Need help with brake rotors...

[Calfdemon]

I need to get new rotors for my 69 F350, but every supplier that has been called says that the rotors are discontinued and cannot be ordered.

I thought I read on here somewhere that the F250 and the F350 rotors were the same, but when suppliers are asked, they say they have different part numbers. The strange part is that they said they can get me rotors if the truck was a dually, but not for a standard 4 wheel truck. Does that make sense? Did they run different rotors up front for the dually trucks?

Anyway, does anyone have any input to help me out here? What rotors could I order for my F350 since the "numbers" in everyone's systems have those rotors discontinued? And if anyone knows where I might be able to order some, can you please point me in that direction?

In the meantime, I guess we will have the F250 rotors ordered and compare them to see if they look the same. But any response is appreciated and the quicker the better!! I want to have the brakes done by this weekend!

Thanks in advance!

[forrestbump]

Without factual knowledge, I'm betting the reason for the difference shown in parts stores catalogs might have to do with the different wheel stud sizes.

F250's have 1/2" studs and F350's have 9/16". The F250's I'm certain of, but the F350's are going off my very faulty memory.

If the parts stores can give you the rotor's thickness and diameter, you'll be better informed as to whether or not they do cross over. Another clue will be if bearings, races and hub seals are the same between F250's and F350's...if they do, you're home free.

PLEASE understand that I'm guessing ONLY and I don't want to see you waste one dime on my opinion and/or my guess.

[Calfdemon]

I appreciate your input. From what everyone is telling me, the F250 rotors are a slightly different size. Not much, but some. The F350 had 2 different sizes depending on whether it was a single rear wheel or dual also... And from what everyone is telling me, they cannot get the F350 SRW rotors anymore. I found ONE place that still had some in stock (supposedly). So I ordered them and we will see if they show up. Strange thing is that as soon as I placed my order, the item fell off of their website and there is no longer any rotors listed for the 69 F350 SRW.

Anyway, hopefully I get these and get the truck back together. I now know to start looking into a brake swap for the front end in the future because when the time comes that I need new front rotors (hopefully many years from now), I am sure I wont be able to find them anywhere at that time.

[forrestbump]

Well, to take a different tack, have you considered converting your front brakes to F250 parts?

I went the other way and converted F350 I beams over to F250 spindles, hubs, rotors and calipers. why? Parts availability!

...just a random thought I'm throwing at you to save some time and money...

[Calfdemon]

Thats probably what I will do in the future. As it stands right now, I ordered possibly the last existing brand new set of F350 SRW rotors on the face of the earth, so no point doing it right now.. But I will definately keep this in mind as a future project. Lord knows I have enough projects in store for this truck in the very near future.

[flyboy2610]

Rock Auto (http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php)
Shows they have one remaining. BENDIX Part # 141066 @ $95.79

[Calfdemon]

Wow, only 1 rotor remaining and it even says Closeout... I was able to get a pair for $123.00 shipped from R1Concepts.com. Funny thing is I saw it on their website and called in my order to make sure they had it. He assurred me they did and manually took my order. As soon as I ordered the part, I refreshed the website and the rotors were no longer listed. So I am thinking I got their last set (if I actually get it).

I tell you, this was a treasure hunt trying to find a pair of rotors.

[Calfdemon]

Aaaaaaaaaand the phone call came.....

As I felt it would, R1Concepts called me and after doing a quality check prior to shipping, they noticed that the rotors they were about to ship were for a dual rear wheel truck. They called the supplier and it was a mix up in their computer system that had the wrong parts referenced. The supplier told R1Concepts that the rotors for the SRW 69 F350's are discontinued and no longer available.

I am not going to buy that 1 rotor by itself in hopes that I can find another. So that leaves me with what Forest Bump recommended. I am now going to look into swapping out my front end brakes with an F250 system.

That being said, what exactly do I need to get to make this happen? I would think it would be easy enough to do and everything should bolt right on, right? But what parts do I actually need to swap out so that everything works? I will also be looking to switch my lugs to the F250 1/2 inch lugs with normal threading.

[forrestbump]

...well... I might just have what you're looking for! Later this month, I'm going to zakt's place to buy his F350 front end that he removed to convert his truck to 4WD.

Since you and I live in SoCal, let's talk about how we can work something out. I'm getting all the brake parts you'll need!

PM me!

[flyboy2610]

I was thinking that same thing: get the front end off a DRW F350 and use those parts. You wouldn't lose any carrying capacity for you one ton that way.

[Calfdemon]

Ok, I have one more shot at trying to get F350 SRW rotors as I just saw them listed in the NPD catalog, however, I am sure they are going to have the same problem unless they somehow have a pair in stock. The used rotors I was hoping for dont appear to be in usable condition.

So in the probable chance that NPD will not be able to get me the rotors either, does anyone know what the difference between the F350 DRW setup and the F350 SRW setup is? They still make the DRW rotors, and I would think with them both being 1 ton trucks and F350's, that the difference between the 2 would not be THAT big. Would it be as easy and just switching a few parts out? And if so, does anyone know which parts??

I am a brake dummy and am clueless when it comes to switching brakes around. I need to get this beast driveable for more than up and down the street and need to do it rather soon. Is there a quick (and somewhat inexpensive) fix here or am I screwed?

[fordman]

ask flatbedford. i think he knows that answer. or cool tool guy might now. or 71longbed (the guy with the flag counter in his signature). those guys have
F350 knowledge.

[Calfdemon]

Thanks Fordman.. Ill send them PM's with a link here to see if they can help me. I appreciate it.

[fordman]

or search thier posts to find out what they have said about F350 and drw brakes vs srw brakes.

[Calfdemon]

Good suggestion... I already PM'ed them all, but then found this thread:

http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... disc+brake

Just started reading it but it might have some useful info in there for my situation. Going to continue reading it, but I am more of a "hands on" learner and reading about this stuff just doesnt do it for me... Trying to figure this out when I dont know a whole lot about brakes is tough. Im just one of those "show me" guys.. I have to be able to see it.