Please excuse me if this has been posted before. But I haven't been able to find a thread with the specific answers to the questions I have. The truck concerned is my 1979 F250 Super Cab 2x4.any input would be great. and no I won't be selling it and buying a 4x4. My grandpa bought it new and I don't want to get rid of it nor do I have room for another truck that does have 4x4.

I've been doing a lot of reading on the whole 4x4 conversion and it looks like a real p.i.t.a. I realize that a 4x4 frame swap is the way to go....But the thing is I don't want leaf springs. I want to build it coil sprung or maybe coil over. I also don't want to lift it sky high. In fact I don't want any lift over stock at all. Why do most of the post say it requires a huge lift? Is it because of the engine crossmember location and interference with the axle? Are the engines offset to the passenger side in the 2wd as well? what do you think if I just copy a E250 4X4 van front end like a Quigley using the stock front frame, spring buckets and a custom and relocated engine crossmember or do you like the idea better if I build a complete custom front frame to work with the coil springs? Or even if I want it coil sprung I should still swap it to 4x4 frame first? Also which axle do you guys like D44 or D60? HP or LP? The truck won't be used offroad hard. I want the 4x4 for traction mainly snow use and towing stuck cars. But I also want a tough rig. I'm short and don't like tall trucks so I would like to keep it low. I currently leaning towards a 44 but think it may cause steering issues as I would like to go crossover. also if anyone has a picture of the front of a bare f250 2wd frame and and the same 4x4. and some shots of a 4x4 engine mounts and crossmember.that would be great. thanks for any advice. I'm just bouncing around ideas now for a conversion next year or so and would like to start gathering parts. I can weld and I have the fabrication skills but not a lot of ford truck experience as I am mainly a gm guy....which are way easier to convert to 4x4 btw....but not as tough and as nice.

 

Keeping coils is not a bad idea, although using a 4wd front axle is going to be difficult. This is because the crossmember for the 2wd is so much larger than the 4wd one, and the 2wd one is so much further back than the 4wd unit. The engine mounts bolt to this x-member on the 2wd and the 4wd's mount to the frame since the x-member is not in the same place.
This creates a problem with the x-member to differential clearance. THe 2wd x-member hangs so low, and is located as such that the differential smacks it and a fair amount of lift or heavy modifocation is required in order to create the clearance necessary.
Mention of crossover steering was used, and this too becomes an issue. This issue is also a clearance issue, since the drag link now has to clear the frame when the axle is under compression. In many cases the drag link will hit the pass side frame rail if the truck is not lifted to create additional clearance. In this case inverted "T" style steering should be suitable.
Steering of this style or any style in a 4wd for that matter is going to require a new box, and a new location. The 4wd box is located forward of the front axle and not behind it like your 2wd is.
Since you have a super cab, it has a slightly different frame than the standard cab, so custom length radius arms will be required. This is typical for these SC trucks and the CC's alike. This means that a stock radius arm is not suitable. Extended radius arms will have to be made or purchased. Cage makes a nice set that can function well, and this can be used with a coilover.

Vans cant be copied because that use a much wider frame than even the later model trucks, and the frame configuration is different. This will take more fabrication than using anything designed for this specific vehicle.

Which axle is up to you. THe D44 may hold up, but the dana 60 is probably more suitable for strength. You will want to consider the more desirable high pinion axles.

 

I have a similar truck (79 F350 2WD) and had a thought while crawling around underneath one night. Would it be possible to keep the steering aft of the crossmember and tie the drag link to a rear facing steering arm mounted to the top of the knuckle? Would require some lift to keep the drag link above the radius arm (assuming coils) on the passenger side as well as to keep the pumpkin suitably clear of the crossmember. I was thinking that F150 4" lift coils might provide a good place to start for springs. I didn't know about the radius arms being wrong for the frame, but the rockcrawler crowd has tons of "tech" for building reasonable cost radius arms. Any thoughts?

 

I was thinking at the very least I would need custom radius frame mounts and radius arms. I'm not sure on coil springs....custom coil mounts or if I can make the stock buckets work. i'm still reasearching it. I'm more tempted to go with coil overs.. I was thinking that i would make a custom tubular crossmember and mount it forward of the engine. from the pictures I've seen, it looks like the 4x4 crossmember is mounted 6-8 inches forward than the 2wd location. I would make custom engine mounts as well. I'm thinking a custom boxed square tube frame from the firewall forward may be the ticket. I guess I need to research axles more. I'm thinking a may be able to use a low pinion if it is just a ground clearence issue.

