i have not seen anyone else on here build a classic medium/heavy duty pick-up conversion like what i built. I know they exist, i saw a mid 70's f-600 with a matching pickup bed driving around recently, although, it wasn't customized beyond that. I have seen many 80's on up converted, but the old ones are just so much more unique and tough looking. I would like to see some others already!

 

I guess you should check out the 48-60 forum. Look for member 48fordcoe. Check out his gallery, and you'll see a couple of phenominal builds, including a 48 Ford crewcab COE.

 

I was hoping to see some more action on this thread. I recently picked up a 69' F600 former Ryder moving truck with a 330, NP435, Rockwell F-106 single speed rear end. My current plan is to convert the 18' box into a trailer, shorten the truck's frame rails, throw a pickup bed on it, and use it to haul the 18' box trailer, and my 32' fifth wheel. Not necessarily worthy of the "Supercrewzer" designation, but it should be pretty burly. I was hoping someone would post a picture: I've never laid eyes on one with a pickup bed to see what it would look like.

 

Post pictures of your build...the others will follow...

 

BikeMaker, welcome to the site!

Building these bigger trucks takes more money, and more resources that are harder to find to get completed. That said, it shouldn't discourage anyone from doing so. I speak for myself in that I'm waiting for my job situation to get better so that I can get started on my big truck projects, an F6 and F8, both '49. So I continue to lurk here daily, waiting for some good progress threads.

Similar to what 78_f800crewcab4x4 speaks of has been done. The 70's medium duty truck front clip is a bolt on to the 73-79 light duty cab, IIRC. It was done in a Four-wheeler mag a few years ago. I have the issue somewhere in the attic. So technically, a Ford 1 ton pickup could look like a medium duty. And the flipside would be to take the same lightduty cab and bed, and install it on a mediumduty chassis.

I'm looking to fabricate a 5th wheel hauler myself.

 

Compared to a 1/2 - 1 ton of the same vintage, the F600 will be more money, time, etc, but that just wouldn't be as much fun. Compared to my previous tow vehicle - 97 PSD Diesel 4wd - the whole F600 will end up costing the same as the tranny rebuild did on the 97. So cost is kind of relative............

 

i dont know how to post them, but i have a few pics on my gallery, i have posted them on the 73-79 forum before.

 

I think your truck is the coolest I've seen in a long time, 78F800crewcab4X4. I was originally thinking of building my F600 into a toter home, until I stumbled into a picture of your truck, then I started thinking of converting it to a pickup. So what parts of which truck were used to build it? F800 front end and frame, crew cab off a pickup, rear end off a Bronco? Looks like a lot of work.

 

I think your truck is the coolest I've seen in a long time, 78F800crewcab4X4. I was originally thinking of building my F600 into a toter home, until I stumbled into a picture of your truck, and I liked it so much, I started thinking of converting mine into a pickup. So what parts of which truck were used to build it? F800 front end and frame, crew cab off a pickup, rear end off a Bronco? Looks like a lot of work.

 

yeah, alot of work. specs are: frame is the original bronco's (streched about 33 inches) which i boxed in with 1/4" plate in the front and middle, and 3/16 plate near the rear, all crossmembers were replaced with square 1/4" wall tube passing through the frame and has added gussets. body was spaced 6 additional inches above the frame to make room for the rockwell t-136-27 transfer case, the big grill, and the 48" michelins, boxed and welded supports replaced the origional cab mount brackets instead of using spacers. polyurethane insulators replaced the origional rubber cab mounts. front leaf springs are off the shelf ford superduty 6" lift springs with custom shackels and mounts. Rear springs are bronco 6" lift springs with custom drop mounting, no blocks are used anywhere. custom mega-heavy-duty brackets hold the t-136-27 in place.

i never thought i would destroy my front bumper-but i did. it WAS made from 4'' x 10" 1/4" wall structural steel with several hundred pounds of angled gussets and thicker steel plate on the "cutting" edge of it.

took out a concrete barrier sunk 3 feet in the ground and moved the main chunk 5 feet-sheared off some knarly grade 8 bolts too.

