whats up guys? i've been searching the forums for a few weeks, and haven't run across the answers i'm looking for. I have a 78 f250 4x4 with a 460/c6 swapped in. it currently is missing the bed, and I haven't been able to find a RUST-FREE 73 - 79 bed yet. I know this generation has the wood floor...my question is, would i be able to get the bed support from an 80 - 96 (i want the metal bed floor) and retro fit the 73-79 bedsides onto it? has anyone done it, or can anyone give me any idea on what kind of modification i'll have to do?

Second question, I believe my transfer case to have crapped out on me. I hadn't messed with it beforehand, but i noticed NOW i can move it 360 degrees....it's apparently not making any contact in the case itself...any ideas on that one? any information you guys can give me would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

The 73-79 has a metal floor. But yu could if you wanted too.

 

the regular beds wernt wood, they were all metal. i dont even think the step sides were wood. you can do as you said from what i understand, with the late model beds and proper bed sides for our generation.

are you saying you can rotate the transfer case when its in the truck? not good

 

at this point, i'm for whatever is the easiest route to get some weight on the back of my truck. wet pavement + 460 + no bed = all bad. lol

 

i can't rotate the case...i can rotate the shifter like a clock though. and i guess the guy at the pull-a-part had no clue wtf he was talkin about

 

you can rotate the lever? sure its not just the ****? sounds like a linkage issue

 

lol. i think we're saying the things in two different ways. yes, the shift ****/lever, i can rotate it 360 degrees in the cab of my truck....it makes no engagement with the gears inside the transfer case.

 

get under the truck and look, my guess is the linkage is missing

 

it worked fine the other day...and this is my first 4x4 so i have no clue wtf i'm looking for. i was in my truck, and it started idling high, and when i drove the 15 blocks back home, the idle was back to normal, but the 4wd shifter was just swingin free......

 

73-79 stepsides had wood bed in the bottoms, oak I believe..

 

Your linkage on your transfer case has probably come loose. get under the truck and look at the linkage and it will probably be obvious what has happened. Also, on the beds: regular wide beds were all metal, floor and all. The flaresides of the years in question all had wooden floors from the factory although a lot have had metal welded in over the top of the wood or in place of the wood over the years.

 

alright, so i'm not crazy about wood being in SOME beds for this generation. I bet it looked really good new..there's just something about a properly done wood bed. *drools* As far as the X-fer case goes, I'll have to take a peek at that in the morning. Thanks alot for the input...it's very much appreciated.

 

The only metal floors I have ever seen in a pre '80 stepside were custom fabbed, I thought they were all wood.

 

I think I have misunderstood your question about bed floors and what kind of bed you are talking about; ALL flareside (stepside) beds of this generation F series pickups came from the factory with wood floors, ALL styleside (fleetside) beds had metal floors.

 

i had two questions. one about the bed and the other about the transfer case. As far as the bed goes, I had been told that all the beds until i think 80 had wood floors, which is why I was originally asking about a 80 - 96 bed floor and the 73 - 79 bed sides. Since the fleetsides have metal floors in 73 - 79, that would be some seriously unnecessary work! lol sorry for the confusion.