 

I just don't want to lift it is the problem. I probably going to end up building a custom front frame section with a custom axle.

 

I converted mine 10-12 years ago and really didn't think it was all that difficult.
I bought an f150 frame (trans crossmember forward) including trans and D44 front.
The hardest part was carefully torching the front crossmember and boxed sections out of the 150 frame.
Here's a couple of pics with the nose off during the diesel conversion.
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I've got a 2 inch lift on mine
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There was a 4x4 magazine that showed the complete conversion of a supercab, I'll dig around and see if I still have it.

Dennis

 

Wow, great looking truck! thanks for the pictures. Do you have any shots of the steering? I'm assuming you used the 4x4 box and stock components? what size tire are you running? do you think you could have gotten away with the conversion without the lift?

 

I'm just about done with my own conversion. I did just what you're doing; I planned it out and researched the crap out of it, and to be honest it isn't really that bad. With that being said I have my truck completly stripped down for my restoration so accessing everything is real easy. What I did was find a 79 f150 that a guy was parting out. I was the first one to get parts so I took a ton of pictures and a ton of measurements. All my measurements were taken from the radiator mounting holes because I was told that placement was the same on all the trucks. I basically then installed all the parts I needed onto my frame using those measurements. As for the engine crossmember; I just cut out the 2wd one and fabbed a new one to match a 4wd crossmember, and then boxed in the frame. I used a dana 44 axle mostly because a dana 60 costs a pile of money, and unless you will be doing some serious offroading the 44 should be just fine. In order to get the same gear ratio I had to find an axle out of a f250, therefore it was leaf sprung and I wanted coils like you do. So I cut off the leaf perches and found a company that makes weld on axle wedges for a coil sprung front end and welded them on, it was a perfect fit. There is a ton of parts you will need so finding a donor truck will be your best bet, or you will spend a small fortune buying each part individually. All I have left to do figure out the engine mounts. The problem I ran into was I found some stock engine perches from a 4wd, then bought some 460 swap brackets, but they just didn't fit right (frames on 2wd and 4wd are slightly different). So I need to fab up some engine mounts and I'm good to go. I could go on and on and bore you with details but I wont. Im happy to help if you have any questions. Definetly sounds like you're going about it the right way. In my opinion though, if anyone tells you to cut the front of the frame off and weld on a 4wd frame they're crazy. Think about how much force is on that frame, especially the front end. You're asking for serious if not deadly results if you go about it that way. Good Luck!

 

I definitely don't want to splice a factory frame in. If I was going to weld a front section in I would use box square channel and properly fish plate the frame at the joint. I could make it plenty strong and straight....and look pretty, But I'm after a cleaner look than that and will be using stock 2wd frame rails with the 2wd cross member removed and a custom crossmember in front of the engine and custom engine mounts. The most I''ll have to get into the frame rail on that should be where I mount the steering box. I'm kinda wondering about using a saginaw box. It sounds like I am going to be doing something similar to your truck.

 

The steering is stock F150.
I wanted mine to look factory that's why I stuck with the
stock parts.
Tires are 285/75/16, 33 inches tall.
The lift was done because I was running 33/12.5/16.5 tires at the time.

Dennis

 

does anyone have pictures of factory 4wd motor mounts?

 

Our fab shop has been splicing 4x4 fronts to supercab 2x frames for years...If done correctly and in the right position it looks professional and is indestructable.We cut ours in half under the cab and then weld in the rear cab mount and crossmembers over the graft for strength .....been doing it for 30 years.......look closely, especially if u ever see a supercab shortbox 4x4..its grafted and probably one of ours.........

 

Are you saying Ford never made a 73-79 4x4 short bed super cab? Thats what I thought as well but it seems like a few people on here have them and they turn up for sale (not around me). So I dunno.

 

got any pictures? Still doing the conversions?

Anyone know about the supercab frame being different rumor?

 

Hey if i take my crossmember and move it to were the 4x4 location is would there be clearance problems? how would i go about preping my frame for a front axle? im trying to get a dana 44 out of a chevy with a divorced np240 and build a bracket for it. And from what i read if i use a divorced transfer case i can use the 2 wheel drive tranny right?