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1961-1962-1963-1964-1965-1966-1967
Ford Econoline Disk Brake Conversion
This little bit of information describes the process of installing a disk brake kit from TSM (http://www.tsmmfg.com/1190.htm). It proved far more difficult than the very skimpy instructions(the same text you see on their website) but could be done. At the time of writing this webpage, the kit costs $249.95. Opt for the new SS hoses but the calipers can be obtained elsewhere for quite a bit less. As for performance, the truck stops great now. In my opinion, the brakes are about twice as good as the original drums. I don't even think there is a need for a booster, proportioning valve, or even a residual pressure valve (http://www.wilwood.com/Products/006-MasterCylinders/010-RPV/index.asp) which I haven't installed yet. Again, this is all my opinion. I am in no way suggesting that you tamper with your brakes at all so don't come after me if you do something stupid. Have fun.

Click each image to view larger.

1

Shown here is 1/2 of what you get from TSM. Grade 8 mounting bolts, new lug bolts with a shoulder to align the caliper (don't use your existing lug bolts because they are made for a drum), 2 brackets, and a brake rotor for each side.


2

You will need to find some calipers. The brackets accept: 78 - 83 Chevelle, Monte Carlo, El Camino, Malibu, Tempest, Cutlass, F-85, Pontiac Grand Prix, Le Mans, GTO, Grand Am or Bonneville. The part number I found is #3100.


3

While your at it, I highly suggest that you install a new set of bearings. In my case, I needed to no matter what because I had to pound out the original races (that I explain later). If you view large, you can read the part numbers off of the boxes


4

It may not be absolutely necessary, but I opted for a new set of stainless steel brake lines that I had made up. They are one inch longer than stock although they don't look it here. Also, when you are completed with the entire project, jack up the front end and turn the steering wheel from lock to lock. At each extreme, make sure that the lines are long enough and don't bind. You also have to allow a little extra for suspension compression and droop. Don't skip this part or your line may get ripped off when making a U-turn and we all know what happens next.


5

The first thing I did was strip the original brakes and hub from the truck and clean everything up. Then I did a trial run with all of the new parts. What I found was that the calipers did not align properly with the rotors. They sat too far back. I could not insert the front pads and it appeared that they were too thick. Without going through the following hassles, I probably could have found some used, thinner pads or mill down the new ones about 1/8 inch. I chose the more difficult way. You may not have this problem. The first thing I did was remove about 1/2 the thickness of each of the spacers on the bracket. This needs to be done accurately and they need to be perfectly parallel to the bracket when done.


6

Here is a shot of the installed bracket with the 3 provided grade 8 bolts. If you lose one, don't just grab a replacement from Home Depot. These need to be at least grade 8. Period.


7

The trickiest thing I did was turn down the inside lip on each hub approximately .200". This moved the rotor in the direction I needed just enough so that the pads would fit.


8

The first thing I had to do was pound out the original bearing races. Behind the inner race is a lip to limit and align it. This is rather thick and can afford to have some material removed. If you do not know what you are doing or do not have access to a lathe, I suggest that a machine shop take care of this for you. I removed approximately 2/3 of the thickness. Now, with the bracket spacers trimmed down and the inner race moved towards the center of the hub, the rotors have shifted approximately 1/8" inwards. The brake pads will fit now.


9

When turning the steering from lock to lock, I noticed that the new calipers hit the shocks. This was fixed easily by grinding off some extra material from the calipers.


10

You can see what was removed by comparing to the original. After grinding, there is about 1/8 clearance.


11

Shown here is the brake rotor installed along with the caliper bracket. Clean the protective coating and greasy fingerprints from the rotor now. Your pads will like you for it.

You can also see extra lug nut holes. These are the original 5/5" lug pattern. The lug pattern used is the custom drilled 5/4.5" pattern that TSM provides.


12

When I pulled the calipers and pads out of the box, there were some clips floating around in there. Without an original to go by, it was a pain to figure out how they attached. Here is a photo to relieve you of that pain.


13

All assembled and looking pretty. The calipers face towards the back. The bleed screw faces down which makes bleeding possible only by loosening the hose fitting. Not the best method but it works.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Tack weld the new lug bolts to the hubs or the bolts WILL loosen, be dangerous, and make future wheel removal very difficult.


14

Here you can see the pins that hold in the pads. Use some of that brake "anti-squeak" stuff if you can behind the pads and along points where the caliper moves along the bracket.


15

The last and final shot shows how everything lines up. It all works pretty good.



I hope some of the above informations helps keep your Econoline on the road.

08/06/06 Update:
More information you might find useful:
5 on 4-1/2 inch "regular Ford" bolt circle: 1985 Lincoln Mark VII rear rotors.
5 on 5 inch bolt circle: 75-79 Lincoln Town car rear rotors.
Part number of the rotors on my truck: Aimco MMR 5435
(custom drilled with 4 1/2 inch bolt pattern) (handy cross reference chart)

09/17/06 Update:
While installing a new set of high performance wheels, I found that they did not fit that well over the lugs. So I decided to remove the hubs and rotors to see what the problem was. I found that the holes drilled in the rotors were up to .020" off from where they should be. I created a tool for aligning the hub, rotor and wheel on my lathe. This tool snugly fit inside the wheel center bore, stepped down about 40 thousandths to snugly fit in the rotor center bore, and then the whole thing snugly fit around the machined alignment ring on the hub. Once everything was lined up, the lug holes in the rotors were reamed to a proper fit. Everything was then torqued together using all the lugs and lug nuts and then the lugs were fully welded to the hub. This was a royal pain that took MANY hours. Also, while the hubs were off and lugs removed, I surfaced the hubs on the lathe. There was a considerable amount of bulging out at the lug holes. This means that the entire surface of the hub was not in contact with the wheel.



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