ok heres the deal, i have a 56 ford thats gonna be my daily driver that means i need 4x4, (so im not asking it you guys think i should get 4x4 or not, no offense but thats my decision) so i want to decide if i should swap chasis which i hear is long and difficult or swap running gear which im partial to because then i could have 4x4 as well as power steering and brakes hopefully.
so the question is to swap components whats the best donor vehicle, i hear bronco or explorer is good, and , it would be great if i only need one beclice to swap everything-axels/transfer case/rearend/suspension ? or parts from a few
thanks-charlie

and i know these 4x4 threads always turn into screaming matches over chasis swaps so save it o and be4 you tell me to search trust me ive read eerytjhing i could find i just want your personel ideas thanks

 

I've done hours and hours of research on 4x4 conversions and parts for these trucks. I'm going to do this to my '52 F-2. It is by far simpler to convert a stock 2x4 chassis to 4x4 than it is to do a chassis swap. The stock leaf spring suspension lends itself well to hanging a live axle under the front. The best donor is a '76-'77 early Bronco with disk brakes as the width is perfect, but given their scarcity, there are other options. The '75-'77 F-150 Dana 44 is really easy to locate and a piece of cake to narrow to the early Bronco width so you can use a common off the shelf axle shaft. Transmission and transfer case options are limited only by your imagination. Here's a link to a thread by another member who did this. It should give you a really ggood idea what will be involved:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...ght=making+4x4

Let me know if you have any specific questions or concerns. I'd be happy to share my research.

 

Following this for my research.

 

I'm currently building a 54 F100 4x4 for a daily driver. Currently my project has morphed into a 54 F100/F250 4x4 short box.

I'm doing the chassis swap ( shortened a 1984 F250 4x4 chassis ) . If I was to start over I would just convert the stock chassis over to 4wd.


But if you want to see how to do it the most complicated way possible you can check out my build.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...4x4-build.html


The 67-72 F100 4x4 would have the correct width axles. But my personal choice would be a 78-79 F150 or Fullsize Bronco. They have the best transmission/transfercase and axles. The down side is the axles are a bit wider then the stock 56 ones but not enough to cause an issue. The other down side would be the motor choices. Most of engine you will find in this age truck are 351M/400. Not a horrible engine but not my first choice either. If you go with the late 70's I'd swap over the entire front axle/suspension, steering, rear diff, transfercase and possibly the engine and transmission ( depending on your choice ) .

The Explorer won't be a good choice for a donor. Unless you are doing a chassis swap. The older ones have a TTB front axle which is fairly weak if you are planning a strong V8. And the TTB would be a pain to set up in your stock chassis. The newer Explorers have a totally different IFS set up and would be next to impossible to add it to a stock chassis.

I did a little research on converting the stock chassis over to 4x4. I think the hardest part is getting the steering set up. The rest is pretty simple.

For a daily driver there are 3 engines I would put at the top of the list. My personal favorite is the 351W. The other two would be a 302 or a 300 inline 6. Any of these three would give you a dependable engine, decent power/torque and decent gas mileage.

If you are lucky you might find one vehicle that would have everything but it's highly unlikely. Most likely you'll find an engine and maybe a transmission in one and the rest the drivetrain from another. I'm doing a chassis swap and I still have multiple donors. I'm going with an 87 F350 rear diff, 78 F250 transmission & transfercase and then the rest is the 84 F250.

 

Definitely for the rear, but I don't know about the front. I'm wanting to think that the front axles on these years were wider than the rear. Dunno. Also dunno what width front axle fits OK in the '53-'56 trucks, although I bet you do. I know the Bonus Built trucks want 61" to 63" max from wheel mount surface to wheel mount surface.

There is another major issue with the '78-'79 axles that becomes a dealbreaker when swapping them under a leaf spring truck - the cast iron radius arm wedgies. They were steel pieces welded onto the tubes on the earlier trucks and could easily be cut off to make room for leaf spring perches. Those two later years used cast iron wedgies with the axle tubes pressed into them. Not worth a darn in a leaf spring application.

The steering is a walk in the park, too. You can use basically all stock linkage and weld a ball into the steering arm on the axle to attach it too. Check out the link I posted above to see how he did it. It's slick! I'm going with a Toyota power box on mine and plan to use the same linkage setup.

There's a ton of great front axle info here:

Mr.N's Dana Articles to Include 44, 60 information.

