Mudding/ PART Question!!!!

[Dre82s]

This past tuesday night me and a few friends decided to go off roading here in Miami. as we were going through the trails we ran across two Burned out trucks, both were F-250 PowerStroke 2003 or newer. Now my question is as fallows. Will the differential from those truck fit my 1988 F-250 can I just swap the gears or can I just go ahead and take their entire differential housing and all and put it on my truck? Will it fit?

[Eddiec1564]

Ahh finding parts in the woods, best to grab while there then worry about what to do with them after you have them. The parts vultures make quick work over here in SWFla area! I am not sure but they should be the same mounting on the springs, the insides I don't know about. Just a word about burnt vehicles, the heat may have damaged parts even though they are not burnt directly.

[trgrhappy]

Burned out trucks in the woods/desert, usually a good sign they were stolen. Something to keep in mind, if they were stolen or dumped/burned for the insurance. If that's the case and you get caught salvaging parts, in some states you MAY be charged with receiving stolen property. I know the Nevada desert is littered with them. Some stolen, some dumped for insurance money, some partially stripped, some just no longer wanted by the previous owners and left for the world to reclaim parts.
That said, like eddie stated, best to grab them now, then figure out if they'll fit later.

[Dre82s]

That's what I figure went by yesterday they were still there there fore tomorrow night me my red light head lamp are going in a hunting trip lol

[Toyman]

I don't believe it will fit in the older trucks. The frames are different widths, making the spring pads in a different location. You would want a dana 60 instead of the newer dana 50 anyways. Now putting your body on that frame might get the job done though.

Toyman

[dukedrummer89]

i wish we had stuff like that in illinois, id be searchin the woods all the time

oh.. and yes... as long as it is leafsprung, not coil

[flareside_thunder]

And if the widths are different...nothin a little quality weldin can't fix.

JR

[95F350XL]

You can make anything fit. Just takes a little know how like JR said. Another thing, ball joints on them years are junk. At my job we do like 3 trucks a week for ball joints. All newer superdutys with like 30K. I cant believe that there such junk.

[Dre82s]

Well I was just thinking of getting the spindles and leaving the rest behind but when I flip them over I"ll get the measurements

[Dre82s]

Ok so I finely made it out there and got the diff. the rear is a 10" 3.73 open and the front is a DANA 60 should I bother convert the front to an one piece? And how hard would it be to convert?

[jarod17]

Definitely swap the front to a solid front axle. One thing to remember is that '99 and newer Ford trucks have metric bolt pattern and the rims will not fit the '98 and older trucks. So if you do swap out be sure to swap both front and rear.

[Dre82s]

So my rims wont fit in the new axles?

[Dre82s]

I saw something that was like just take old diff out and put new one in but what about the steering components how do i go about that?

[jarod17]

No, unfortunately, Ford in their infinite wisdom decided to change the bolt pattern in the newer trucks. So my rims will not fit on my cousins truck and vice versa.