i own a 92 F-150 ext. cab with a 4spd manual and a 5.0, and have been kicking around the idea of going 4x with it for awhile. someone the other day told me that a bronco drivetrain is a bolt up application, as long as you go auto to auto or standard to standard. BUT, i don't know how a solid front axle mounting specs compare to the dual I-beam system i have on my truck. and then if that all works, will it affect the swapout any because i have extended cab? right now it runs a 2piece shaft. do i need to keep it that way? i read through pretty much every 4x4 swap post in the forum and found answers (really good ones, too) to all the other questions i had exept these. any help you can get me will be oh-so-very appreciated.

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 28-Jan-01 AT 03:54 PM (EST)[/font][p]
I am doing the conversion right now, and let me tell you....that unless you are really good at custom fabing metal for brackets, its not as easy as you have heard. I have run into lots of problems.
1. You have to sub in the spring towers from the older truck. the springs are narrower on the pre '80s than the 80-96 150's.

2. The panhard bar that supports the axle horizontally need a bracket. There is no really good place to mount one, unless you fab a bracket on the engine crosmember.

3. Interference with the engine cross member and the axle pumkin. You need to run at least 6" - 12" of lift to give you enough clearance.

By no means i am trying to talk you out of it but rather telling you the problems I have faced so far. There is one good thing I have found. Fabritch makes a kit for such a swap that is absolutely 100% bolt up! All you have to do is find a junk yard axle and install all the necessary bracket for the conversion. Then you got a F-150 with a Mono Dana 44. Only prob is that they are proud of the kit but I feel its a small price to pay for something that unique and performs tons better than the TTB. Hoped I helped!

Dan "Mudinford" MacDonald

O yeah...you can get your drive shafts custom fabed at a good drive shaft shop. They would be able to tell you best about the angles, carrier bearings, etc.........

 

i was planning on using an early 90's fullsize bronco as parts, same motor, hopefully find a manual but i doubt it, and then the frames are the same size just the bronco's shorter

 

but where are you going to get your Mono Dana 44....not out of that '90s Bronco. When i swapped mine to a TTB i had to shorten my rear drive shaft and that didnt cost ($50) or take that long to do at all. I wouldnt worry about it much. I just kept the same shaft. Took the place here in Dallas about 3 hours to shorten. All i had to do was measure from the tail shaft to the bolt on the yoke. Thats it! Then you are ready for the romp in the mud! It would be lots cheeper to keep your shaft and rework it.

Dan "Mudinford" MacDonald

 

I'm with Mudinford; those high-zoot driveshafts you see in the magazines are unnecessary--you just don't need to spend that kind of money.

If you are bolting in a TTB front, then apples-to-apples, the front driveshaft length won't change, since the front output on the T-case is only changed by the relative length of the transmission used in the donor vehicle, and is unaffected by the body design.

Same logic applies to the rear driveshaft.

Now, here's where it gets interesting: Look in your yellow pages under "Trucks, Driveshafts". What you want to find is a shop that does industrial and fleet driveshafts: the big trucks twist up driveshafts all the time, and you don't suppose fleet maintenance managers will put up with high-dollar driveshafts, do you? Shortening or retubing your existing shafts shouldn't be any big deal.

I'm converting my 2wd pickup to 4wd, and here's The Plan: I drive it daily, so once I have the tranny/T-case assembly done, I'll get my front driveshaft fabbed, install the tranny and front driveshaft, and drive around in FWD while the rear is being shortened.

Eddie

Eddie

 

but who says i need to run a dana 44? i was planning on just taking the front and rear axles from the bronco (since they run the same final gearing) and putting those in. the rear axle's all set, but i didn't know if the front was bolt up or i would have to break out the old oxy-acetaline and welder.

 

and then mudinford, i was looking at the fabritech site and you were right, 6-12" of lift, but that would make my truck illegal in my state. it sits 17" to the bottom of the doors now and anything above 22 will not take a sticker. maine sucks when it comes to stuff like that.

 

hey, i know why we're disagreeing. the kit from fabritech is for a truck that aleready has 4WD. mine is 2wd, i'm hoping to make it a 4x.

 

HAHA...no man....Mine was a 2x4 '86 F-150 before i swapped the axle and I am doing that Fabritech kit for the mono Dana 44. Eddie swapped in a TTB and heck...he was the one that bought my old Twin Traction Beam Dana 44. Dana 44 was the axle that Ford used in the 150's and some 250's. Any others were a Dana 60. BUT if you want to do a legal swap I would find you a '80s and up bronco/F-150 4x4 that you can get all the axles from. But why do you have to swap the rear axle out of the bronco? Just find out what ratio you have in your rear (have the dealer run the #'s on you rear Axle tag) and look for a front Dana 44 TTB with the same ratio. I know they made all kinds cuz I found one with 3.08 gears to match my rear. And that's a pretty high ratio. Its not as hard as you are making it out to be! Haha....Man tell you what....if you want to call and talk about it I am sure I can help/strighten you out. Its a farly simple conversion. Mail me at Mudinford(No Email Addresses In Posts!) and ill get you a #.

Dan "Mudinford" MacDonald