Its alright, it happens to all of us

 

Nice find I somtime wish I would have kept my stock bed insted of making a flatbed.I deffently don't regret putting the diesel in her don't mis the 6 mpg form the 460.Good luck with your prodject.Build the truck the way you want it to look like.There is alway's sombody that dosn't like something on it.

Dale

 

Well, got the tank in being cleaned up. Had to buy a new side/Aux tank, it was shot. Cleaning was $80 and new tank was roughly $150. Not bad. Carbs bein rebuilt, be done in 2wks, and cost $220.

Heres where the dually situation's at. I slid on my pop's duals and the inside tire rubs against the leafs. On top of that, with both of em on there, i wont beable to get the nut on. I can get longer studs, cause id have to go real long to A) fit an adapter to bring the inner tire away from the springs and B) still have enough room to fit the lugs on.

 

Ok, its been while since ive posted, alots been done.

Goth the box off, rear electrical disconected, Diff's out (plan on replacing it), frames 90% bare and almost ready for paint... Heres a few pics..













Remember when i said im replacing the rear diff? ya, im replacing it with the one out if this....



Its a 1974 Ford F-350 Custom. 360, 4spd, Weld built wrecker body, Holmes boom.... sweet truck.



just EXTREMLY rough

The rear diff is a DANA 70 w/ 4.10.

More updates soon to come

 

Just an FYI cab-n-chassis axles are NARROWER than a dually pickup.

I would get a rear axle from an 86+ F350 dually pickup. Stronger than the D60 or D70, will bolt right in and it will be the right width. And then you will not need to run those adapters

Also, PLEASE do not ruin it by putting stacks on it. I realize you are only 15, but once you get older and smarten up, you will kick yourself. Especially with then on the OUTSIDE of the body

 

it would probably be a good idea to get the front dually hubs off that truck if its got disc brakes too, so you can run the dually style wheels all the way around

 

yeah, with that axle you are gonna need to grind off and reweld the spring pads further out because the cab and chassis have a narrower frame. Also be aware a lot of those old 70's have right hand thread studs I think its the drivers side in the rear.

Even if you reweld the spring pads, you will still have the same problem as before, with the wheels hitting the springs. The duallies had narrower springs and a narrow frame to fit the dual wheels. Measure that old dually wheel to wheel, you'll find it narrower than the newer duallies because the newer ones put the duals outboard of the frame, but on the 70's trucks they didn't offer a factory dually so the chassis cabs just had narrow frames and spring pads to basically have a dually rear end that isn't much wider than a srw.

You may want to consider the advice to go with a newer dually rear that will outboard the wheels further to clear the frame/springs. However, if go with bolt on spacers they would move the wheels out too, but thats not really a great fix imo.

 

Hey I got your message but it says my message is too long so I'm just gonna type my response here: If you scored that truck for $500, I feel like its well bought. You could scrap it out and make back your money, though I hope you don't, since I think its pretty cool, even with the rust. You CAN use the rear axle out of it, you will just need to move the spring pads outward to use them with your frame. If you can grind and weld it is not a huge deal, but its actually a narrower axle than the D60 thats probably under your truck right now. So thats not where you want to be. These old trucks aren't 100% with anything, so by all means bust out a tape measure and verify what I'm saying. Measure the axle hub to hub. If its narrower than yours, thats not gonna help you much now is it?? I've never seen a dually that used any kind of special "hub" on the 70's fords. Its just a D70 axle and they were the same on a SRW F350 as they were on the DRW chassis cabs, same width and everything. If the tow truck is 2wd and your truck is 2wd then you can use the front hubs on yours, and thats what I'd do, that will set the front up for using the dually wheels.

For the rear axle, I think one that would work best would be one off an 80's F350 dually. Don't get a chassis cab dually though, they were still narrow through the 80's so the spring pads will be in the wrong place. May want to go to the junkyard with a tape measure and start measuring rear ends. Some of the dodges might be a good fit, too.

If you just want to go with what you have, you could keep your existing axle or use the D70 out of that towtruck and use bolt on spacers. Just do a google search on the downsides of using spacers. The bolt on style that are hubcentric can be pretty strong and should minimize vibration, but youre still adding leverage to the studs and hub.

either way I'd use the front hubs and the wheels off the tow truck for sure. If they are 16.5" wheels you may find it difficult to get tires for them. Hopefully they are 16's.

 

well, the axle under my truck now is a D70, not a D60. Thats why i figured it would work in the first place. Both are 2wd, so i will switch the fronts on them like you said, thanks for that info. I dont plan on using spacers. The tires are 16's, which i thought was a) kinda odd and b) awsome. Defenetly have to crawl under and measure that diff. Thanks for all your help, very appriciated..

 

I thought this thread died... wow, was I wrong. Great work so far. Resubscribed...

 

I was thinking your truck was an f250 for some reason. If yours is a 2wd F350 with the D70 you almost certainly already have the narrow frame and narrow springs. Measure your rear spring width. The narrow frame trucks usually had 2.5" springs, if I remember right. The wide frame trucks have 3" springs. From the pics I'm kinda thinking your frame looks like its narrow, but its so hard to eyeball those things from pictures. Definitely can't tell if the springs are narrow or wide.

I'd measure the rear off that 70, but I'm betting its probably exactly the same dimensions as the one you have. Which means if you have the narrow springs those dual wheels may just bolt on, though they may hit the inside of the tub in the bed. If you have wide springs and the duals just hit the springs, you may be able to swap springs and hangers from the tow truck as well and make it work. I'm thinking though, that the narrow frames probably won't fit the duals without hitting the bed tub. If thats the case you'll still need to find a wider axle or go with a spacer.

 

Nice score kid. Wish I could have scored a truck like that when I was 15... Ended up with a turd colored F250

Also looks like you are making much more progress then I did when I first got my truck. To the same amount of work that you've done has taken me almost 2 years (got mine when I was 14 and a half, I'm now 16 and a half). I like your motivation to get done. Keep up the good work


Jameson

 

It's your truck build it to your tastes.

 

lets see here... last i posted was about gettin the frame stripped down to just frame... ok

Got the frame sanded and painted with Red oxide primer


Bad pic i know, but it is defenetly painted...


Then i bought this to go under it.....


10.25 Sterling out of a 94' F-350 . Got it sanded down and ready for primer, havent had time yet. It was checked out by M.T.O or a shop or somethin said the owner, 4.10 rear gears, pads are like new, will need new drums very soon though. Picked it up for $200 + trade of the D70. Not too bad i think. If i over paid, it suit cause i probubly overpaid for the truck aswell.... lol

Finnally got the Ol' Boy runnin. Perrs like a lion (especially w/o the muffler). might need a few adjustments to the throttle linkage, but its all good.

Praying that the antifreeze dont freeze over winter up north. Cant flush and re-do it cause i dont have running water to wash it out. Dad doesnt want me doin it in the garage anyway... Poured half a jug of straight in it and let it idle for roughly 15mins for it to hopefully mix with the rest of the stuff... Wouldve run it longer, but the 460 sucked the jerrycan dry... so ya...

Check in for updates in time, Thanks for followin!!

 

Is that a Pickup? Dually pickup? or cab -n-chassis axle?