Hello,

in another threat it was pointed out to me, that until 2004 from F-250 to F-550 any ford trucks hat basicaly the same front design. So this means they all hat the same fron witdh, which was i reasonable 2 meters withd (without mirrors)

Of course all dual wheeled trucks had a larger rear end width, i guess something aroun 2.2 meters? Don't know if the F-450's F-550's are wider there.

What i like to know is: Is it possible to get a F450/550 down to the width of an F-250 (or F-350 with single rear wheels) without changing the axle? There are mechanics who can make a double rear axle into a single rear axle, it happens with bigger trucks quite often for beter offroad handling, but i guess this does not change the width of the axle to much?

Of course the gvw would decrease anyway, but you could still keep the strong axle body.

Greetings

 

Turtle V: A 2000 Ford F-550 that Ford gave to Gary & Monica Wescott, who promptly super singled the rear end. (The original dually tires and wheels that came on this truck are now on my 550 as spares).




Inspired by Gary & Monica's Turtle V, another company created the Earth Roamer camper, that also super singles the rear duallys. As you can see in this photo with the front end of the truck propped up, the original Dana 110 axle housing is still in place:

 

Dual rear wheeled F-350 pickups are around 28mm to 49mm w i d e r than dual rear wheeled F-450/550 chassis cabs. The difference in width depends on model year, but in all cases, the F-350 dually has always been wider.

 

Interesting. How so? Why is the "weaker" F-350 dually rear axle the widest?

As for the earthroamer: The Problem here is: Those are modern aged F-550's with the much wider front axle. So those trucks have a width of 2250-2350mm in the front to begin with. I guess in this case, the rear axle still has the same width as it had with the dual wheels, only the tires changed? This is relativeley easy to do, since front an rear width have been alsmost the same from the start.

 

Axle strength is not determined by axle width. The width of an axle is not a determining factor in the weight rating of an axle.

The F350 pickup truck rear axle is an inch or two wider than a chassis cab axle because the F350 frame rails are wider than a chassis cab's frame rails from behind the cab to the aft end of the frame.

The pickup frame rail width from cab back is about 940mm, while the chassis cab frame rail width from cab back is not as wide, being only about 864mm.

The wider frame rails of the pickup frame require the mounting flange to the backing plate be moved outboard a bit more, because the leaf springs are moved outboard a bit more. Hence the dually pickup F350 has a wider track than the chassis cab duallys.

Problem? What problem? The first picture i posted, of the Turtle V with all the snow on top of the truck, is a 2000 F-550. It is almost 15 years old, being built in 1999. It has the same front axle width, knuckle to knuckle, as all the monobeam 4x4 axles for the F-250/350 built for the 99-04 model years.

 

Ah ok, that could not be seen beneath the snow.

But still, this truck has the wheel coverage like the more modrn and wider f-550. This might be due to the bigger tires, or maybe they went the other way, instead of getting the rear alxe smaller, they just took a front axle that is wider?

Or are the pre 2005 f-550 front and rear axles of the same width to beginn with and it just looks likte the truck has a bigger width in the rear because of the dueal wheels?

 

They have offset wheels on the front. Look at Rickman DRW to SRW conversions.

 

Regardless of the snow, model year "2000" could be read in the paragraph preceding the pic.

All along I have been assuming you are from another country, without access to see for yourself whatever it is that you are looking for. As such, I've been trying to help you, since I happen to own the same vehicle that you are inquiring so much about.

 

Yeah thta's exactly the problem. Or to be more specific, the problem is not only that there are very few (old) F-550 around here, but also that anything is smaller, so the width is very important.

The Excursion is pretty much the biggest vehicle you can use as a daily driver over here, anything bigger will be a problem. (for example, a Hummer H1 with it's 2.15m width without mirrors, is quite problematic)

So if it is possible to the F-550 rear down to the width of the excursion, anything is fine.

I hope this is not to confusing, and thanks a lot for the help so far!

 

My F350 is 8'5" from outside of dual rear fender to outside other fender. So approx 2.5 meters.

 

So it's 2.5 rear and 2.0 front?? (without mirrors) Sounds quite difficult to drive? But if the rear axles are that much wider, even with the heavier f-550 rear beeing a tad smaller, i doubt it is possible to get the whole vehicle down to 2meters (79")

 

So what is the issue other than bolt pattern with putting single wheels all the way around? Seems to me with the right wheel offset you will have the width you want. You will decrease payload to some extent but it should work

 

That is one stiff front suspension! Almost no travel.

 

Well somehow the guys from Earthroamer ond the military of course, both managed to keep the axle load completely with the single wheel.

But i dont know if this is possible with the older axles, especially if it's done by some little workshop in europe

 

Why do you have to get the whole vehicle down to 2 meters. I'm sure that a regular superduty body is wider than 79".