F3 Axle swaps and load capacity impact
#16
09-14-2013, 10:05 AM
OK - here comes a theoretical question.
How much does a rear axle swap affect the effective load-bearing capacity of one of our F3 pickups? The reason I'm asking is because as a proud new owner of an F3, one of my first orders of business to to find a way to get rid of the widow-maker wheels that have come on the truck, and a simple way to do that on the rear would be to switch out the rear axle with one of the known easy substitutes (57-72 F250, 89-01 Explorer, etc.) and use the appropriate wheels that came on them.
If I understand correctly, the F250 is nominally a 3/4 ton truck and I'll bet the Explorer is probably not even that. Understand the springs are heftier on an F3 and this will help determine load capacity, but my hunch is that the original beefier axle and bigger tires/wheels on an F3 are also in place to handle that 1 ton load.
The reason that this is theoretical is because I never expect to get anywhere near a 1 ton load, but still, it's useful information to have.
Steve
(still awaiting actual delivery next weekend, but thinking ahead)
How much does a rear axle swap affect the effective load-bearing capacity of one of our F3 pickups? The reason I'm asking is because as a proud new owner of an F3, one of my first orders of business to to find a way to get rid of the widow-maker wheels that have come on the truck, and a simple way to do that on the rear would be to switch out the rear axle with one of the known easy substitutes (57-72 F250, 89-01 Explorer, etc.) and use the appropriate wheels that came on them.
If I understand correctly, the F250 is nominally a 3/4 ton truck and I'll bet the Explorer is probably not even that. Understand the springs are heftier on an F3 and this will help determine load capacity, but my hunch is that the original beefier axle and bigger tires/wheels on an F3 are also in place to handle that 1 ton load.
The reason that this is theoretical is because I never expect to get anywhere near a 1 ton load, but still, it's useful information to have.
Steve
(still awaiting actual delivery next weekend, but thinking ahead)
There's a lot of info in this thread, but to make the answers simple, let's just say this;
Find yourself a late 60's/early 70's Dana 60 from an F-250 and use that. It will have the correct/modern brakes with parking brake in the drum that you can hook to your existing handle. Parts will be easy to source. And it will be strong enough to handle any load you plan to carry in an old F-3. Let the others argue out the gory details.
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