71 front disc brake conversion

[Spack65]

My son and I are attempting a front power disc brake conversion on his 1971 F100. We are looking at using Master Power Brakes conversion kit. We have disassembled the old drum brakes and are now down to the spindles. We have never done this before and are hoping for some advice. We are wondering if we should try to do the king pins ourselves or take the entire assembly to a shop to have them replaced. They seem to be well lubricated and the truck only has about 65K original miles on it. We also want to replace all of the front end bushings while we are under there and wonder if that is better taking to a shop as well. Any advice would be appreciated.

[HIO Silver]

Your call whether to do the kingpins. And no, you should not attempt to do it yourselves... it requires careful measuring and reaming with tools ya prolly don't have.

Bushings are very doable as a DIY. Remove the spindles and reinsert the kingpins into the spindle and deliver them with your new kingpin kit to a shop that can do them. Call ahead as some do not have the fixture. While the spindles are at the shop, replace the axle pivot and radius arm bushings.

Links for your reference:
Flyboy2610's DIY: Replacing King Pins & Bushings (LOTS of pics!)
Fordification: Installing Disc Brakes on Your 2WD Pickup
Classic Trucks Magazine F100 Power Disc Upgrade
Flyboy's '69 F250 Disc Brake Conversion
Robroy's '72 F250 Disc Brake Conversion

[Spack65]

Thanks HIO. What is the best way to get the kingpins out in order to remove the spindle?

[HIO Silver]

Remove the top and bottom caps and use something soft like a brass drift to tap out the pin... avoid marring the machined surfaces of the kingpin holes.

[Spack65]

Ok got the kingpins out. Very easy especially after I heard the horror stories.

If the bushings are nylon does that mean they have already been replaced before?

[HIO Silver]

Ok got the kingpins out. Very easy especially after I heard the horror stories.

If the bushings are nylon does that mean they have already been replaced before?

That's a good question. My '70 has only 76K miles and was told by the previous owner, whose family it had been in since new, that the kingpins had never been replaced. However, I came to discover during my disc brake swap that it had nylon bushings.

... I don't know.

[fordman]

Yes nylon bushings are thr cheap replacements. Take it to a shop and have them put in new king pins with the brass bushings.

[vossy]

It's interesting that we're consistently hearing that people are taking their spindles off the ibeams and removing the kingpins and discovering nylon bushings. I think the last 4-5 threads I've read on this, someone reported nylon bushings. Do the kingpins on these trucks really need to be replaced frequently enough that all these trucks have had them torn apart? It seems strange to me, that this truck with only 65k original miles had someone tear all the way into the kingpins?

Incidentally, I found the same on both my donor '74 from the junkyard, and my '71, when I tore them apart they both had nylon bushings...

Contrary to popular opinion, I'm thinking that at least some F100s left the factory with nylon bushings..

In any case.. Yes. The nylon bushings are junk. And to answer the original question, I have seen some on this forum talking about honing the bushings themselves and setting the kingpins. I seem to remember one thread even had pictures of the spindle in the vise being honed.. But that was more that I wanted to chew off. I took the entire thing into a machine shop and had the brass bushings honed, king pins set and greased, and had them remove the old axle pivots and press in the new ones. I think it was a little less than 200 dollars..

[HIO Silver]

I had a machine shop redo teh spindle kingpins with metal bushings and the labor was $90. Done.

Vossy, I concur with your conclusion about some F100s with nylon bushings as OEM.

[fordman]

Our odometers. Werent made to show any mileages over 100000. So 65000
Could be 165000. And u might not know it. Brass was oem. Nylon was the cheap at home replacement part.

[Spack65]

Thanks for all the info. Either way I am going back with brass bushings. Will get the rest of the front end off this weekend and take the spindles to a shop to get bushings honed and king pins set. Also replacing all the front end bushings as well.

[HIO Silver]

Our odometers. Werent made to show any mileages over 100000. So 65000
Could be 165000. And u might not know it. Brass was oem. Nylon was the cheap at home replacement part.

Again, I know the PO and his family personally and have no doubt as to my rig's mileage... and it had nylon bushings.

[BobbyFord]

I'll believe it when someone posts the Ford part number for nylon king pin bushings. I worked for Ford and never saw factory nylon bushings.

[fordman]

Our odometers. Werent made to show any mileages over 100000. So 65000
Could be 165000. And u might not know it. Brass was oem. Nylon was the cheap at home replacement part.

Again, I know the PO and his family personally and have no doubt as to my rig's mileage... and it had nylon bushings.

Some people dont grease things. Some people replace things that dont need replacing and go the cheap route. Like bobby said. Someone please post a ford part number for nylin bushing kung pun sets. Made by ford.

[Spack65]

So does it matter where I buy the new king pin set? Is Moog good quality?