Hopefully, you won't have the same problem I had with the kingpins in my 1949 F-1 (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/o51ogaR028Xbm5c.html) It took me 6 weeks of effort and me and a buddy of mine almost killing ourselves with a 20 ton press (the axel slipped out of the press while it was under high pressure and the king pin still didn't come out). Eventually, I was able to break it loose with a lot of heat, a stout steel rod, and wailing on the end of the pin with a 5-lb sledge to break it free. Good luck. If you can get everything done and get the disc brakes in, I will tell you that it is more than worth it. Braking performance with disc brakes is fantastic.

After the conversion, I wished that I had done it sooner. The change has made all of the difference in the world with the brake handling. As a note, the issue with the grease fitting could have been resolved a different way. The driver's side caliper could have been installed on the opposite side the spindle. I just didn't like the lack of symmetry with that approach. As you indicated, the other approach involves moving the grease fitting by pulling off the spindles and replacing the king pins and spindle bushings which can turn into a royal pain. If you want to know how much of a pain, take a look at my '49 F-1 video (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gNmqd8ti1d3dmJc.html). After fighting the king pins for six weeks; it finally took dropping the front axle and springs, applying the right amount of heat and wailing on a large bolt and bottle jock extension rod to know them loose. I just got them out today.

That would be a nice addition. In the summer, I don't do too much driving because it get so hot inside the cab.

I was lucky in that the brake system was given a booster and proportioning valve upgrade years before putting the disc brakes in. If you are running with a stock setup (no proportioning valve and a single reservoir master cylinder), you will need to upgrade those too. Otherwise, you run the risk of locking up disc brakes unexpectedly as they will likely engage before the rear drums with the conversion. I will say that the change to disc brakes made an absolutely phenomenal change to braking performance. I highly recommend making the change.

The old post-1957 rims with the full moon hubcaps fit fine without the spacer (the ones you see in the video). I needed the spacer to put on 15" rims that I bought from LMC which you can see if the "F-100 Restore Some Shine" video. Unfortunately, the bleed screws on the caliper were just a small amount too proud and were dragging on the inside of the rim. It was really annoying to find that the LMC rims were just slightly too small. I think the originals were 16" rather than 15". The main reason I went with the rims from LMC was because of the hubcaps I wanted to put on when I cleaned everything up. One of the many painful (read expensive) cascades you bump into in one of these projects.

This was one of my early videos. I've taken to a format now where I've condensed my videos down to 10-15 minutes (or less). My presentation style, though hopefully improving, isn't engaging enough for a long video. Thanks for the comments and feedback. I do appreciate it.

Actually, the master cylinder and booster is mounted on the firewall in this truck. That did mean giving up the original floor pedal configuration. Those parts originally came from a 1970 Ford LTD along with the 351 Windsor engine when I was about 12 years old (my uncle did the work). You can see where they are installed in my water replacement video. After I did this project, I have seen others use this same kit and mount the caliper on the opposite side to avoid grease fitting. To do that, the caliper has to be upside down which may expose it to more damage from road debris. Given the fact that the caliper has bleeder screws on both ends, there shouldn't be any problem getting air out of the system. I will say that since the conversion, braking has been much more confident. It much more of a pleasure to drive.

I did have to put 1/2" spacers to keep the calipers from dragging inside the rims.

Excellent question. I was lucky on this project in that the original under cab master cylinder was replaced with the booster, dual master cylinder, and proportioning valve from a 1970 Ford LTD back in 1980 (firewall mounted). As a result, it was ready to go for this project without any additional modification. As you already figured out, without the proportioning valve, pressure to the disc brakes and rear drums would be not be right.

@@droppedwrenchgarage5422 Thanks. My 55, has a changed dual reservoir in the original location. Ill look into a valve as well. Looking forward to your next 53 video...

It seems to be a problem with all of the disc brake kits for these vehicles. I looked at a couple different ones before I chose Wilwood. Others kits I've seen from places like LMC Truck have brackets that require modification on both the driver and passenger side so I figured I was getting lucky just having to grind material off the driver side. I have seen others put the Wilwood caliper on the front side of the spindle, but that required buying a whole new set of caliper mounting brackets and throwing two away. Thankfully, the brackets are pretty beefy, so I feel pretty safe that there won't be any stress fractures from the modification.