Redoing a 74 F250 Crew

[Kalve]

I have a 74 F250 Crew 2wd short bed with a 360 with 4 speed manual. An I am planning to start to redo it this winter. I currently live in Charleston WV an I am planning to move to Colorado by spring. Anyway I was wanting to change a few things over on the truck an go from 2wd to 4wd an short bed to long bed. I was thinking bout switching everything out to a newer mid to late 90's or newer Ford F250/F350 frame. My truck has a clear title an a guy at work told me that if I swapped frames out that I would have to get the title redone an have it say Rebuild since I am swapping frames. He said it is federal an it took effect in 2007. Does anybody know anything bout this? An if so could I just keep my frame an make it stronger since they say the 70's Ford frames don't flex real good an it will cause damage to the bed & cab hitting one another over rough roads. Do that an do like a 4wd conversion kit or find a 4wd that will fit it an just do that? An how would you go about going from a short bed to long bed? Also I was planning to keep the gas cap on the cab an have a 2nd tank on it with the filler running out the license plate or something like that like the old cars had on them. An plan on at least a 2" lift with fender flares an so on to be added to it. Can anyone help me here?

[mark a.]

To make things right you would have to get a reconstructed title. I don't know about your state but it's a REAL pia to get one in Pa. There are no 4x4 conversion kits that I know of & it's a lot of work to convert one. Everything about your frame is different in the front and will have to be modified and fabricated to get it under there. Then you would have to deal with the trans, mount a transfer case, drive shafts, etc. The 70's frames are more desireable than the swiss cheese later frames. You would have to extend the frame to put a 8' bed on, once again a lot of work & fabrication. If I was going through all of that I certainally would get the gas tank out from behind the back seat for safety's sake.

[lostinfords]

I have a 77 4x4 crew that had the frame extended to accomadate an 8' bed, also have a 2wd long bed crew cab that would be easier to swap a 4wd front clip into it than extending a 4x4 chassis, also have a 78 crew cab 4x4 short bed and a 74 crew cab 4x4 frame short bed, the 78 2wd long bed crew frame, the 74 crew cab short bed 4x4 frame the 78 crew cab short bed frame and a 78/79 4x4 reg cab frame are available...if I were you .....I would p/u a long bed 2wd chassis, preferably a 78/79 so that you can use the aft and fwd fuel tanks from the long bed 4x4's and 'graft' in a front frame of a 4x4, if you look at Inforfords thread, he did that, it is the easiest way to do it, my 77 was extended under the bed, and although it was done quite well I would follow the same procedure that Infoford did, if I were to do it myself, if you feel like taking a road trip to Jersey I have eveything you need to put it together...plus when you upgrade to the 78/79 frames you eliminate the power assist steering woes of the 74-77 of the 4x4 crews....it is a win-win to move up to the 78/79 years! If you have any questions pm me w/ contact info and I can fwd some info via email

[Raider50]

Originally Posted by Kalve

I have a 74 F250 Crew 2wd short bed with a 360 with 4 speed manual.. Can anyone help me here?

I can help take that truck off your hands next spring if you want to sell it I have been looking for those in my area for about a year and a half with 0 success.

[pauls painting]

where would i have to cut the frame of a r/c 250 to graft it on to my 77 350 2wd c/c? it is down to bare frame on the crew . im bulding this as my personal work truck and i use 4x4 alot .

[lostinfords]

here is InfoFords write up, I thought he did one here but I can't find it
Old Ford Crew Cab Community, Pre 1980 Ford Crew Cab owners community and information source.