all that I can about these. Such as what to look out for on these years, how to identify a factory highboy, how common were dana 60's under these, how common were autos put in these (I know weird i want an auto over a manual, I do rock crawling) anything else anyone is willing to share with me. Any good place to go to learn all this or is anyone willing to type it all out for me? Thanks

ps yes I did try and search for this but results were slim to none.

 

I'd say if you would want to get a 78-79 f250 if you are going to use it for crawling.

 

Ford F-250 Highboy Information

 

Take special care to look over the power assist steering system for leaks and worn parts. Many wear parts for that system are very hard to come by and bring big money when you do actually find them. As far as i know they never installed a dana 60 front axle, but thay all got dana 60s in the rear. Look for the later models with open knuckle d44s with an FE engine.

 

Some did have D60 fronts but they were low pinion and not very good

 

Were the d60 fronts special order? Either way you have an excellent budget wheeler. You can fit 37x12.50s on those trucks with zero lift and some mild trimming to the front fender.

 

while rock crawling out here can get extreme I wont be doing anything extreme. What I really mean is when I go camping or dirt biking in the mountains I like to use the areas less traveled by other folks. I currently have a 00' Cherokee on 30's with a 2 inch lift otherwise stock and that little rig has gotten me everywhere I have needed to go. Very surprised by how well it handles itself. So I think a highboy will more than fill my needs.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

Correct, they came standard on the 74-77 crewcabs, but needed to be ordered on the highboy.

The D60 wasn't much of an upgrade from the D44HD, the only difference was a slightly larger ring gear, 3/4" iirc.