The Lone Ranger – Master Cylinder Swap

What I thought was going to be a simple swap turned into a big ole waste of time. So I thought I’d throw some information out for those who might need this in the future.

For the calipers for the Dana 44 I’m using the stock twin piston deal (same as what’s found on the Dana 60’s of the same vintage). The stock master cylinder for this vintage is in the 1-1/16 bore size range

For the Rear calipers, I’m using the ’99 E350 twin piston calipers that came with the Dana 60 I have. The stock master cylinder for this application is a huge 1-5/16 bore size.

As a reference, the stock bore on the ranger is 1” in diameter.

I have done quite a bit of reading on what MC I should use for my swap, but opinions abounded in the matter. Eventually, I settled for what I thought would be a decent setup. That being a MC from a ’91 F-350. The bore size for this setup measures 1-1/8”

Unfortunately, I didn’t see any mention of the funky/huge port that is on the this MC for the front lines. I could not find a fitting that would go in this hole. This is where the wasted time came into play as I went from part store to part store looking for this dang fitting (Ford dealership was closed, and I didn’t find any in the junk yard).

This led me to plan “B”. That is to use the tried and true MC of the ’99 Dodge 2500 gassers. This MC has a bore of 1-1/4” in diameter, which is a little larger than I want. But I’d rather have ‘hard’ brakes over ‘soft’ ones.

Here’s a comparison of all three MC’s. The stock Ranger is on the left, F350 is in the middle, and the Dodge 2500 is on the right:

Side view shot:

Both the Ford and the Dodge MC’s bolt right up to the stock ranger booster. However, with the doge MC, you will have to do a little work on your pushrod to get it to the right depth. The pushrod bolt must be shortened .325”. Which means you need to put crank the bolt all the way in, and then grind off a 1/8” off the end.

Stock Setup:

Shortened :

Bolt Pre grind:

After grinding off 1/8”:

After that, slap on your new MC and plumb your lines:

That’s all I have for now, I still need to finish hard mounting my lines so I don’t have any driving impressions at this point. I’ll edit this post when I do.

Edit: I’ve been tooling around the neighborhood at this point. The brakes are friggin awesome! The pedal feel is pretty much “Stock” and that MC moves enough fluid to bring everything to a halt quickly when need be.

Edit again: I’ve got about 2,500 miles on my brake setup and all I can say is WOW! The brakes are about as awesome as I’ve ever had in a vehicle before (I’ve had new cars that didn’t have brakes this good). Couldn’t be happier.

Edit again: Since I’ve swapped in the D60/14 bolt combo (with disc brakes) I’ve still retained the same Master Cylinder. I’m still completely in love with how well the brakes work on this truck!