 

Why mess with leaf springs! You swap over the entire axle with coil spring suspension and dump the leaf springs. You just mount the coil buckets, radius arm and track bar brackets to the F100 Frame. Why get into modifying axles if you don't have too.

And if I'm going thru the trouble of the conversion I'd swap over the steering out of the donor truck too. It's a much stronger set up.

And the track width really isn't an issue. Hell I'm using an 84 F250 and the tires still fit in fenders. The 53-56 is wider then the F1's. The only way there will be a track width issue is if you want to run some wide tires. And then you'd have the issue no matter which F100/F150 axles you run.

 

if I had the money and time, I would make mine a 4x4 in a heartbeat.
I haven't been able to find many effies that are lifted or 4x4, but the one or two I have... I really loved.
I plan on building mine as a poser, stock exterior with a mild lift/slightly oversized tires.

 

55 F250 back yard build 4x4 ... mines done with 75 F250 parts ...HD dana 60 front... dana 60 rear.. NP 205 transfer case,,, 75 is the last yr the frame width is the same as the 53 and later trucks .. thats the last of the closed ball front axels to i think ..welded some steel plated to the Ubolt spring top plates to make the spring/u-bolts for the slightly wider front leaf mounts of the 75 axel,, it's a all bolt on job,, no new holes needed in the frame .. and yes i kept all the orig parts ,,for the steering i mated a junkyard orig steering link from the steering box to the 75s steering link //cause of the larger size taper socket of the later steering ... slid tube over shaft ,,, welded shafts ,, slid tube over weld and welded that on both ends as well .. driveshafts cut to fit was the only other thing i had a shop do ...paid 600 for both axels and T case,driveshafts,,, about 75 per DS to cutdown as i recall .. whole job was under a grand not counting the thumb i smashed flat with a 4 lb sledge driving out rivets from the 75s frame/T case cross member ,,, the scrapper i got it all from was nice enough to cut out the frame section with the T case crossmember from the doner truck ,,

 

The coil spring/radius arm setup is no better than leaf springs. It's still a straight axle and the motion/axle travel will be the same. I guess I could ask you the same basic question: Why would you want to mess with mounting all those parts designed for a newer/wider frame on the old chassis? It would be a fabricator's nightmare. With the original front suspension, you just cut the coil spring stuff off the axle, set the pinion angle/caster where you want it, and buzz on an inexpensive set of leaf spring perches. Once the perches are on the axle, the rest of it bolts together and you never have to modify anything at all on the suspension or frame. The simplicity is what makes it such a great idea. If you're going to go to the trouble to swap the entire suspension system out of the later truck, you'd be better off suffering through a chassis swap to begin with.

The difference in strength is debatable, but as far as installation goes, my comments above apply here as well. Converting to a front steer/cross steer setup would require a ridiculous amount of fab work and eat up precious space inside the rails of these narrow older frames to mount the box. A Toyota box will bolt in the stock position with an off-the-shelf adapter and basically stock linkage and have no trouble whatsoever pushing the wheels back and forth.

Yeahhhh, but aren't you running F-600 fenders?!? How would the fit be with F-100 fenders? And how does the front axle width compare to the rear? The 70's front axles are around 69" WMS to WMS. If a guy has a '57-'72 9" under the rear as many, many off us do, the rear axle width is going to be 61" WMS to WMS. I think that an 8" difference in axle width is going to look a little odd. I realize that this doesn't apply to your rig as you're using wider axles that match your newer chassis on both ends, but it will certainly be an issue for some of us.

I'm really not trying to be argumentative. I just feel like swapping the entire suspension, axle, and steering out of a later truck is going to require a significant amount of pounding square pegs into round holes. That's an awful lot of work and armchair engineering to accomplish the same result as hanging the axle under the stock suspension. If that's not acceptable for some reason, then a chassis swap would be a much simpler and probably safer alternative - but as you well know, that presents its own unique set of challenges.

 

I've been working mine towards a 4x4 for some time (but I want to keep it a 2.5 ton truck, so it changes parts)

i have a friend who loves to turn old trucks in 4x4s, he has done 3 '56s and he highly, highly recommended swapping parts over swapping chassis'. Getting the cab and everything to fit right on a new chassis is a lot of work, not to mention most newer trucks have a large hump after the cab where these old ones are basically flat. Makes for a pain in getting the bed right.


