With all the discussion about the difficulties (physical and mental) of adding Toyota, or other PS setups to the '61 - '64 straight axle trucks lately, I started wondering how hard it would be to take all the front suspension out of a PS equipped '67 - '79 Ford truck and put it under the '64. Are the frames the same? Bolt holes? It sounds like a relatively reasonable proposition - maybe not as bad as fitting a Toyota box in? Your thoughts would be appreciated...

 

I too have been wondering the same. There is a sweet '64 short box down the street that could be had for little, but I'm not interested due to the limitations of the front suspension. That could be a different story if it were reletively simple to swap out the front-end from a twin I-beam truck.

 

A frame swap may be the way to go. I think that the pre 65 cabs mount differant, but I read treads about this here, so someone should be able to tell you what will or not work.

 

They've both been done, the I beam swap to a straight axle frame involves some careful work but can be done. The frame swap to a twin I frame involves moving cab mounts and changing the way the column comes thru the firewall...
No worse or better than a Volare clip, Mustang 2, Aerostar. etc except with those the power steering and disc brakes come with the package. You still need to do some swapping of parts on a twin I to get that stuff unless you have a real late model..

 

Don't know the major differences in early straight axles pre- 61; but over on 48 -60 forum, acouple of months ago the past Moderator 'Kenny" reposted an excellent thread showing the various types of front suspenion swaps; I was unable to pull it up; but the originial thread was dated Jul 99; but was unable to search that far back; also Kenny is under the members forum under "K's" on page 49 if your able to e-mail him; his post was 25 pages long of just about every type of front ends to mount under 60's and below. Also recommend veiwing the 48 - 60 forums those guys & gals are the master at front end swaps.
Hope this helps.

Mitch

 

2bocat & Prostock,
You have 4 options available to resolve your question. You can adapt something else, such as the "toyota retrofit" which still leaves you with a single I beam, bad handling rough riding fron suspension.

You can cut the center Engine & front twin I beam X Member, Radius Arms & Brackets from a 73 to 79 ( I would choose someting later than a 67 or 68 because you could end up with a Bendix Full Time & Full PSI system), and fit the later X Member, twin I beams Spring perches radius arms et al, into your 64 rails (A Lot of work if you ask me) But it will slam your nose about 3 to 4 inches if you like prowling in the weeds.

You can adapt some other brand, such as a MoPaR "K" Frame, or Aerostar, or T-Bird etc that Ringo mentioned. But that takes some engineering & skill to get it right & have it work correctly & handle well.

Or you can bite the bullet, setting up a whole late frame (again 73-79) with the body mount outrigger brackets required to fit your early style 61-64 cab onto the later,73-9 frame, which IMHO is a better, or more refined version of the 65 & later Twin I beams 65 thru 72 all try to be. . .IMHO frame superiority.

If you use a Genuine FoMoCo engine X Member method, or choose to use entire later model frame, not only do you have advantgaes of great steering & P/D/Brakes, you also can virtually bolt any engine & trans combo FoMoCo made from 65 thru 1990s into your 60s Slick using script FoMoCo parts in most instances. I must mention if yo go for the engine X Member method, a rear tranny mount X Member is also req'd. But if you choose to go with the entire frame as an upgrade, all the mounting for later power trains is in place so all you would need is the correct frame stands & Insulators.

Personally I would swap the frame because it's less technical and in the long run easier to do IMHO that either of the others. I have done 3 of the above 4 methods, The one I have not done is use a front suspension from something else or some other make of vehicle. I'm too **** to try that

One major consideration for a frame swap is universal nature of the chassis. It's all the same thing. My 66 is on a 79 frame and everything on the frame is 79 FoMoCo F-150. My clients like that so much better than having a 64 this and a 61 that and a 73 the other thing and so forth. None of that if a whole frame is same vehicle. Parts are much easier to acquire for service & repair, and there is a beter resale value due to uniformity a single chassis presents.

I've done several frame swaps with 65 & 66s & I'm trying to find a "right" integral bed to do one of those onto a 73-79 frame with text & video. I have written most of the text with photos as illustrations so I'm working on that right now.

FBp

 

...where's that "we're not worthy" emoticon when I need it? Wow - thanks!

 

Roger. Thanks again

 

I'm in the middle (OK, the beginning) of a frame swap. I was going to put the front end components of a '76 into my '64 frame, but then my faithful ole '70 was totalled, and there was too much rust to try and fix it up, so it's going to be the frame donor. It already has the later front end with disc brakes and PS, which my son and I totally rebuilt and installed only a year ago, plus a 302 with only 38K miles since rebuild. It even has a custom aluminum 28 gal. gas tank in the back, under the bed. So the '64's gonna get a new frame.

 

This twin I beam has raised a question in my mind: Would it be possible to change the upper part of the Twin I Beam X member to which the engine mounts and install it in front chassis of a '63 f350 and leave the original I-Beam in place? I thinking of clearance.
I have a beat-upold '72 f100 (that I haven't hauled to the junk yard yet). If I could make that change plus swiping the '72's tansmission mount X member, I could up-grade the engine quite inexpensively.

 

I was going to go that route, only I was going to install the twin I-beam into my '64 frame as well. Here in the city, power steering is definitely nice. I actually removed a crossmember from a junk frame and measured it up. The '64 frame rails were a little lower, but I could have made it work OK. The width of the rails was identical, so it would fit. You have to remove the front crossmember, and possibly others in order to pry the frame rails apart enough to get the crossmember in. You might have to remove the front crossmember anyhow to provide clearance for the crank pulley, depending on engine choice. A simpler plan, however, would be to buy a motor mount kit. A number of suppliers have them for around $100. Some bolt in, some weld in. Either way, it's a LOT less work than the crossmember idea. If I find a supplier, I'll add it here. All they consist of is a bracket bolted to the engine that extends over the frame rail, than a simple 'biscuit' type motor mount.

 

Here is the link to the article mentioned earlier, the front end options,
https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/idx/10/0/
It has 11 articles included to show most of your alternatives.

 

Thanks FLgargoyle.
I was completely unaware that such kits were available; although, I was sure some kind of adaptation must have been devised by someone. I had thought of trying to do something of that nature but feared that, due to the distance between the front cross-member and the one supporting the bell-housing; the chassis side rails might just twist inward from the weight and torque produced by an up-graded engine.
Because my F350 is a cab&chassis for a 28 ft. class-C MotorHome of that vintage (which is part of the family, built by FraVon Enterprises and will never be replaced); is powered by a 292 turning a 5.13 differential, I have been considering replacing it with a 300 (I6) of much more recent construction. On the other hand, because my old 6-hole, 16-inch, lock-ring budds are "not-what-they-used-to-be" (a serious understatement) I've been considering trying to find a way to up-grade to 8-holes which might force me (for various reasons) to install a larger engine. Unless I can find a later model 5.13, or a 4.88 differential that the 292 or 300 could handle. (Thus far, I've only found 4.10s and I know I'd need more engine for such.)
I'm sure you, or others out there have advice that can save this retiree a mint and still keep the reliable old heritage on the road.
Thanks again.