I wish I still had that 79. That was by far the best truck I have ever owned. Not much for fuel efficiency, but simple and reliable as they come.

 

No reason to swap. Standard f250 4x4 had d44 front and d60 rear, optional d60 front, 79 f350 4x4 all d60 front. Still HP axle. f250/350 has leaf springs with push/pull steering. A very rugged design and strong, however the big 3" wide leaf springs hold it in place while the shoving and tugging takes place, I would be afraid that the front coils with the bushings would get clapped out soon from the push/pull of the steering. Be more work to convert 3/4 ton to crossover, but probably necessary.

Next in line is the front brakes. f150s and broncos had 1 piston calipers, f250s had bigger rotors and 2 piston calipers. This might pose a problem, possibly need to swap proportioning valves, master cylinders, boosters, ask number dummy, he will tell you that there are some crazy combo of brake components available, like 200 or something. Also might need to run atleast 16" wheels.

The 9" rear is very strong, easy to rebuild, and light weight. Keep it. Nothing will be gained by going to a rear 60 other than having the notorious carrier bearing issue of the inner race spinning on the carrier and ruining the bearing and the carrier. Good luck.

 

just curious....any issues swapping the 302 in a 77 F100 for a 351Windsor? Truck has A/C if that is an issue. I assume the 351M engines were about the same width as a windsor. And the C4 trans should go with a windsor no problem. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks

 

302W and 351W have same motor mounts, bell housing pattern, etc. 351 has slightly higher deck height, so any accessory brackets that bolt to the head will be different, and intake manifolds aren't interchangeable.

 

would there be any at all problems swapping a 79 F250 2wd body onto a 79 F250 4x4 chassis. I can't think of any but it seems like ive heard of some differences with 2wd and 4wd beds. Can't be anything major i wouldn't imagine if its even true

 

The '67-early '77 "High Boy" 4x4 F-250s had a narrower rear frame width that would put the holes for the bed mounts in a different place. Not sure the same is true of the '79s though - might just bolt right up. Even with the ones that didn't line up, you could either drill new holes in the bed or make brackets to bolt to the frame though.

 

so no major problems with doing it?

 

No, there shouldn't be any major problems. As previously stated, the highboys have a 4" narrower frame in the rear. The "Lowboys" (77.5-79) have the same overall frame dimensions as the 2WD trucks. Swapping bodies should be a bolt in process that's very commonly done.