I'd say go for the conversion if you come up with a parts truck. I bought my parts truck for $100 out of an impound lot and could have had my swap done for $400 total if I hadn't rebuilt every piece of driveline before i installed it.

I'll agree that $1000 and 25 hours is about right for the actual swap, it doesn't include any prep time or prep work. It took me about 10 to swap the front end, 8 for the rear, 3 for the trans/t-case, and a couple hours doing detail stuff here and there.

Justin

 

I just get a nice rust fre 2x4 from down south and put on a 4x4 frame with drivetrain already installed. That way I have title and don't have to go through reconstructed title. Considering I cut old body off I can swap new body in long weekend with help of some strong friends. Good luck build it way you want it. I'd go with ZF trans has lower 1st gear

 

i converted my 65 f100, but its a lot of work. i only did mine because the price was right. i got my entire front suspension from a 79 1/2 ton for $150.... radius arms springs mounts everything. the t- case for $300(the only thing i couldnt get a deal on) tranny for $100. all of that stuff is okay and not too expensive, its the OTHER stuff you dont think about like the money you have to put into the front axle for bearings and brakes and what not. not to mention drivlines and crap. mines old and it was a lot of work. newer truck..... i dont know if id want to try it, too much to worry about

 

[QUOTE= newer truck..... i dont know if id want to try it, too much to worry about[/QUOTE]

The nice thing about these years of truck, the front suspension parts are completely interchangeable, and I know the older trucks from 2wd to 4wd was fairly different and it involved a decent amount of fabricating. Kudos to you for building a 65 4x4. I'm sure it was better to build one than try and find one.

 

dude for $1000 I can buy a good, already 4wd truck to go play in so I dont mess up my DD....in my case I got the BKO and the truck for a total combined price of $475......they both run and drive and are 4wd.

 

then you got a screamin, uncommon steal!!

$1000 sounds about right!

b/c not everyone wants to look like those high skool kids that drove Z71's with 3" body lift and 33" tires and call your truck a muddin truck!

going through the work and doing whats necessary is the right way to go about it and will yield a MUCH happier ending! yuo will be WORLDS happier just doing the swap

AND.... finding the parts in j-yards can be frustrating but they should be plentiful. if you cant find something, post up. i know i have a pile of nothing but D60 front parts, everything but an extra housing!

-cutts-

 

But if you do the conversion right you'll be ahead peace of mind. If your daily driver already runs well and you already know all of it's quirks, it's a much shorter learning curve and cost curve than buying another truck, having to learn it's quirks, then having to go through and fix everything that breaks on it along with everything that goes wrong with your daily driver.

Besides, for $1000 you'll get a 4x4 that runs, but who knows the hostory of it and what's about to give out?

Right before i did my conversion I'd replaced the brakes from the booster out on my truck and it had a new radiator in it. Those alone would have been $500 (in parts) that I would have had to have put into another truck sooner or later had I just bought a 4x4. Instead I put the money that it would have cost me to buy a 4x4 into rebuilding the 4x4 driveline i had, and then swapping it in to my 4x2.

It saved me repair costs down the road, since if I'd had to have rebuilt the driveline in a 4x4 after 6 months it would have cost the same $1000 as it had to buy it. That means the $1000 truck is now a $2000 truck, plus I have to keep gas in it and my 4x2. Just doesn't make sense to me.

Justin

 

Hey now dont get me wrong, if I had owned a 2wd for years and new it inside and out I would rather convert it to 4wd. Much more rewarding I agree.....but that being said if I took enough pride in the truck to spend the time and money converting it to 4wd so I wouldnt have to sell it and buy a 4wd, I sure as heck wouldnt want to be out offroading it very hard. Thats the only reason I say buy a beater 4x4 if a guy is just looking for an offroad toy/hunting truck.
Now if I guy just wants 4wd for the extra traction when needed, the swap is really a take out/bolt in swap.

 

So a 4x4 ZF5 spd will bolt up to a married NP205?

 

As far as I know, yes. Bolt patterns and splines (trans/tcase) are all the same...til u get into mini trucks and junk like that