Picked up a 72 crew cab today. Body has a few issues but overall is really solid, Passenger side will need a cab support and I think I can piece in a thin piece of metal on the floor. I don't know alot about these years but it appears to have all the trim. 360/390 with a 4 speed.Runs good but not great.

Clearly I'm going to have to locate a bed and I have a strong suspicion the frame has been shortened. There is a piece of flat bar welded along the frame and it appears there is a bead inside the frame by the front shackle. Weird thing is the flat bar does not go back that far. I can see no cut/weld along the bottom of the frame.

This is going to be a long term project as I have 2 trucks to finish this summer already and I need to build bigger space to work.

Some pics were texted to me so the clarity is shoddy.

 

Cool, nice truck...you can probably sell that utility bed for enough to make a nice flatbed for it...unless you're dead set on a tub bed.

 

Good looking crew you fit there I have a 71 crew I'm building now seems like crew cabs are the big thing right now in the bumpside forum everyone seems to be wanting one at this time glad I had mine for acouple years now before they all get bought up what's the build plans you have for your crew?

 

Honestly I had tried to scrape up the cash for Hrdrkn's project and doing all the research on that has lit a fire. I'm not saying I'm going all the way like he did but I would like to at least do a 4x4 conversion/power steering.
We'll see how it goes.

Compared to what is out there as far as price now... I stole it.

 

Good on ya Mark. There getting harder and harder find. I have a buyer for my second one when I get back. But I still have my 73 F250 crew that I drive everyday. I'll bbe on the lookout for a more complete 73-79 crew later on.

 

Yes, there is that avatar again.

So I've been digging into wheelbases etc. and it appears that there is 1/2 inch diff between my 72CC and the 73-79CC 4x4 wheelbase. Therefor the body should swap over...mods to bed of course.... right?

Wondering if that is an option as I can part out one of my trucks and have a great driveline to get this thing started.

Rob...Be on the lookout for a bump shortbed will ya. There is some nice ones down there.

 

Yes bodys will swap right over. I'll be on the look out for ya. Dont know how far your willing to look but there are alot of them in the Pac west. One other thing you have to remember is the 77.5 to 79 the frames are 37" campared to 34".

 

Wow, that does look like a very solid start you have there! I was thinking the same thing, the cash from dumping the utility bed may just get you a short wide bed if you find a deal on one. I am still kicking myself for missing a clean and complete 67 short wide truck in Salem for $500. Probably better anyhow, Im not sure I could have talked myself into parting it out...

 

Bad thing is, I have a highboy frame and 2 F100 frames out back. I don't even know if this is what I'm going to do but I'm pretty darn sure that piece of flat bar is not original. I'm going to slice out a piece of it this weekend and see what is behind it.

Wish me luck.

 

I have seen the straps welded on to the frame flanges to increase wieght capacity. i wonder if maybe somebody did that before they put the service box anticipating the increased work load on the frame? If you are looking for problems, maybe just try to eye ball the inside frame channel and look for rust/cracks. Otherwise I would probably leave it there. It certainly cant hurt, especially if you will be hauling with it.

I would check the welds to ensure none run perpendicular to the frame run, or in other words that the ends of the strap are not welded in. Those end welds create a weak spot in the frame making it prone to cracking.

 

If you don't mind take some pics of the plate and welds on the frame I'm curious what's going on there seems pretty solid mine had rust issues and hidden rust once I started getting into it

 

Mark, you can post in the crewcab section and you can get more info. I would look at mine if I could but wont till end of Apr. I remember when I did look underneath at mine I thought that someone had just hacked and patched away on it but thats how they were made. I have a write-up on how the crews were made back then and after reading you can understand why they looked that.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I'll get some pics this weekend.

The straps or shackle hangers are not welded but the slightly diagonal welds are on the inside of the frame. 1 on each side of the hanger. Both sides done the same way. The plate is a bit less than frame height and I'm goign to say it runs from the trans backward about 4-5 feet. Only 1/8 thick.

