Has anyone looked into using the parts off a 70's Lincoln or Mercury 9" rear end that had factory disk brakes, and putting them on...well...any other Ford 9"? I'm looking to get disk on the rear of my 1978 F150 heavy half that has a 9".

I've been looking at all the different rear disk brake conversion kits avail and while they seem nice, they are $$$ and you can't pick up parts at your local Autozone, Napa, or my favorite junk yard.

I searched this forum and found where someone used the front disk brakes on the rear and also where they used parts off a number of different vehicles for a 1968 F100 brake conversion.

I read up on a site that seems to have a lot of specs on different 9" rearends that basically tells me I can't simply swap the entire axle housing from a 70's L/M because of housing/shaft length differences.

However, I'm thinking if I can find a 70's L/M (havent seen one yet, but havent looked either) I can probably either cut or unbolt the rear disk assembly off the housing and simply weld or bolt up to my F150 9".

Thoughts/Comments/Anyone tried?

 

Cars have a 4.50 bolt circle, F100/150's trucks have a 5.50 bolt circle.

9" Rear Axle with rear discs:

1976/79 Lincolns: Sedans; Mark IV, V.

1976 Thunderbirds. 77/79 also, but some of these Birds used the 8.7 integral rear end..no good for your purpose.

1977/79 Lincoln Versailles (same family as Granada/Monarch, but these two have a 8" rear end, the Versailles uses the 9").

 

Thanks. So looks like at least the rotors will have to change. If I can, I would probably use the rotors off a 78/79 TBird because of the piston size. I'm already using them on the front of my 78 F150.

 

OOPS....

I meant "I would probably use the calipers off a 78/79 TBird..."

 

SCORE.......found a 77 Lincoln Mark V with the rear end intact. Got the brackets, dust plates, and emerg. brake cables.

But, didnt realize until I got home that I didnt measure the diameter of the existing rotors on that car. I'm assuming that I can't go larger than that car's rotors b/c of the caliper mounts.

Would you happen to have access to that #, NumberDummy?

Need to compare to the diameter of aftermarket rotors for my truck......

 

Rediranch_too

I believe the diameter of the rotor for the Lincoln is 11-7/16". Let me know if it works, I just came from the junkyard with a set of brackets from a 78 Lincoln Mark V, and I came into the forum to find any information on rear brakes. I thought the diameter of the bolts for this car was 5". I know I will have to either buy rotors with 5.5" diameter, or have them redrill with the 5.5" diameter

 

We'll let you know what we find out. Do the same if you come across anything too.

We have not been able to find out the size of aftermarket rotors for rear end disk conversions to compare them to yet, so I think we are simply going to compare the size to the front.

Did you pick up the calipers too, or just the brackets? I left em b/c new ones were just a few bucks more. Going to prolly see if my front 78 TBird calipers would fit on the bracket as well, b/c they have dual pistons.

 

rediranch_too

I got the calipers too, they seem to be in good condition since they still had brake fluid in them. Also, the calipers for the lincoln are about 65 dollars. Have you work on the brakes yet, I am still postponning this task, I need to get the truck running first, then I will work on the brakes. One think I found today that the 4 bolts that hold the caliper braket are about 0.375" in diameter on the lincoln and about 0.500 inches on my truck, I might go to a machine shop tomorrow to enlarge the holes on the caliper support, I will also ask how much it will cost to redrill the 5 holes on new rotors.

Let me know if you find anything else.

 

We are comparing using the Lincoln brakes vs a TSM job.

What we have found -

The Lincoln rotors won't fit over the big bearing flanges (where the studs go), so you can't simply go to the local Auto parts store to get replacements. We have discussed calling Capitol Clutch and Brake in Sacramento, CA since they are known for working with you to find the right rotor. You can tell them dimensions that you need and they should be able to find you a rotor to fit over the flange and also within the spider.

We have found that we cannot use rotors that are thicker than the existing Lincoln rotors, or we will not get the calipers and pads around them when mounting.

Our main goal was building rear brakes that we could get parts for at the local boneyard or auto parts store. Since we are going to have to order rotors now, for the Lincoln conversion, we are looking also at the TSM 9" brake conversion.

The TSM brake conversion uses GM calipers, and we have found a pair of 79 Cadillac Eldorado rear calipers at a boneyard. Yeah, the brackets for the brakes would have to be ordered if they are damaged. But because they mount so close to the tire, there will end up being a lot of damage anyways if they are hurt - and finding a pair of Lincoln spiders in case they are damaged, would be more difficult we are thinking.

 

I just reread your post, and guess I missed the part about the spider (caliper mount) being different than your truck.

On my truck the mounting bolt holes on the spider and the mounting bolt holes on my axle were perfect.

There are, however, 3 different bearing sizes for the Ford 9" from reading that on the TSM site. So I guess it stands to reason the bolt patterns may be different as well. I did read that there were 1/2" diameter mounting bolts vs 3/8".

We are also waiting on the back brakes until we get the truck running again. We are in the middle of a swap from a 460 4bbl to a 460 MPI. We just got the engine stuck back in last night.

 

Ford 9 inch

The police cruisers, some T-Birds and some wagons with rear drum brakes use a larger rear axle bearing then the normal cars do (1961-79). The wheels are the same 4.50 pattern. With rear discs, which were standard on: Lincoln Town Cars 74/79; Mark IV & Mark V, and available on other 1974/78 big Fords/Mercury's and 1974/79 T-Birds as an option, the wheel bolt pattern is different. Sorry, no car parts books, so I can't give particulars on what the bolt pattern was (I think it was 5.00), and what the bearing was.



Rear disc's were also an option on 1975/80 Granadas and Monarchs, same bolt pattern: 4.50, but the rear end is 8 inch. The kissin' cousin Lincoln Versailles 1975/77 has rear discs as standard, but has a 9 inch rear end. Why Ford bothered using a 9 inch rear on the Versailles, when the Granada/Monarch used an 8 inch, is beyond me.

 

FYI, if we contact Capitol Brake we will put the information in here for which rotor they say will work. I'm sure it will have to be drilled for the bolt pattern, but our main concern is fitting inside the spider (diameter) and the caliper (thickness).

 

Capitol Brake said the closest thing they could get to work would be similar to the front rotor on a 77-86. However, the 79 Bronco rotors we had laying around here didnt seem to work, plus they are inboard.

The only thing keeping us from doing this at this point was the rotor. With more $ it's possible to find a rotor and have it machined so it would fit, but then you can't just pick up the rotor at the auto parts store.

However, we were running out of available time, so we opted to drop this conversion using Lincoln brakes.


We broke down and bought the TSM brake conversion for the Ford 9". Cost was $286 plus shipping, plus $35 for two calipers from a bone yard from a 1979 Cadillac Eldorado.

We aren't 100% sure on the parking brake setup yet, but the calipers from the Caddy have the connections for them. It's just going to be a matter of routing them.

We should get the kit today.

We are told the rotors for this are also specially made just for this kit. A rear-end guy here said he doubts that someone would have rotors machined just for their little brake conversion kit, so we will be calling Capitol again with dimensions.

 

Rediranch_too where you able to install the rear brake convertion kit in your truck, and what rotor did you end up using.

 

Rediranch_too any luck with your rear brake convertion, keep us posted.

Thanks