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Any of you guys know much about Twin I beams?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by 65fordguy, Jul 28, 2008.

  1. 65fordguy
    Joined: Jul 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    65fordguy

    So, story goes like this,

    I have a 65 ford f100...with the lovely drum brakes all around.
    I have been an avid follower of the Ford Truck Enthusiast Forum
    for a couple of years now, however, most of the replies I get back
    are very vague and some very opinionated.

    Heres my problem and the solution to the point I know.

    I am replacing the front end of my 65 with the front end out of a 75 ford f100...parts are interchangeable I know...I also know that in 75 there was a king pin change, with that said in theory Im not supposed to be able to use the 75 spindles on the 65 beams...well people do it. dunno how.. im not a chassis guy or a machinist. For the most part a ton of people just swap the whole front end, well thats what I was going to do...then ive read 2 cases where the front end was horribly bowed in.

    My 65 I beams when I measure 3/4 s down the beam with a straight edge the bend up to the center leaves about a 1/4 inch gap...the 75 ibeams leave about a half inch. so they would be more inward than the 65s...but not as much as some I checked at the junkyard.. a ton of them were more than an inch gap.

    Will that 1/4 inch bend out at the alignment shop? or how do they fix that!?

    I need to know if any of you smart guys out there can give me a little instruction.. in more detail than put the 75 front end in there. or use the spindles on the 65 beams...no one on FTE tells me how to do it. I have pics of my new treasures I will post in a bit... I got the power steering, power booster brake assembly, complete front I beam setup and the dis brake set up for a 100 bucks...of course it all needs to be rebuilt...
    I want to do it...but im hoping some of you can tell me more on how to do it correctly...I hate taking things to a shop and hoping it gets done right.

    of course most shops around central arkansas dont touch twin I beams...in fact I had a guy hang up on me!! I barely mudderd twin I beams.
    Any way hope someone can shed some light on my confused and former chevy brain. These I beams are weird setup.. but I love the truck.

    Thanks for any help you may be able to give.
     
  2. Phil1934
    Joined: Jun 24, 2001
    Posts: 2,716

    Phil1934
    Member

    I put '76? discs on '66 axles. Supposedly one kingpin was supposed to be longer or have lock notch in different spot, but mine bolted right up. I also added dual master. One pushrod was too long and other too short so I shortened and rounded the end on longer one. It's been many years ago.
     
  3. VNCduke
    Joined: Nov 22, 2007
    Posts: 659

    VNCduke
    Member
    from Washougal

    go back to chevy and you wont have to worry about twin I beams...
     
  4. 64Belvedere
    Joined: Sep 20, 2007
    Posts: 49

    64Belvedere
    Member
    from Alabama

    I put '79 spindles/brakes on a '66. I read in an old Truckin' magazine brake swap article to use kingpins for the spindles you are swapping on ('79 spindles = '79 kingpins).

    That being said, I believe 1/4 is "do-able" for alignment. I put dropped axles on mine and I seem to remember one was off that much. It's just not fun to watch the correction process..... You have to find an alignment shop equipped to do straight axles. They chain the axle to the rack and then use a hydraulic jack to push up on the axle and bend it. It usually takes few tries to get the correct alignment.

    The power brake booster I used had to be modified. The pushrod on the one I used had to be lengthened a little bit for it to reach the stock pedal. Otherwise, the pedal was too close to the floor. The late model pedal may correct that without modifying the booster, but I never checked that. The other modification you'll need is the brake light switch. The old one was a pressure-operated off the master cylinder. With the brake swap, I had to mount a mechanical switch that operated off the pedal.
     

  5. I can't help on the mismatch but I can tell you that bending the I Beams is not a big deal. We built many an off roader where we bent them a hell of a lot more than you are talking about. Find a shop that does alignments on semi's - that's how they do them! (the chain and jacks procedure like 64belvedere said)
     
  6. Phil1934
    Joined: Jun 24, 2001
    Posts: 2,716

    Phil1934
    Member

    I just extended the plumbing rather than splice wires but mine was not power.
     

    Attached Files:

  7. 65fordguy
    Joined: Jul 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    65fordguy

    fresh purchase.
    [​IMG]

    Old beams....what mess those where.
    [​IMG]

    75 parts going to get rebuilt with all new parts.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Use your 65 coil springs if they're good. Get new brake hoses and reman calipers for the 75 f100. You came up with some good donor material.
    A friend of mine did the same thing in his truck, except he bought new dropped I beams. He stayed with non-power brakes because a vacuum brake booster doesn't do very well with 10 pounds of turbo boost.
     
  9. 65fordguy
    Joined: Jul 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    65fordguy

    Thanks Patrick for the recommendation to Heavy Duty... Went by and talked with Kreg, Nice guy... He told me about 75 to align the front...and just out of curiosity I asked him about installing king pins....WHOA... 425 bucks! Well I think im just going to be taking it to Charlie's Classic Cars here in town... he is going to do it for 40 a side....unless you know some bad dirt on him, he seems to run a nice shop. Has a lot of nice gear and nice cars in his shop so he must do something right.
     
  10. 64Belvedere
    Joined: Sep 20, 2007
    Posts: 49

    64Belvedere
    Member
    from Alabama

    Just make sure he's using the brass bushings. Some of the kingpin kits come with teflon bushings and don't last that long.
     
  11. 65fordguy
    Joined: Jul 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    65fordguy

    Yeah, he prefers Napa parts...he said the DANA corporation builds them...confirmed that at napa. 79 bucks for the metal bushing set...a bit more pricey but Id rather have a better product. thanks for the info.
     