It's a bit easier for me since I already have leaf springs up front to swap to most 4x4 axles up there, biggest issue becomes the steering with it all and thats not that big of a deal either. Keep in mind your solid axle has a drop in it, it will raise the front of your truck to put in a 4x4 axle, from what I've heard about 4" normally. Just important to remember for when you do the rear (in other words do the front axle first so you can match height a lot easier in the rear).

In what I've researched late 70's parts are the best, you can even get disk brakes after I think 76 (from the Ford pickups).

If you want to keep the stock steering column you will need to do some modification at the end of it, can't remember what exactly at the moment, I'm sure someone else will chime in on it. Will have to figure out the wiring for the horn though.


Figure out what size tire you're going to want because it will effect what gear ratio you'll need as well. Make sure you get a matching set, the easiest way is to get everything from the same donor, however this isn't always the cheapest. A decent deal on axles is about $200 a pop around here.

 

I have a beater 78 Bronco with 3:50 axles and with a c6 transmission and 31 inch tires it cruises nicely at 65-70 and still works great for off roading. Something similar would work for the swap. If you are going to larger tires or heavy duty off road stuff, then a lower ratio would be better. 3:50 though is a nice compromise if most driving will be on road.

 

The coil spring suspension set up gives you a better riding truck, better axle articulation, the ability to buy off the shelf lift kits ( if one chooses to ) , and easier to buy parts locally for a late 70's truck then it is a 50's. The coil spring buckets only require a spacer plate to mount them. Fabricators nightmare? If a person is a fabricator they enjoy doing stuff like this.


Have you compared the size of a late 70's+ steering box to one from a 53-56? It's a hell of a lot stronger and it's a power steering box. No need for an expensive adapter( just a simple mounting plate ) or a custom made pitman arm like with the toy box. Plus you can still get all the 70's steering parts from a local parts store. I don't know if you have ever dealt with a late 70's 4x4. But the steering boxes mount on the outside of the frame. They don't take up any of the "precious space" inside the rails of these narrow older frames. A mounting bracket for the steering box takes a "ridiculous amount of fab work"? It requires two plates, one to box the frame one to mount the box. And three pieces of tubing to use for bolt sleeves. You do have to drill 9 holes and do some welding. But you know how much fabricators hate that. ( jk )


Yes I'm running F600 fenders but I also have F100 fenders and have tried them. They are both the same width believe or not. The main difference is the wheel well openings are much larger on the F600 fenders. This allows me to mount the cab a little farther back on the frame. The F100 fenders would require the cab be mounted a little over an inch farther forward. Not a big deal? Maybe not but the firewall recess is already huge. And as far as the axles go there is a reason why I suggested going with a chassis donor. Most people will want to use both front and rear axles out of the donor so they have matching gears front and back. Sure you could just swap gears in your existing rear diff. But that's more money to spend.


I'm really not trying to be argumentative either. There's always going to be more then one way to accomplish the same end result. My train of thought is always if you are going to build something over build it. The problem with swapping the whole chassis is the frames have different contours that make mounting the body a challenge. The wheelbases are different. The newer chassis have the engine set back farther which requires a huge firewall recess. Which makes it kind of tight for pedal and leg room. See the pictures below, ( not my truck ) a 56 cab mounted on a 78-79 Bronco chassis. You will also notice the front cab mounts use around a 4" body lift. This is needed for the front body clip to clear the front frame sections. The last picture shows the track width with some wider tires. Working with the stock F100 chassis allows you plenty of room to mount the engine of your choice. You can use all the stock body mounting hardware. You can keep the stock wheelbase. Among numerous other things. Swapping the 4x4 drivetrain parts on the F100 chassis is easier no matter which way you do it.

If someone is going to do the conversion they can do it whichever way the want to. No matter how you do it a 4x4 53-56 Ford truck is still a cool truck!!

 

wow thanks fordman you really seem to know what you are talking about, you really helped me make my decision, im gonna stick with the original chasis and swap the part from a bronco most likley then find an engine hopefully a 351w with a 4speed and i also like the radius arm suspension oveer the front suspensn being leaf springs, and i do love3 fabricating so i have no problem with welding and boxing and drilling , ill let you know when i find a donor truck to see if you think it will work just cause you seem to be alot more knowledgabe than i could ever be

 

A IH Scout front axle fits in OK also has the correct wheel bolt pattern, use a divorced transfer case and your good to go. I have a 59 F100 4x4 chassis with front axle if your interested also divorced T Case and Scout axles. PM me if interested.


Have A Great Day --- Hotwrench

 

Hey Ted,

How are you going to get the truck out of the garage?