anyway, nothing was too difficult, i just changed EVERYTHING on it, including moving the gas tank location up and back to make room for the huge gear housing on the rockwell 5 ton axle. front and rear 5 tons are from boyce equipment in utah, rebuilt and rear has a detroit locker also to give me killer traction. the front has a hydraulic ram mounted on it so that i dont need any links. the ram runs off a hyd. motor directly mounted to the steering column, powered by the p/s pump. a new wire harness for everything includes all new lights, digital guage cluster, ididit steering column, LED bulbs, 4 electric fans, power windows, etc. 460 ford engine was swapped in using the C6 auto that came in the bronco, beefed up a little.

all anyone really needs to do is get an old f600 etc., and decide what cab configuration you want and get the parts you need for that. (the light duty f-series mount to the frame differently than the bigger trucks do, so the floor pans are different.) If you want a crew cab, and have a regular cab, you have to find a crew cab from a big truck, or start fabbing metal. if you are just skipping that part, then all you need to do is find a bed you like and determine how much you need to shorten or lengthen your frame. anytime you chop your frame, you need to know how to weld good and how to make 4 really strong joints. OR hack the rear off the frame and move all of your spring mounts. Then you need a driveshaft made to fit. Then it is a matter of making the bed mount up in the right place.

BED MODIF. IDEAS:
the only custom thing to do with the body in any case is what to do with the rear wheel dually fenders. (lack of)

My favorite idea is to cut up 4 front fenders and make 2 rear matching fenders, but this will still need some custom metal shaping for the rear of the rear fenders, as the body lines curve up and in.

buy aftermarket dually fenders that fit the bodystyle (IF they make them still)

use the flareside bed and widen it.

make them from some other ford dually truck with some modification.

I still havent made my rear dually fenders yet as i have no time now.

OR use a flareside bed, cut in half long ways

STEPS:

I think the key to the "look" of the big trucks are the factory steps.

They actually made long steps for the crew cab f600's. a big score if you can find them!

The steps are the same for 67-79's

mine has two standard length steps on each side which looks fine to me. they are mounted to the roll cage which passes under the floor. i used some fancy stainless button head bolts to attach them.

MIRRORS:

the mirrors on the big trucks use a standard big rig type that i bought new, and they are all stainless.

my ford bracketry is powdercoated with black metallic and clear coat.

DOOR HANDLES:

the door handles on the 73-79 trucks are unique huge push-button type.

they fit on the smaller f-series doors, but with different holes, so you will need to weld up the holes on the doors and add new ones if you cant score doors from a big truck.

yes the doors interchange between the big trucks and the small trucks/full size bronco. BUT with the different handle hole cutouts.

i belive pre-'73 f-series use the same handle in relation to the body style.

CAB MODS:

to make a bronco have 4 doors you need a crew cab donor.

its all pretty much cut in half and graft in the pieces. (all about alignment)

the only custom exterior panels are the roof.

the floor can be made from the bed floor from an f-series to make it flat, or some variation.

looks like it came from the factory in this form.

HOOD LETTERS:

the only difference between the 73-79 f600 hood and my bronco hood was the lettering size which use different mounting holes.

I used a hood from a pick-up without the holes and drilled the holes in the right places for the big letters. all of the big truck hoods i found had been damaged.

some big trucks used cool lookin hood scoops which i have not been able to find.

4 WHEEL DRIVE:

if your big truck is lucky enough to have the big f106 front axle then thats awesome.

anyone else i would recomend military rockwells. front and rear.

"BIG JOB" FRONT CLIP ON F100/250/350/BRONCO FULL SIZE (73-79):

the big f-series front clip simply bolts onto all f-series cabs, including the big bronco

to convert: use a 3" body lift on the cab and re-use your f100/250/350/bronco radiator support in its factory spot. the fenders will bolt on at that point. you have to hack the f500+ inner fenders and cut the frame off under the grill and come up with a different bumper location. cutting the grille to make it fit would be really tacky and you loose the rigidity of it. OR hack the frame behind the rad support and make a custom lowered front frame section with mounts for the f500+rad support.

the only way to use the f500+ rad support on your f100/250/350/bronco without cutting the frame is to give your cab some kind of 6" lift-but dont stack blocks!

then there is the issue of "damn those front wheels are burried in those fenders" better have some fat tires and a lift or it might look funny.

