Here is as far as I got but the engine and drivetrain is installed sucessfully.



I'ts a 76 f250 2 wheel drive. I had alot of money in my 77 f150 4x4 and needed to rebody it after having a pallet of shingles push in the back of the cab.
First thing was to strip the 2x suspension from the engine less f250 parts truck and think it over 11 more time before tearing apart the driver.

Then to strip the 77 f150 after checking verything out 1 more time.


I used the radiator support holes as benchmarks to pull measurements from since it's going to be in the same place for all different 76/77 frames.
I chose to make the splice just in front of the 4x4 spring buckets so they will be inspectable and also the suspension loading will all be on the virgin f250 frame...the welded on stub only supports the steering and front clip.



Here is the f150 frame clip welded into the f250. although the f250 supercab frame is taller and thicker than the f150 it is the same width and height in a 12"+ area centered over the front axle centerline.
Because of thew 1"difference in frames I had to make up an inch in the radius arm crossmember mount which i bolted in after torching out the rivets and removing it from the 4x4 frame.I held it tight to the bottom of the frame and shimmed the top 1".
The f150 frame stub slipped right up into the 2x rails tight and straight. There was some bracing to install that goes between the boxing crossmember and the outer rail to prevent the steering box and spring bucket bolts from colapsing the frame or losing torque.







I just layed out and drilled the 4x4 holes into the 2x frame and bolted everything back together.









Took me 1 week , spent a weekend switching the rear axle over. rolled it into the garage for later.

I just scored a 460 4speed setup with a gear drive transfercase and will be installing that when I tear it back down for fit and finish.
The frames going to get blasted and painted and the underside of the body is getting zrc cold galvanizing paint. I finally found a good box and will be replacing it's front panel with 2" square tube and diamond plate... no more shingles

 

that turned out good, i though about doing that to an extended cab 75 f-150 that my buddy had for sale using the parts from a bronco i had at the time. however extended cab 4x4 f-150's had leafs in the front, not coils... so i decided not to for that reason.

 

Looks pretty nice. Would like to have one of them myself.

 

WOW! Nice work, Nice truck...

 

I've had some different 4x4's, I had a 63 gmc on a 75 suburban chassis with the dana 44front that kicked your *** on a trip. I had a 1990 f350 with the dana 60 that wasn't much better and neither had anything wrong with them they were just designed that way then I bought a 77f150 and OMG I never thought a 4x4 could handle so good. It had the cetainty feeling of a solid front axle and the smoothness and lack of leaf wobble and wander of a coil sprung truck.out of all the 2x's and 4x's best damn smoothest driving truck I ever drove

 

Way beyond anything I would attempt, but very cool. Just to be sure....... it's a 250 with a 150 coil spring front suspension?
You might want to change out those coils, I guarantee they're sagging if they're original (loss of suspension travel distance, not just ride height).

 

Yup it's an f250 with f150 coil suspension. The coils are 1.5" over stock load kings from a local suspension shop and were extremely stiff at first with the poly bushings in the suspension but have loosened up enough to not hop the front end driving over small bumps. at first it rode like big block coils in a smallblock car but it's getting better. It used to be raked down but the coils leveled it but now there are heavier 3/4 ton springs in the rear.
I have this 4x4 van too. I sold it to my brother, he hated the 7mpg, I bought it back...
It's my spare driver until I get the super cab back together. I was going to put a powerstroke in it but now I have an 86 chevy diesel from dad that gets 20 mpg for my summer driving I dunno too many rides around here???


It looks cool and runs pretty tough offroad but rides crappy on the street. bounces the frick out of me with good shocks it's just soo stiff with the 1 ton springs. i was wondering what it would be like with the TTB front end from an f250

 

Nice job I always wanted a Van until now 7mpg

Super cabs are nice...

 

cool swap. is the 3/4 ton rear diff still in the truck? or did you swap the diff out for the mated 1/2 ton rear diff too? it would make sense to swap both diffs together so the gear ratios still matched. having a f150 supercab 4x4 with coil springs up front would be very unique. they came factory with leaf springs front and rear on f150 supercab 4x4's,yours would ride a lot smoother i bet. good job it looks good.