I went over this thing with a flashlight trying to talk myself out of it but I could not come up with a "solid" reason no to buy it. I've been down the rusty path before and ain't no way I'm doing that again.

 

Did a little more investigating today and those plates might be stock. They had some holes that lined up with the frame holes and others that dead ended. It just did not appear to be something that someone just slapped on.

Good....I found that the engine has headers and Edelbrock manifold and carb.

Bad...Battery was flat dead and looking around at the wiring...well lets just say it is time to start over. I'm going to see if I can find a decent harness at the JY this week.

Ripped out the rubber mat and insulation underneath. Passenger floor is toast along with cab support. Other than that all the rest of the floor and lower edges of doors are all pretty nice. Roof has one small dent but seems solid all the way around the seam.

I forgot the pics but I'll get some tomorrow.

 

Hey Mark heres some info on how they were made and you can understand why some of it looks shotty. I dont remember where I found this. Hope this hepls.

Ontario Canada was the factory that produced all of the early Crews. All were essentially "hand made" and there really wasn't any deep, dark, or mysterious secret as to how they were made. By the way, my 1970 F-250 Highboy is this same way also. You will find this is the case with all of the "Bumps" and with all of the "Dents" which are Crew Cabs. That means all were "hand-made" until production of them ceased in 1979. I will explain how to tell about the "hand-made" portion in a few moments, but first, here's what was required to make one.

Two cabs were used, with the back of one and the front part of the other. It appears there was a "special" roof panel made and this was attached to the top of the cab after the modifications were completed so there was a one piece roof installed. The front part of the rear doors were literally "cut-off" from the vent window forward and the front edge was modified and used to complete the front edge of the doors after welding and shaping. The interior door panel was cut off on the front portion so it would now fit against the door with its front edge matching the doors front edge. Here is one of the "chintzy" things you will find. They tack welded a small piece of angle iron on the front edge of the rear door to make a slot for the door panel to slide into as they had cut off the front edge with the screw holes. The door panel front edge just "floats" inside the groove made with the angle iron. The rest of the screws on the top, bottom and back edge are fastened to the door to hold the panel in place. If you hear a faint rattle, simply tap the angle iron with a small hammer and "tighten" it against the door panel when it's in place.

Now, here's where it gets fun! The window crank on the front doors is close to the front edge of the door. This part was cut off on the rear doors so there wasn't a place anymore for the window crank. By taking a passenger side door window regulator and turning it around backwards and then installing it into the Driver's side rear door, the window crank became usable and now was located to the rear edge of the rear door and worked perfectly! Then using a window regulator from the Driver's side door, installing it backward in the passenger side rear door, it worked perfectly too, and the crank again was now positioned close to the rear edge of the door. The passenger door glass was used in the passenger side rear door and the driver's side glass was then used in the driver's side rear door. Drilling a new hole for the window crank's stub shaft in the interior door panel was all that was necessary to complete the rear doors. Kinda "chintzy" in my opinion but very workable even though the workmanship leaves quite a bit to be desired when you actually look over one of these rear doors.

The rear door inside handle for opening remained the same, but they did not enclose it with an arm rest as was the case with the front door. Instead, they used a plastic window frame type looking piece from the inside of a standard van's inside door handle to finish it off.

Because of the removal of the vent window from the rear door, the subsequent removal of some of the floor and roof to make it match resulted in the loss of considerable foot room, in my opinion, and the rear passengers get the feeling they are up against the front seat. When production of Crew Cabs was started again in the mid 80's, the new Crews of that era were built with more foot room and that has continued ever since their re-introduction. Seats were easy as the only modification to the front seat was a little upholstery added to enclose the back of the seat for appearance sake. The rear seat was simply mounted in with stationary brackets and became non-adjustable, although both seats are capable of being tilted forward to stow stuff around the gas tank in the rear and who knows what function the tilting front seat now serves?