1992 F-150 2WD to 4WD conversion
 

Alright, I'm seriously considering converting my 1992 F-150 2wd to 4wd. From the information that I can gather, it is a 100% bolt-on swap. If I can get my hands on a parts truck (80-96 Bronco/F-150) I should only need to swap the front axle, drive-shaft, and transfer case... And drill a hole in the cab for the floor shifter.

As a matter of fact.. I just remembered that a friend's uncle has a 1989 F-150 4x4 that he only wants like $200 for, as it doesn't run. So I've been considering buying it from him as a parts truck to do this conversion.

This is my daily-driver, but I do have another car available to me.. for a limited time however. So to anybody that has done this, how long did the whole thing take?

Oh and my truck is, more specifically, a 5.0 V8 302 automatic tranny.

Any comments/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Al

I have gathered all the parts for do this conversion on my '91 F150. I got everything from a bronco, which should all bolt up, but i'll need a new tail shaft.

For $200 what have you got to lose man??!! buy it :)

When i get time to do my conversion i'll do a good write-up of it.

I'd be interested in hearing from someone who has already done it too :)

I'm thinking maybe I will, when I get my next paycheck. So, for the transfer case.. how do I hook that up to my automatic tranny? Or will I need a shop to do this for me?

I'm not sure man, i picked up the bronco c6 tranny too. Had a 300I or 302??? in it so tranny is in good shape i'm hoping :) Can't be more thrashed than mine at any rate :D

OK. I'd hate to pull the tranny on mine and use the part truck's tranny because mine is original and in perfect working condition.

You will need a 4x4 tranny from somewhere. but you can swap the front axle first and it will just still be 2wd until you get the tranny thing figured out. Thats what i did.

As for a time line. You can pull and rebuild the 4x4 front end, new bushings, bearing, brakes if needed, and make sure its ready to go. from there it is an easy swap only taking a 1/2 day if you get down to business with the right tools and a friend or too.

The trans is about the same, 1/2 day if you have the right tools and some friends to help.

Things to remember-

1. If you are swapping tranny, make sure you have the right length drive shaft, otherwise youll have to wait till you can either find one or get it back from a shop. However, if your careful, you can drive it in front wheel drive

2. make sure you have the same rear end ratio as the front 4x4 your gonna get, otherwise you can swap the rear axle off the 4x4 donor truck as well. which might be better if its a limited slip.

Good luck and i hope it all goes well, there is just something about looking at a 4x4 truck that you made. You just know that there isn't anything else like it. i always dreamed i would make mine 4x4 and one day i was at the junk yard and just decided to do it, never looked back and so far its turned out great.

So is there any way that I can KEEP my current tranny instead of swapping it out? I know that the parts truck has a manual transmission (mine is auto) so to connect the transfer case am I going to just need a shop to do this part for me?

And for the drive shaft.. can I swap the driveshaft from the parts truck onto mine? Or do I need something else?

How can I find out what my gear ratio on my truck is right now?

Sorry for so many questions but I don't know a whole heck of a lot about the mechanics of cars. With that being said, how difficult is this going to be for me if I've never disassembled a vehicle before?

Can you post some pics of your truck?

Thanks.

The transmission output shafts are different between a 2WD and 4WD as well as the tail housing. You will need to source both pieces from a donor. The entire transmission will need to be disassembled to make the output shaft swap.

I cannot say what the driveshaft length difference will be, but most likely you may need a different rear one.

Interesting project, I wish you well.

OK I'm thinking for the whole tranny part of it I'm going to have a shop do it for me. Due to lack of time and money right now, I'm thinking that I'll get started in the spring. It will be easier than because it will give me time to put away money for it and it will be easier to work on it when it isn't 10 degrees outside!

In the meantime, I want to gather all of the info. I need on what needs to be swapped out/modified/etc.

I just completed this on mine tonite except for the front driveshaft. I did the front suspension first, then did the trans and xfer case about a month later. It's not hard, but there are a lot of pieces to fit. I have another dd so I could take my time. Swapping the big pieces did not take that long. What did take a while was waiting on a new driveshaft of proper length to be made up, ordering the correct speedo gear, ordering longer brake lines (I also put in a 2" lift), and the like. Now, if I had to, I could have driven it waiting on everything except the driveshaft and they turned that around in a day, but how you gonna get to the driveshaft shop? An extra car is *really* handy on a deal like this.

I still gotta get a front driveshaft made up to proper length, other than that I am done.

Damn thing looks studly, tho, sitting up on the 32s from my Bronco.

Get some kinda daily driver however how crappy and drive that while you build it, trust me from experience you want one

It's not that bad of a job, you'll need a tranny, transfer case, front/rear driveshaft, radious arms, front axle, springs, shocks, steering, you know what, just cut the frame in front of the firewall as you'll need all of that. Now, first step is to pull everything out of the front suspension of your 2wd, clean everything up real good and give it a coat of black paint. Next, tear out everything from the front of the 4x4, clean it up real good, and give it all a coat of black paint, next, everything you took off your 4x4 needs to go on the 2wdfront end. now that it's all assembled go to NAPAand get everything you discovered was trashed from the parts truck, hey, it was a parts truck right? At least you got good cores. Now, drop your tranny in the 2wd, discover that your 4x4 likely has a different transmission model, and put your 2wdtranny back in. You may begin cussing now, next go to the local boneyard and hunt until you find the right tranny, got it? Good. Take it home and put it in, along with the crossmember you forgot to get at the boneyard, as well as your transfer case crossmember. Cuss some more, then get your buddy to run you back top the boneyard for a crossmember. Now, it's getting late and it is Sunday so call work and tell them your dog died and take the day off. Keep wrenching though, you'll need to do it to go to work tuesday, now that everything's in, try to make those driveshafts fit, guess what, they didn't, as you're trying to use manual trans driveshafts with an automatic, call the junkyard, find out they crushedthe truck you got your tranny from so call the driveshaftshop and send them about $700, and a wrecker bill to get new shafts made. OK, it drives now, kinda, take it to the alignment shop and get it aligned, now you're good, so sit back and tally up wha tyou're into it for. Now that you've discovered you're into it for more than what it would have cost to buy a 4wd, you may cuss again. Then figure out what it would have taken to fix the truck you cut up. It was cheaper wasn't it? You bet it was, and now you still only have 1 truck. Get my point?

BTW, don't forget to rebuild that front axle, new ball joints, and brake stuff, etc.

Hey Jas88 how bout some pictures! Did you swap bronco parts into a 87-91 f150? They are different front driveshafts?

when it comes to your transmission the whole thing needs to be taken completely apart to put in a 4x4 out put shaft and tail housing ! and while it is apart you will need new seals and gaskets to put it back together so you might as well do a complete overhaul on it !

then you might need the the proper adapter for transfer case ?