 

It has the 9" from the 77f150 bolted up to the 3/4 ton rear springs. I think I might go for the hydroboost brake mod. I need to pull the cab back off paint stuff up, convert it to 4speed part-time with some recently scored parts and run the wiring and hardlines. My c6 has been hanging between 2nd and 3rd since it was adultrated by a bad tranny shop.It was either start over with another or go 4 speed. I was wanting to install a but I think the np435 4speed will be fine with 33" tires and 3:55/3:73 gears (I don't remember).
I was thinking of getting a ranger gear splitter but what if I just installed 3:08 gears instead of an overdrive??? I do have the 2speed transfercase and granny low.

 

3:08 gears are pretty tall, with 33 inch tires you won't need an over drive. it all depends on you trucks usage too. if you plan on hauling a lot of weight,that gear my be too tall,its your personal needs you have to consider.

 

with 3.55's and 33's, wouldnt be too bad on highway or hauling..3.08's with the granny gear wouldnt be too bad taking off-just may have to keep it in 3rd on the highways if your hauling....plus, good luck finding 308 gears for the d44 hp-you would have to by them new and with the added expense and installation time, it may not be worth it...try it with the 3.55's and see if you like it....futhermore, 308's and 33's (especially with a load) will wreak havoc on the 9" you put in-hopefully you have 31spl axles in it...I woulda kept the d60 and just swapped out for 8lug stuff on the d44 from a 78-79f250, so you would have matching lugs/wheels all around...but thats my 2cent

 

I have a (gasp) 1986 chevy 1 ton duall with the 6.2 diesel
going 60 behind someone when I pull out intot he passing lane then hammer on it With the c6 current, gears, and those tires my ford pulling a 2500lb car trailer with a 4k lb car on it will drop to second accelerate to 68 around 4,500 rpm's shift into drive and if it's a semi I'm passing can easily pickup over 10 mph by the time our front bumpers line up. I'm running 10.75:1 flattops because I was going to run it on Lpg. downside is running premium. full time 4x4 it gets 7-8 towing and 9-11 around town and freeway under 65. I'm adding lockouts and an np205 and the 4 speed hoping to pick up a little mileage, I knew a gal who could get 17 out of her f250 2x with 3:08's. I'm thinking with 3:55 to 3:08 is like 14% overdrive and 3:73 to 3:08 is 18% over same as going fromn 33's to 36's putting on a set of 235-15's would bring the rpms back to where they are with the gears in there now. I'm too low right now to drop a gear on a 4speed pulling a hill.
I have a 2:42 posi dropout from a ranchero but that's prolly a big mistake

 

Hi Matt, I was thinking that myself, going 8 lug.
i'd really like to have 1600 for one of these:

bigger brakes and all... that axle's scrapped already.
I was thinking the 9" would be easier on fuel and easier to find a posi for. I was close to using the 460 on something else and installing a 300 or 240 six but... best case for a six is 18 and I know I can get 12 out of the 460 if it's setup and driven right.
Mostly I like those 5 lug wheels and wanted to keep the option of returning to 15" wheels if I wanted to

 

You CAN run 15" wheels 8lug, but to clear the dual piston calipers, it needs a hefty positive backspacing or wheel spacers....that overdive unit looks stout but how much $$$$??? I dunno, I would have to do ALOT of driving to justify the expense....does it also split gears??? If that unit is over 2k then I would just scour the salvage yards for a ZF...

or swap out the 460 for a 7.3 IDI....hint hint....I get 18 with my 7.3 IDI 4:10's, 33s and E4OD...hint hint....IDI's are mech injected so they are simple by design....just getting the E4OD wired would be a pain but you can convert to a 5 speed....

out of all the fords I have owned, the 7.3 was the best so far...lets see, I had a 300 6cyl with a offy intake, hedman headers and edelbrock 1405 600cfm carb and only achieved 10mpg...both my 429 and 460 (with gears ranging from 325 to 410) only achieved 8-10mpg(sometimes 5mpg)....the carbed 302 and 351w only achieved 10-13mpgs....so with 18mpgs, 7.3 is the best considering displacement vs mpgs.....