  12. dotcentral
    Joined: Apr 28, 2005
    Posts: 116

    dotcentral
    Member

    If you have some time, some PB Blaster, a jack stand, a 3 lb hammer, and something like a drift punch or an old kingpin (either one of those last 2 a bit smaller than the bore of your current kingpin), you can do it yourself. Even if you have to buy all the tools you would save about $375. Installing is the easy part, it is removing the old ones that's a pain.

    I've done it on two trucks, first truck one kingpin came out with about 2 firm raps of the hammer. Other side took about 3 weeks of 20-30 minute sessions of hammering about 2 or 3 evenings after work. I kept soaking it with PB, turn the spindle to try and get the PB moving, and beating on it. I occasionally used a small soldering torch, not sure if that helped or not. Second truck both sides came out easy. Seems like if the front end was kept greased the come out pretty easy.

    I used late spindles in early I-beams on one truck, the difference in length is something like an 1/8" I think. There was still plenty of room in the bore, Ford probably discovered they could shorten the kingpin and save half a cent a truck or something. There is a slight change in diameter, but you need to get your new bushings reamed after they get installed anyway so they will ream them to match the kingpins you are going to use. I think it cost me $40 to have the brass bushings installed and reamed.
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2008
  13. 65fordguy
    Joined: Jul 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    65fordguy

    yeah, 40 bucks is good enough for me...this guy Charlies Classic Cars, will remove the old, ream the new, install the new into the beams...for 40 a side.
    not bad and saves me whacking on them in 100 degree weather.
     
  14. 65fordguy
    Joined: Jul 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    65fordguy

    I took the springs off of the 75 earlier and one of them fell over rolled next to a 65 and I noticed that the springs are like the same size...so I stood them up to one another...they are? I thought that the 75s were supposed to be taller

    also, what is the best wayw to install axle pivot bushings?
     
  15. I've done business with Charlie for several years and can recommend him without any questions. Go see Kreg for the alignment after you get it together.
    Make sure you use bronze bushing kingpins, not the cheaper nylon ones.
     
  16. Bob Dobolina
    Joined: Jul 27, 2006
    Posts: 332

    Bob Dobolina
    Member

    interesting...

    Just got a Napa spring catalog. Has all the information on spring coil diamater, spring rate, etc. Will check on 61-66, but the 67-72 has springs listed as drivers side & passenger side , and they ARE different.
     
  17. Mooosman
    Joined: Sep 3, 2006
    Posts: 115

    Mooosman
    Member


    The passenger side spring is longer than the driver's side to compensate for the engine being offset.

    I just did the disc conversion on my 72 F-100. As far as I know, everything before 74 or so used the same kingpin. After that, they went to a larger diameter kingpin. Make sure you get the right ones for the year that the new I-beams are from!


    Nick
     
  18. 65fordguy
    Joined: Jul 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    65fordguy

    Well its good to know that they are different lengths... however when I was searching for some new springs I only found in a few places 2 springs for 65s and it was 6 cyl or 8 cyl. no passenger and drivers designation. Im going to buy some new ones due to the fact my 65 springs are for a inline 6 and it had a boat anchor of a 390 in it for about 10 years. So the springs seem to sag a bit...I am likely going to try them before I do purchase new ones. just for the heck of it. I purchased 75 king pins for the 75 front end from NAPA ..79 bucks!
     
  19. 65fordguy
    Joined: Jul 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    65fordguy

    Hey, well, charlie called me today and said I had one bad spindle. apparently the rotor was spinning on the spindle and there wasnt much of a bearing left. So back to the junk yard. Mr watts said I could swap the bad part for another one...which is good. I am assuming that anything from 75 to 79 will work. Thats what everyone says.
     
  20. hot rod newt
    Joined: Apr 8, 2008
    Posts: 76

    hot rod newt
    Member

    Here's my 2 cents, I put disc brakes off of a '75 on my '65 f-100 back in 1995 and its the best thing I did on the truck. Other than the 351W and T-5 trans. I used dropped axles, '75 spindles and brakes, '65 king pins ( pin dia. and length are the same, the notch for the lock bolt is different), '75 master cyl. and proportioning valve. Instead of messing with the rod length, I put a spacer between the firewall and the mastercyl. Everything works great!!!! Good luck.
     
  21. 65fordguy
    Joined: Jul 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    65fordguy

  22. 65fordguy
    Joined: Jul 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    65fordguy

    One other thing and I may make a post about this too...as you can see there is a tad bit too much camber I believe..the tops of the wheels poke out a bit...If I cut some out of the springs to lower it a bit wouldnt that bring those I beams in a bit and the tops of the wheels. Im sure I would have to do this in increments ...what do you think of that as opposed to bending the beams?

    or should I buy lowering springs? and get 2 inchs of lowering..which I would be happy with.
     
  23. du$ty
    Joined: Jan 9, 2002
    Posts: 1,366

    du$ty
    Member

    i cut mine..its so easy to swap out those springs..just take a lil bit off at a time...un till it where ya want it..i took one coil out when i got the truck...and another one out about 3 weeks ago..next on my list for the 65 is dropped beams...but they are damn pricey.
     
  24. 65fordguy
    Joined: Jul 4, 2008
    Posts: 1,451

    65fordguy

    How was the ride affected by cutting your springs?
     
  25. du$ty
    Joined: Jan 9, 2002
    Posts: 1,366

    du$ty
    Member

    my truck rides really good for the age of her..i just took a lil off at a time so not to over do it...i also took off the bumb stops to prevent premature bottoming out.if you over do it you will mess up your camber and tow in on the top..so its a nice balance..i drive my trucck all the time..every damn day on the highway going 75-80...no problems..ive been chcking out my tires to see if they are wearing funny before i drop big money on some nice ww's.so far so good...
     

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