My 97 f350 xlt has front and rear sway bars.
I just replaced my rear links since one snapped off during offroading....

 

I thought the TTB would allow you to retain the use of the cenetr brackets on the engine crossmember? That's why I though guys seem to think it is "easier". Nothing about the TTB looks "easy" to me, lol. SAS for the win! But again, I completely understand going the D50 route if that is what you have available versus spending $1k to buy a good D60.

Edit: I am wrong here and don't mind admitting it! The TTB and the 4x2 DO NOT use the same center brackets.

 

I don't think that is the case. Check out this post.

 

It appears as though you are correct sir! I stand corrected.

Still though, I can completely understand using what you have instead of spending a grand to buy a D60. Not the ideal setup, but it works well enough for a lot of guys.

 

I agree too. It's not bad if you keep it stock. With my 6" lift, I had to go to a D60. I spent over $550 on new tires for the front and within a year the inside tread was nearly completely gone! Swapped to the D60, spent another $1300 on 4 new tires and now everthing is good to go. I hardly notice any wear at all now!

 

I'm planning on taking the D60 from my 350 crw cab project, rebuild it and put it under the 250 ecsb I just bought. In the meantime, I'll look for another D60 for when I get the 350 to that point of the build. It's getting taken down to the bare frame and built from frame up, so it's gonna be a while. Figured I make good use of the D60 since it's there. Make sense?

 

Maybe I should explain my reasoning for the D50 upgrade to my F350. I had fairly recently purchased this truck from a friend of mine. It is a 1995 2 wheel drive F350 super cab with a 7.3 Powerstroke.

The truck had transmission problems (hard up shift in all gears). I had done a lot of research on the E40D transmission before making the purchase. In the beginning I could have made a small profit on the truck by simply rolling it across the scales at the junk yard. I could have made a decent profit by parting it out. This truck was almost exactly what I have wanted for a long time except for the 2 wheel drive part.

Once I got the truck, I did a fluid and filter change on the transmission which made no difference in the hard up shift issue. Hoping that it was electrical, I took it to the local transmission shop for a diagnostic look see. The transmission guy informed me that it was not electrical. The problem was in the transmission.

At this point I had a truck that I could roll across the scales for a small profit and was my hands of it. I could part it out for a decent profit, junk the rest and finally was my hands of it, or I could look for a transmission. As looking for a transmission would cost me nothing, I chose to do that before junking or parting out.

I found a 1994 F250 4x4 7.3L IDI truck that had been wrecked. The E40D tranny had 30,000 miles on a rebuild. The rear end had 1,000 mile on a complete rebuild. I purchased the truck without the engine for 800 smackarooos. I was obviously very excited about the purchase because all of the E40D trannys were only a couple hundred dollars less than that.

I had to swap out the solenoid packs between the two trannys and reuse my triple clutch torque converter. Once the tranny and transfer case was installed the truck shifted perfectly. I now had a choice.... leave the truck 2 wheel drive by running the transfer case in 2 high or installing the Dana 50 that came with the 94 F250.

Seeing how I am not a man of means, working at the local Oscar Mayer bacon plant. already spending what I did not to mention 2 fenders, 2 cab corners, and all of the other stuff required for the body work, I simply did not have the money to buy a Dana 60. But I do have the Dana 50 laying on the floor of the shop. I am going to be stripping out the F150 that I am currently driving for the doors, new fuel tanks, tail gate, and wind shield. Selling the 4.9L engine and 5 speed tranny out of it, and rolling the rest across the scales. At this point I can only do what I can afford. Maybe I will run across a Dana 60 when I have more cash. If that happens I will be hauling my Dana 50 across the scales.

Thanks,
Dave Roderick

 

I forgot to mention that the 94 F250 had A 6 inch lift kit which I sold for 400 bucks. I did have to pay 180 bucks to get the truck hauled to the shop which raised my investment to 980 bucks. But, when you figure the 400 bucks for the lift kit, 180 bucks I got for the cab and frame from the junk yard, 50 bucks for the good door.... My total investment so far for the tranny, transfer case, and Dana 50 is 350 bucks. That ain't bad for a poor bacon maker. Not to mention the fact that I have a rear end with 410 gears and 1,000 miles on a complete rebuild for sale for 250 bucks.

Thanks,
Dave Roderick

 

There has got to be a joke in there someplace about "bringing home the bacon", lol.

Seriously though, as much of a bad rep as the TTB gets it is a decent setup as long as you don't lift the truck too high or run drastically over-sized tires. In fact it rides a little nicer than the D60. The biggest thing with the TTB (D50) is that there are a lot of wear items in that setup and keeping it tight can be a challenge. Finding a shop that can do a quality alignment on one can be challenging too. All that being said, for a daily driver, it's not a bad setup. I think you'll love the truck once you get it converted to 4x4 and as you said, you can always convert it to a D60 down the road if you want to. I don't blame you in the least for using what you have available.

 

I will agree... the D50 ride nicer than the D60. I never had issues with mine besides I kept bending the right beam slightly in two minor wrecks. I never had alignment issues or tire wear that was abnormal. The biggest thing I noticed was using Moog ball joints in it and some adjustment cups.

Nice setup but then again I was not lifted at all beside an add a leaf up front for the extra weight of a a 250 lb bumper plus a 115 lb winch.

 

It sounds like you need to post some before and after pictures!

You may already have this figured out, but I thought I'd ask anyway. The F250 with a 6" lift should have center pivot drop brackets which will not work with a stock height truck. So did you get a set of stock center pivot brackets?

 

I got the center pivot brackets off of a 1989 F250.

Thanks,
Dave Roderick

 

X2 on the before and after pics. Take plenty and post em up!

 

I will photograph the process when it begins. I do have a question. How difficult of a task is this going to be? Anyone who has done this have any advice or other words of wisdom on this project? I would like to have everything that I am going to need to complete the project before it begins. With the other things that I am currently doing to the truck I have not really begun the planning phase yet for the Dana 50. It was going to be the last thing in this whole project. I am currently working on the frame with the needlescaler in preparation for the rust bullet application. I have cab corners, fenders, doors, and a whole host of other little things to tackle before I get to the 4 wheel drive part. I guess I decided to do it pretty much last because I thought that it would be the least tedious and aggravating part of the whole process. I was told by someone (who may not have known what he was talking about) that the 4 wheel drive conversion was not a difficult task. If it is a real pain in the patute I may have to hunt him down to let him know that I wont be asking his advice in the future.

Thanks,
Dave Roderick

 

I don't think you could really call any project like this "easy", but it's not gonna be one of those pull your hair out things either. Like you said, it's best to have everything you need before you start, but almost guaranteed there will be some little snag of some sort come up. Don't get discouraged, just deal with those little things as you go.

Was your donor truck also an extended cab? If so, you should be fine on the drive shafts, if not you will have to find drive shafts from a 250 ECLB with the same t-case that you are using or have some made.
Also, is your 350 front end leaf sprung or coil sprung?