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One of the other items I needed to address early on was the drum brakes, particularly after I found a worn out wheel hub with a spun race in the front drums.
Thus, in August of 2005, the disc brake swap started..
I decided to convert using the F150/Chevy hybrid parts I've used in the past, which let me retain the stock Dana 30 6-stud knuckles. This is NOT my wheeling Scout, and hopefully keeping the Dana 30 (for 4x4 on poor roads, not for off-road) will help deter me from wanting to wheel it.
I tried to save the drum hub at first for a short-term fix, by peening the race area.
It got me by for another week..
When I did the racer's conversion, I bought junkyard hub/rotor/bearings for $50 a side.
This time, I found out PartsAmerica sells NEW F150 hub/rotor/studs/races for $43.
Which meant I had to buy NEW bearings, but I got all new parts this way.
I also needed new Wheel Seals for the '85 F150, Chevy calipers, Chevy pads, etc.
I used the small-bearing spindles from a Chevy Dana 44 I had, along with the full-circle caliper brackets that seemed to fit best with the IH knuckle. Stub-shafts were Early Bronco on one side (a touch short) and early Chevy (with a 260X U-joint) on the other.
New, extra-long conversion brake hoses came from Back Country Binders. These were made up for the stock SII frame ends, with Chevy caliper ends.
I pulled a stock disc/drum proportioning valve from a '79 Scout II had for parts.
I also needed the tube-nut from the rear brake hardline so I could splice it onto the '73's hardline going back to the rear. This required doing a double-flare.
Here it is compared to the drum/drum light-block.
Spindles.. the left is a stock SII spindle, the right is a Chevy small-bearing Dana 44.
Another comparison of the Chevy stub-shaft (installed) and the old Dana 30 stub.
Tear down time..
Old brake hose..
Locking hub removed, drum removed.
Drum backing plate, spindle, axle shafts completely removed.
Axle shaft and spindle installed.
After a test fit, the chalk marks indicate where I needed to grind the knuckle for caliper sliding clearance.
And some grinding..
Caliper bracket installed.
After I was sure the caliper would slide correctly, full travel, I installed the hub/rotor combo and the caliper.
And the new brake hoses.
and some Spicer Hubs (which I later replaced with IH hubs from an earlier fullsize IH)
I can now run stock F150 wheels (the center hole is too small to clear SII hubs), I have cheap Chevy brakes, cheap Ford rotors, and stronger internal hubs.
Oh, and here's the conversion line I made using the tube-nut from the '79 to adapt the drum-brake rear hardline to the disc/drum proportioning valve.
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