When I purchased my land(recently), I inherited a 77 ford camper, 460bb and dually. Honestly thats as far as I've looked into it really. Engine looks immaculately clean, new exhaust with stickers mostly still on it. A good chance the body is salvageable but I'm really not interested in saving it, having its current water/lack of maintenance damage.
Instead what I'm thinking I'd like to do is, donate the body to my bonfire pit. 4x4 conversion, coil/link in the front, possibly even in the rear. I'd like to get my approach and departure angles as steep as possible. Either a dump body or a wrecker body with a hook crane on it. A pto hook up if I can manage. Turning it into something I can put to use around the farm.

Now my question is to anybody familiar with 4x4 conversion is there an ideal axle to use?(1ton or bigger) im not very familiar with the market for offroad parts anymore, does anybody know of any lift coils rated for some serious stuff? I'm thinking 37-40 in tires. I've never done anything to a van before, I've wanted to build one for a while. I've built, lifted and the whole 9 with pickups before. Any steering issues to look out for? I'm expecting possible clearance issues somewhere between the front differential and the infamous ford crossmember.

This will not be a fast build at all. And not written in stone yet. But I like the idea.

 

Post pics. (Says he whom hasn't figured it out yet),

 

Help on the way: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...he-forums.html

 

Currently it is buried in snow, alot of snow. But if ya 'all don't mind cellphone pics I might be able to keep ya updated.
Like I said, it's kinda on the back burner and I'm just researching options and ideas right now. I'm debating on whether a 1ton axle will be rugged enough, I'm getting old, ...yes at 25, I'm beginning to feel it, and becoming less and less interested in laying in the dirt making field repairs. I'm also looking for a coil spring that won't have to much trouble supporting a big engine while working off road.
I'm really adamant on coils, I understand that leafs are rugged but, I've been stuck on the leafs of a pickup, in similar conditions of what I have planned for the van. I know easy fix to getting stuck is a big winch, I just don't want to deal with getting stuck at all. It eats up alot of time and energy, I know this first hand. Eventually I'll look into putting lockers in it but at first it will be what ever axle I end up with. Part of me is thinking about using old 60 out of an old ford or dodge. I just hope it holds up, Another part of me is leaning towards adapting an 05 superduty axle if my frame is wide enough, but then I'd have to play with hub conversions.
Soo just taking notes and different bits of information to explore my options