I have definitely kept an eye on them. Nothing has cracked so far and it's had about 2000 hard miles of testing. I think there's enough flex in the Frame and motor mount inserts to keep them from cracking.

Thanks for the kind words!

 

I pulled all the front suspension and steering out of the truck this weekend. I have a set of 2" lift super duty springs already to go in it. I will also be putting a 78 4x4 steering box, 70's-80's chevy link from steering box to the axle, and a new front crossmember with spring mounts. The Chevy links are adjustable unlike the Ford. There has been some serious hickin engineering on this front end that will most definitely get cleaned up. Here are some pics of what it looks like:













The rear spring hanger mounts are worn out so i will be replacing those. Do these look like stock ford mounts? Also, since the super duty springs are 9/16 bolts are there larger diameter mounts i should get or just drill these out? You can see they just used a torch to cut holes in the frame for them...

This leads to the spring length. The super duty springs are 2" longer than the stock springs were. I have plenty of room in the front to go forward with the mounts an inch or two and i can fill the holes in the frame and put the rears wherever i need to. Should i put the axle dead center in the middle of the wheel well or is there a measurement from the front of the frame back that i should position it?

Hopefully this thing will be back on the road in a few weeks.

 

Great build. I would position the axle in the center of the wheel well to allow for maximum wheel travel and keep the looks balanced. I would fill the frame hole and reinforce it on the back side. Keep up the good work.

 

With 3.54 gears, I have hit 23.9 MPG (east bound I-80 w/tail wind)while trying to keep under 70 MPH. The worse mileage I have ever recorded is 16 MPG (west bound I-80 w/head wind) running 80ish pulling a loaded UHaul trailer. For everyday mixed driving I get an honest 18 MPG.

I drove from Evanston WY to Cedar Rapids IA and back about 2 months after finishing my Cummins install, and about a week after installing the 3.54 gears. That many miles gives a guy a good idea of the mileage you can get.

P.S. great job on the conversion. I wish I could have done mine as fast as you.

 

Good info. I really wanna go to 3:54's. Just a matter of money right now, ha. I forgot to mention that those numbers were while towing my 21 foot wakeboard boat with 40 gallons of fuel, 3 people in the, and all our gear for a week vacation

 

The truck is now sitting on Super Duty 2" lift leaf springs. I kind of copied ChaseTruck and 1971Ford's crossmember designs. Here are a few pics of it:











Then i went to the local 4x4 shop that everybody hates to get u-bolts. I was told they were the only ones that would have them. I called them first and tried to ask if they have and 3" wide square u-bolts for a 70's ford and they assured me that they would have the right ones because they had hundreds of different bolts. Ok, so i go down there and sure enough they dont. The sell me 3" wide ones for a newer style ford that dont fit perfect but according to them if you tighten them down enough they will work fine. What do you guys think?



Now i fixed the suspension problem and everything was going great with the steering box mount until i held the box up to the frame again. I realized that the 78 4x4 box is not "long" enough to clear the 73 f350 frame rail. Here are are few pics to illustrate:









Can anyone give me some advice on the best way to go from here? Im thinking i will have to notch the bottom of the frame and box it now, but i really dont want to do that. Any ideas would be awesome. It would also be nice to know the height of a 77.5-79 4wd frame.

For my steering box mount i used 1/4" plate steel with more 1/4" strips welded onto it to brace it in the frame so that when it gets all tightened down the bolts dont pull the frame and new box section together. Here are some more crappy cell phones pics of this:

 

This confuses me about the steering box. I boxed the frame on my 75 and the frame is the same as yours. It seemed to fit fine. Ive looked at several of these conversion and i dont remember the problem your having but i could be wrong.

 

Ya, I thought it would just fit too. I put this up on another forum and one guy said his fit with less than an 1/8" clearance between the pitman arm and the frame and then another guy said you have to do a 1/4" section in the frame to make it fit... So as of right now I really don't know what to do, ha

 

When I did mine, I seem to remember having had to bend the top rail down a bit to get it to fit. I made a plate and spacers to fit between the box and the steering gear to keep it stabilized on the frame. Been long enough I don't recall all the details, and I no longer have that truck.

 

cool truck man, defiantly sticking around to see progress

 

It think the problem your having is that youve got the box on an angle by looking at the pic of the sectr shaft. Im gonna mount mine parralell to the frame.

 

Agree... I looked closely at mine today and have less that a 1/8th between frame and pitman arm. It's really,really close but no issues so far.

Try putting the arm on and see what you need to get it to fit.

I know Hrdrkn recessed his slightly on his 69 Crew.

 

Great build keep up the good work. I'm taking notes.

 

Hey guys,
Sorry for the lack of updates lately. The superduty spring swap and 78-79 steering box has been finished for quite a while now and is working flawlessly. The superduty spring upgrade makes a huge difference. These springs have a lot more rebound than the stock high boy springs.

I also put took the stock 131 diverter valves out and installed some 181's. These made a HUGE difference. It runs much smoother at lower cruising rpms, has A LOT more power, and fuels hard all the way to the governor. Before the fueling would taper off a lot on the top end, but now i have all the fuel i need all the way to redline. Very well worth it.

Right now i am trying to get the truck ready to go on a trip from Bend, OR to Mexico and back to build houses. The biggest thing i need to do is setup the rear shocks. The Dana 70 thats in it is obviously not the original axle because the shock mounts on it are not even close to lining up with the factory mounts. My question is, can anyone put up some pics or give me some suggestions on how to setup the axle shock mounts? Right now im thinking i will just weld tabs on the axle to line up with the frame mounts and then once i swap in a newer limited slip axle i will build a shock mount bar on the frame and do it up real nice.

Also, any other recommendations on things to do on this thing in preparation for the long trip?

Thanks

 

you can weld tabs on the axle, or places like ruffstuff sell specific tabs for this too.

Where are you headed to in Mex? Any way you go that's a bit of a drive. My in-laws are finishing up their drive from Bend to So. Cal. currently and it's about 15 hours. It'll be close to 20 hours of driving depending on where in Mex you end up. Good luck!