Please bear with me here, I need to clean this thread up some, I took a lot of posts from the forum I am usually on to add this on here to maybe get some ideas and suggestions...as you can see I get thinking and change things a lot from how I was originally headed with ideas.

This is a 92 F150 that was my first vehicle. My dad has owned it for the majority of its life and gave it to me when I turned 16. I drove it around for a while then parked it and used it as my backup vehicle when my first jeeps would always break down on me. This F150 started out as a 2x4 long box, and was reliable as heck! The only major thing ever to go bad on it was the ECM and I replaced that and along with balljoints and tierod ends and a water pump the truck has 260,000 miles on it. My parents got to the point where they were tired of it sitting in the woods and told me I could go ahead and scrap it if I wanted to, but I felt to guilty doing it since it runs great still and it was my first vehicle.
So far this is the plan:
Keep the I-6 until it is all finished.
Dana 44 front, possibly a 60, but since I want to keep this cheap probably a 44. Not sure what to do for the rear axle, probably a 10.25 due to the speedsensor being on the dif and Im sure I can make it work with a 10.25 axle.
4 link rear
Radius arm front
Rear section of truck "truggied style cage tieing into a cage in the cab.
Find a 4x4 auto trans or manual trans and tcase out of a similar f150 and swap that in.
Here is a pic of it to get a good idea how much the wheelbase has changed, here is a pic with the only thing done to it is the box removed.

After the cut

New wheelbase

First we removed the doors. I think I'm going to leave it like this, I saved the mirrors and will figure out some way to mount them in case I ever drive it on the road.

A buddy who has helped me with it all so far built a dimple die for a 1" hole and did two sets of them on the hood, and on each front fender.

We cut the frame and I did a open butt joint to reattach the frame. I then welded it , ground the outside smooth, and made a fishplate for each side. The fishplate is a total of 18" long, it attaches the rear section of the frame with 3 grade 8 1/2" bolts and the front with 4 (I don't think I have them all drilled in this pic or installed), then there are 3 plug welds on each half of the fishplate, then the outside of the fishplate was welded to the frame. There is a brace that bolts to the inside front half of the reattached frame that runs to the first crossmember I built that will be the structure for the upper link arms for the rear axle. The braces are built out of 1.5x.120 dom tubing.



For the rear crossmember I went a little overkill on it, I should of went with 3/16"s wall but went with 1/4" and used 2x6x1/4" tube and welded that inside the frame channels, and took a piece of angle iron on both edges to better tie it into the frame. I then welded 3/4" dring tabs to it. We then braced that and the rear section of frame where the coil buckets will be with this tubing portion. It is made out of 1.5x.120 dom and will be used to mount the shocks also. Where it mounts to the frame for the coil buckets there is a fishplate there to strengthen up the frame a little bit and give a better area for it to mount to the tubing.




Next I need to remove the trans, and rear axle and leaf spring mounts, only reason they are still there is to keep it moveable to take to my buddies house to use his 220v welder becasue I only use my 110 miller for tacking because I don't feel that it gets warm enough to get suffiecient penetration for the critical stuff on here.

Been screwing around with it a little bit lately. I picked up a 91 F250 4x4 as a parts truck and it had a 351 that had a newer jasper short block in it, and a auto trans with a manual shift tcase, plus the sterling 10.25 rear. I pulled all of that plus the wiring harness and computer. Then the truck was scrapped. It wasn't fired up for a few years, i put a battery in it and a starter solenoid and it fired right up and ran great, everything worked on it, i then drove it into the garage and tore it apart.
Here is a pic of the drivetrain that is going to be swapped into this truck.

Here is a pic of the 10.25 stripped down ready to have the 4 link setup and coil pads placed on her, I think I am going to weld the spiders in it, and weld the tubes to the center section, further down the build I would like to add disc brakes to it.


