First off I will give you a quick run down on the colorful history of this truck,

When I was 15 my dad went down to a Forest Service Auction to buy my truck for me, I worked for the family lawn care buisness for 3 years before that to save up money for my truck. I told my dad I wanted a 4x4, but father "knows best" and told me I couldnt afford to drive a 4x4, even though we live in North West Montana, where snow stops 4x4's in their tracks frequently.

Well he brought home this:



Of course with this being my first truck I was extatic. 1995 F-150 XL 5-speed, 300ci inline-6, 65,000 miles. I used my left over money to paint it and buy some new wheels and tires:




A few years passed and I decided it wasent "fast" enough to be a 2wd. So I bought a 92 parts truck, 302v8 manuel 4x4, and took some time and swaped the drive train over, bought some 31x10.50 mud kings and was ready to take on the relm of 4x4ing:



After about of year of hammering mud and the trails a mudding "misscalulation" left me with no front bumper so I improvised:



mind you the bumper isent done, but it has already killed 2 deer at 40mph+, so my welding certifications in fluxcore and arc must of paid off.


Now the drive train has hit 280,000 miles plus, the tranny bairly shifts, gears clash, syncronizers grind, and wheel bearings are failing (trust me I adjust them every 5,000 miles or so).

So now its time for a solid axle swap, and possibly a few in of lift. I have some axles out of a 1972 F-100 but the front needs disk brakes. So in the morning I will park her in the shop and start deconstructing, again...lol

Damn Fords, they are gonna make me broke(er), but I couldnt live without one

 

and yes thats blood on the hood in the last picture, deer hunting 2010

 

im suscribed so keep the info and pics coming

 

Good luck with your build, man. I'm gonna subscribe to this as I'll be doing the same thing you're doing. This spring my 4x2 half ton is getting redone. I'm taking everything off the frame, new tranny, rebuilding the 300 and swapping to 4x4. Should be fun.

 

what year is your half ton? M5OD R-2 is a great tranny, I would recomend one for your build. 4x4 swap shouldnt be bad just dont get that dana 44 TTB crap

 

subscribing to this cause it sounds like what i wanna do

 

Mine is a 94. I was thinking about maybe trying to get the axles from my F250 parts truck under there if they are the right width. I really don't care about the front axle because I wont be wheeling it or anything after i put all this money and time into it. I just don't wanna get stuck in the snow anymore, haha. I think mine is the ZF Mazda. Something like that, but it's trashed. When the tranny is cold, I literally have to use both hands to get it in second and my 4th gear synchro is out.

Just to let you know, I was victimized by the "you don't need 4x4" thing, too.

 

ive love hearing "you dont need a 4wd" no but i def wanted one so thats why i got one... its about want not need....i mean do i need a 351? no but its gonna have enough power and torque to do what i want it too...haha power and pride to the 4wd

 

The zf and the mazda are two different trannies. The mazda is the one in f-150s and the zf is in 3/4 ton and higher. The mazda is the weak one, and the zf is the way to go.

Good luck with the build.

 

The front F250 diff won't work in a F150 with out a lot of modifications( not really worth it ) . The F250 front suspension is a leaf spring set up and the TTB are also different then the F150 TTB arms.


And like pro70golfer14 said the Mazda and the ZF are two different transmissions. The ZF is much stronger. If you buy one make sure you get the small block one (300, 5.0L, 5.8L ) . They also have a diesel and a 460 version that won't work for you.





What I think is funny that some people don't realize is a bigger motor can actually get better mileage then a smaller engine when working it hard. I went from a 5.0L to a 5.8L and my gas mileage increased! which was a nice bonus to go with the extra torque/power!

 

How did the 4x4 swap go? I'm in the process of tearin mine down and doing it as well

 

Duct Tape,

the 4x4 swap was easy, everything bolted right in, you just need to cut a hole in the floor boards for your t-case shifter.

 

i would not have a smaller engine unless it was a 300... i love the 351 and wish ford hadnt scrapped the windsor blocks

 

I can't complain about my old little 302. It was a light duty 87 F250 2wd. It hauled some heavy loads with no complaints. It had a NP435 4spd and 3.73 gears in the semi floater 10.25". I thought it was going to be a dog when I went to look at it. But it seemed to have plenty of torque and a good amount of power. I bought it and used it as my daily driver and tow vehicle for over 4 years.

I had no problems hauling 2,000 pounds in the box while pulling a 20 foot car trailer( 2,200 pounds empty ) with 9,500 pounds of scrap metal on it. It slowed down on hills but I just dropped it into 3rd and let her rev right up and over the hill.


FordManMT sorry about the . Back to your thread.

You mentioned you had 72 F100 axles. You might want to pass on them and find yourself a 78-79 F150 4x4 or 78-79 Bronco for the axles. the 72 rear diff is narrower then your trucks and I'm almost positive it only has 28 spline axles. A late 70's truck will give the better width axles with front disc brakes and a stronger 9" rear diff.

If you can find a complete donor you could rob the entire front suspension out. That would give you almost everything to do the swap.

One other question is where is the speed sensor on the 92 for the speedometer? Is it in the transfercase or the rear diff? If it's the rear diff that could cause a small issue if you want to swap in the older rear axle.

 

speed-o is in the output shaft on the T-case.

Also it looked to me like the rear axle in my 72 is a 9in. could be wrong though.

my 95 should have 31 splines shouldnt it?