops from the same speed in 191 feet which still isn't great, but it shows how bad this F-100 was.
Master Power Brakes has stepped in to help us all remedy this problem with their front disc brake kit for '57-64 Ford 1/2-ton trucks with the stock 5 on 5 1/2-inch bolt pattern. This kit makes use of many stock Ford and GM parts that are available at local parts houses like the rotors that interchange with '73-93 2WD Ford F & E 150 series trucks and vans as well as calipers that can be replaced with those from most '71-76 big GM cars. Stock wheels will need to be changed to at least 15-inchers to clear the new binders, but that might have been in your plans already. Also, in planning for new wheels keep in mind that MP's kit moves the wheels in about a half an inch on each side, so plan offset and backspacing accordingly.
One thing we are looking into to coincide with the greatly increased stopping power is the use of a solid-axle Ford Econoline tie-rod bar which has an increased diameter/wall thickness over the F-100 that would help to prevent it flexing under hard braking.
Read on for Round One and check back next month as we give the rear drums the same Master Power treatment to complete the transformation so we can loosen our grip on the wheel and let the blood return to our knuckles.
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 Here's part of all the goodies...  Here's part of all the goodies in our Master Power Brakes '57-64 Ford 1/2-ton 5 on 5 1/2-inch big-bolt pattern front disc brake upgrade kit. So far we have the new dual-reservoir master cylinder that's bolted to the new booster and mounting bracket, the vacuum hose kit, push rod kit, wheel bearings, and races as well as the disc brake caliper mounting brackets. |
 The rest of the kit consists...  The rest of the kit consists of new 11 3/4-inch rotors, calipers, caliper bracket hardware, brake hoses, combination valve, and hardware. All that's really needed from here is fluid and some hard line. |
 It looks like these brakes...  It looks like these brakes belong at a haunted house and not just because they scare you when trying to stop! After all the Black Widows and their webs were cleared off we found the stock '60 Ford drum brakes that were on their last leg. In a 60-0 mph braking test it took 279.27 feet to stop this beast! |
 We gotta get all the old stuff...  We gotta get all the old stuff off, so the usuals like the dust cap, cotter pin, outer wheel bearing, and finally the brake drum are removed. Watch out for spiders! |
 Wow! When the drums came off...  Wow! When the drums came off we found brakes that have been long for gotten and pretty much used down to their last layer of asbestos. |
 Looking up from the back side...  Looking up from the back side of the backing plates there are four bolts that hold the steering arms and backing plates to the spindles. These four bolts need to come out. It might be a good idea to spray penetrating fluid on these prior to attempting this. |
 To pull the whole assembly...  To pull the whole assembly off we need to disconnect the brake hose. You could cut this since new ones will be going on. If not, we made sure to use a good flare-nut wrench to try and break 'em loose so the fittings don't get rounded off. |
 Gross. There was the appropriate...  Gross. There was the appropriate amount of old grease, grime, and dirt covering all the parts behind the backing plates. We took a few minutes to scrape as much of this off as possible so we could see what we were dealing with. |
 Next up is the job of turning...  Next up is the job of turning the steering/kingpin stop around so the nut is on the front side of the axle. Once it's flipped around, the tapered pin only sticks out of the axle about a quarter of an inch and as a result won't interfere with the caliper brackets. |