Words of advice on this swap... get new U bolts made, and measure and buy new steel and rubber brake lines ahead of time... 4x40mile(round trip) in 2 days added alot to the cost of my 4wd swap due to all the little things one forgets.

If you really wanna get into it, get the center pins for the rear springs and add a leaf or 2 to each side if the ones in your truck are getting weak.

That grey truck looks good, looks to be a twin to my '86 only with alot less rust.

 

I am in Greeneville, Its about half an hour south of Johnson City.

Today, we didn't get done as much as I had hoped. The family had told me that I needed to run errands that I didn't. All we got done was get the DSII wiring harness in, but the parts store didn't have a 6 cyl distributor in stock and it will be Saturday evening before they can get one. By the time we got back, I figured the wasn't enough daylight to get anything started and finished so we just called it a day.

The only good body parts left on the body of the white truck are the doors and the hood. I plan on swapping doors and the grill, but I haven't decided on the hood yet. I know I don't like the badge on the grill, but I'm not sure about the F O R D hood yet.
The bed floor and the cab floor are GONE. The are holes large enough to drop medium sized children through to the ground.

I have a few questions. I plan on searching, but a little redundant information can't be bad for the archives:

Do 4x2 f-250s have the narrow springs? My half-ton squats worse than the 4x4 and my ranger, I don't know if the longer bed gives the weight more leverage or what, but it looks like the springs are about shot.

The gray truck is a 3 on the tree. It has a the clutch and everything (duh), but there are no holes or access panels in the floor. Is that the only differences in the floor pans or are the tunnels different sizes?

The access panel on the white truck is in good shape. Can I just lay it on the gray truck tunnel, trace it, and sawsall a hole an inch or two inside my line and drill the bolt holes?

How certain is it that I will need a new driveshaft? The 4x4 is a SWB and the Gray truck is a LWB, so I know i can't just swap them. However, the tailshaft on the 3.03 is like 1 and 1/2 times as long as the actual gearbox and it really looks like it is about the same length as a tranny/t-case combo ( I ain't broke out the tape yet lol) I'm thinking my LWB driveshaft might fit.

Does anyone have a picture of the DSII setup on a 300 from the Driver's side? I'm curious about coil location and distributor orientation.

I took some more pictures of the donor truck.




That is an extra Dana 44 TTB





The 302 ran, but it had an edlebrock carb and intake that I didn't want or want to pay for. The PO kept them.

 

F150 4x4 and all F2/350s used 3" wide springs. I would find another set of 2wd springs at a yard and add a couple to each side. I did 3 per side on my 86 during the 4wd swap, downside is that its around 3" taller then stock 4wd ride height, and rides like an F350... On the rear, the plus side is that I can fill the box with soil, firewood etc. and it sits level.

 

Dang. Are you talking about the helper springs that bolt on to the leaves or adding leaves to the spring pack?

I remember hearing that you should only use u bolts once, is that really true?
Did more research, and it is true.

 

you left out half the fun when i came to pick it up...the jack on the rented trailer had the welds fail, so when i got there they were jacking it up with a car jack that looked like it would struggle to lift a smart car...
Glad I could help

 

^^ This is my buddy with the SD. Yeah, when I went to take the trailer off the ranger to get it ready for David to show up, the jack broke off the trailer with the truck still on it. If there hadn't been a construction crew with a high lift jack, the trailer would still be at the KFC.

The little jack was the one that came with the ranger.

 

Hahaha. I could see Chevy guys getting a laugh there. How many Ford guys and Ford trucks does it take to get one home?

Don't feel too bad. I needed to get my jack out today. Says "nissan, 900lb". Won't touch the truck fully extended haha

 

Just a quick update, fnding time to work on this project is the most difficult part. Today I finished installing the new distributor. I haven't got the timing dialed in perfectly, but I can tell that It runs much better. I also discovered that my column got F.U.B.A.R.ed I tried to drive the truck to the parts store to get some vacuum hose to run the vacuum advance and to give them a battery to charge. Its just about three blocks, so i was about half way there before i tried to shift to second and column buckled, Drove it home in second, the only gear it wanted to stay in was third, and first and reverse were out of the question... 31's and 3.08s suck in third. After that ordeal, I pulled out my chainsaw and took my anger out on some trees that my mother wanted cut down. I was too mad to do more work on it.