 

Here's a link that shows before and after pictures of the back half of 2 sets of F600 front fenders grafted onto a regular pickup bed. Sorry about the length of the link; couldn't figure out how to shorten it. This would be the most factory appearing option imo, but finding 2 more sets of front fenders for a bumpside might prove to be pretty difficult. I have access to a early 80's ford stepside bed: I might try to graft those on. They don't match perfectly, but I have seen a 1979 with the same bed, and it looked like the fenders matched the cab pretty well.





http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu..._2Fp3OswO3uLln

 

well i have an extra pair of fenders sitting on the side of my house, and i need two more. thats totally what i was thinking, without all that excessive length, i think he took that too far. but good find, that gave me some ideas.

and now we need to do a counter to his business and do our own trucks-lets team up! lol. maybe we can make some money. i wouldnt mind building somemore of these rigs, just build them a little more practical, like in the configuration mine is in, with slightly smaller axles and tires. (like 2 1/2 ton axles with 42" tires) And make them capable expedition rigs or somthing. Im sure i can fabricate as good as any of those guys can. just a thought.

btw, im sure some hunting around on the net would yield a salvage yard with the fenders we need, im really stoked now to start fabbing up some rears, if i only had the place and the time.

 

I think there could be a market for those things. I live close to the Oregon Dunes, and everyday I see a bunch of ginormous toy haulers cruising down the freeway. By the time you take a 40+ foot fifth wheel and pack it full of stuff, those things are pushing 20,000 pounds. There's no way the 1 ton truck they are towing with hasn't exceeded it's GVW by a fair amount. The new F650 or Kodiak conversions are a crapload of money, and they're too tall to tow a fifth wheel with anyway. The guys going over to the sand want 4wd so they can drag the whole mess out on the sand.

The '69 F600 I have will end up sitting at almost the exact same height as my previous tow vehicle, a 97 F250 crew 4wd with 3" lift and 35" tires, and it was the perfect height for my fifth wheel (not a toy hauler - they are usually a bit taller). The F600 tires are 255/70/22.5 or about 36" diameter. If you could make a F600-F800 into a 4wd crew cab with a modern, big inch diesel, some of those guys with the toy haulers would buy 'em. As long as they weren't too tall. The Marmon - Harrington Conversions I have seen are REALLY tall. And the gearing is so steep they would be limited to about 40-45 mph.

The concept is really cool, but it would be hard to make much profit when you start factoring in how many hours of labor would go into the build. But if you're just building one for your own enjoyment..............

Here's how the whole thing came about for me:
Had a perfect running newer PSD truck, hooked a 10,000 pound fifth wheel to it, ended up replacing brakes, transmission, u-joints, the list goes on. I knew the trailer would be hard on it but jeez..........
Fell on some bad financial times, had to either sell the truck or my Harley. So in searching for a new, cheaper tow vehicle, came across a smokin' deal on the F600, and figured it would be a fun project to convert it into a fifth wheel hauler. I would like it to be a crew cab, but haven't found any cabs I can afford. Probably chop it down to a crew cab, long bed wheelbase and temporarily find something to throw in the 33.3" between the cab and bed: or maybe I'll just get another cab and start welding them together - I like doing things the hard way.

I will be on the look out for some fenders: I'll let you know if I find any since I'm looking for the "bumpside" version and you are looking for the "dentside" version. There's lots of old , clapped out grain trucks around these parts.

 

There's lots of grass seed trucks up there, that's for sure. I've been in a couple off Conser Road that were really "special".
It's hard to have a 4X4 med duty anything that's not too tall. There's some axles out there that have down to the low 4.xx, but I cant remember what their model numbers were. I think they're Fabco though.
You could also swap an old body on a rolled over IH frame. That way you have a good drive train alternative, with beefy everything. I saw a mid 90s IH 4X4 cab & chassis (with a DT466) for $6900. Not cheap, but not the $70k + the new ones are. Tons of ideas can work, but depends on what you really want, how much work you want to do, and of course the budget.
My dream truck is a crew cab 4X4 med duty IH, so it has the DT466(pushing about 400hp). Not to say the same IH truck with a Bumpside crew body wouldnt be 50 times better looking...but hard to find those.

 

To go along with the link I had previously of the big red limo: The makers of it actually made a few TV show episodes. If you go onto Youtube and search for "Stretched American Steel" you can find more info on this truck as well as the building of another one. These things definitely qualify as being rediculous (most limos do) but there's some good idas in there. In fact, it gave me an idea. Instead of adding dually style fender flares to a standard bumpside bed, how about sectioning the whole bed, and widening it the appropriate amount. The front of the bed could be tapered in to match the width of the cab. I'd end up with a bed that would be almost 8 feet wide, which would be kinda handy. What does anyone else out there think?