The other day I bought a rusted out 1981 f150 4x4 4 speed. I plan to take this truck and pull all the 4x4 related struff, the transmission, the doors, and the DSII ignition to put on my 1985 f150 3 on the tree 4x2. After I scavenge all the parts off the donor truck, I plan sell the 302 and then haul the rest to the foundry and make most if not all my money back. I know it will be alot of work, but I like work and learn and I have a few good friends to help me. I will try to take as many pictures as I can and keep everyone posted.

 

Pictures: the gray truck is my 85 4x2 lwb, and the white truck on the trailer ( before you flame me, the truck was only pulled by the Ranger about 1/4 a mile to our rendezvous point. I told my buddy with the SD I would have the truck ready by the time he got off work.) is the 4x4 swb donor. It started raining on our way back and this was the only picture of it I took.

graytruck.jpg picture by JRock851 - Photobucket

graytruck.jpg picture by JRock851 - Photobucket

 

Haha Ranger doing big things. Sounds like a very ambitious project. It'll be good to have yet another guy with good 1st hand knowledge around.

Love the look of the 85. Same color and body as mine. Any interior options?

You know how to put pictures directly in the thread right? Right above the text box when you reply is a little yellow square with two mountains in it. Click the "direct link" when you're looking at your photobucket photos, then click the yellow square, and paste. Voila.


Actually, do you have a picture of the tailgate on your truck? Mine has been painted a few times and has some red showing. Makes it look like a baboon haha. It'd be nice to see a stock grey one.

 

Ok, I'll try again lol. The 85 has led somewhat of a hard life, and the body is a little rougher up close. The tail gate is completely shot. I'm positive that at some point it was employed by a mattress store because I found a bunch mattress price tags behind the seat.

I find the options a little strange honestly. It is a 3 on the tree truck, but it has factory ac? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, especially if it was original bought by the mattress store. I didn't discover until after i bought it, and considering the way it runs, I was really surprised to find that it doesn't have a feedback carb on it. The distributor is the feed back distributor so the timing is locked.

I am building a work truck and the appearance isn't very high on my priority list, all I care about is the structural components and the mechanicals.

 

I guess A/C makes sense. Want to have clean employees taking things in.

Which photo link did you use? Go to that overview page where you can see all of your photobucket photos. Mouse over one and a box with 4 links should show up. I think the 2nd down is "direct link" Click in there to copy that, then paste it in the FTE photo attach.

 

I used the page URL instead of the picture URL. I fixed it.

 

Well done haha.

And she looks pretty good. I think between the two of us we'd have a nice grey truck lol. I'm jealous of y'all with the cloth/padded seat. I've got some damage to my grill and fender on the pass side too.

Tool box looks pretty good, where'd you pick it up?

 

The tool box came on it, and It's ok. I don't really care much for the tool boxes that open on the sides, but the more I use it, the more I like it.

Considering the age, I think the interior is in really good shape. I need a blower motor though lol.

 

Not too bad. I started to say I'd get one at the JY down here and ship it to you. Then I remembered Autozone sells them for $20. It stuck on high speed, or not functional at all?

 

Nothing at all. I just haven't gotten around to fixing it. The only time it bothered me was not having a defroster in the winter. I usually keep the windows down.

 

I thought the back of my Ranger sat low with 500lbs, but you took it to the max!

Can't wait to see the progress! I found that swapping my F150 to 4x4 was actually quite fun. Then again, I soaked everything in PB blaster before I touched it, and luckily everything went pretty smoothly.

 

Make sure and check the switch and the resistors. When the resistors burn out, the fan can only operate on the high speed, which is direct and does not involve the resistor.

 

Welcome. Looks to be an interesting project. Keep us updated. What part of Tennessee are you in?

 

id prolly buy some of the body parts and the seat if you lived up here. theres alot of trucks in alot worse shape up here in nh.

idk about the 80-86s trucks rear end becuase i dont actually own one. but the 92-96 have narrower springs in the rear. if thats the case, being a work truck id think about swapping for the 4x4 springs in the rear, a toy id say leave it itll flex more.

as for the front end. it should pretty much be direct bolt into the hardware and brackets on the frame already. might need the 4wd brackets for the tib pivots.

 

Nope, the 4x2/4x4 pivots are interchangeable.

It's a direct bolt-in swap. However, if he does swap to the wider leaf pack, shackles, and hangers, he'll have to cut all of the rivets off of the hangers so he can swap them.

And if his truck is an automatic without a removable transmission inspection plate, he'll have to cut the floor and drill the holes for that as well.