When I was removing the front clip to get rid of all the inline 6 stuff, i noticed the frame looked cracked up by the steering box, i looked closer and it wasn't, but it was rotted...so i started poking around and it stops just in front of the steering box, and there isn't another crossmember between the front of the truck and the engine cradle so i am going to cut back just in front of the box and build a front crossmember/bumper and tie it all in stronger than it was stock...I figured out how it rotted once i started cutting it up, it looked like many years ago a mouse packed insulation as tight as he could inside and it held water and dirt and what not in there and rotted, but luckily it couldn't get any further up near the steering box. Overall it shortened the truck up a lot in the front and I am going to run tube from the front and tie it into the cage, the only thing from the front clip that is going to stay is the hood trimmed down after i build the tube fenders and what not for it.


I built the coil pads for the frame side in the rear and tacked them up in place. Below are pics of that.


Then I trimmed up the engine cradle to allow for more room for the axle, I trimmed almost 3" off the bottom, it is now 2" thick in the middle. I am going to built a bolt in brace that adds more strength to it after removing all that metal, It should be stronger than ever in stock form after the brace. Here are pics of it trimmed up.



I repaired the crappy spot in the frame in front of the steering box, I cut it out with a 2" hole-saw, then cut a new piece with the same hole-saw, welded it in, ground it smooth, then added this 1/4"thick steering brace plus capped the ends of the frame so I can come off of them with tubing. It is all only tacked right now.


here are some more updates to the build:
I recently put the drivetrain in place so I can build my trans crossmembember and make sure the cradle was going to accept the 351.
I trimmed a bunch on the cradle so I built this brace that goes in to strengthen it back up to make sure it wasnt going to fold in half from the weight of the motor/truck/suspension moving.


I built this front to the frame out of 1.75 and 1.5 d.o.m. and am going to come off that for my grille and stinger. I think I am going to use a ranger grille, I wanted to do a superduty grille but i think it is going to be way to wide.


I ordered a bunch of brackets from ballistic so I could mount my new axle under it, I pickd up a F250 Dana 44 with 4.10's in it.

I started putting the front axle underneath the truck. I found out I still didn't have very much clearance even after trimming on the crossmember. I built my own coil buckets that sit low on the frame and gave it about 10" of lift over the stock ones, and are much beefier. Here are some pics of it sitting on the coils as I fab up the control arms and track bar stuff.


[IMG]http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d175/hr223shooter07/013-2.jpg[/IMG

I haven't done a whole lot to it lately.

I stripped the axle apart so I can put new brakes, discs, hub, bearings, balljoints, u joints, etc. I hate screwing around fixing stuff when I could of done it all once and not have to do it for a while so I will replace everything. I wire wheeled the axle and primered it and then used rustoleum semi gloss black on the housing. All of the link arms are going to be ford blue. Only thing left for the front suspension now is tabs for the shocks.
I made the trackbar mount so it is gusseted to the coil pads, and then a piece of d.o.m tube that mounts it to the engine cradle also to give it support.


I also made my shock hoops with me and a buddies new bender here is a pic how they turned out.



I ordered all my brackets for the rear 4 link and they should be here this week so I can set that up. I need to get springs for the rear, I am going to go with Cherokee front coils, I am unsure what i need for size though because I need a 18" tall spring when it is compressed, but there wont be a ton of weight on the back compared to what the 4.0 I6 weighs in a cherokee, although the wheelbase is short so the weight will be distrubeted a little more to the rear springs. I just dont want the rear looking higher than the front, I hate that look.

I talked myself into tubing the rear of the frame. I chopped it again at the cab and made a crossemember so the tube portion goes through the crossmember and is going to be welded front and back...then bolted into the frame and finally welded into the frame once it is done...then I am going to start building the tube cage...the tube section of the frame still needs the rear part completed i am going to run tube angled in the rear to join the two tube frames together similar to the front but instead of being straight up and down....I figured tubing this out would clean it up a lot...make the truck look a lot nicer than a hacked frame, and now the frame being straight I can use shorter coils possibly from a tj.




I got a little work on it this weekend...it felt like i worked on it alot but didn't get a whole lot accomplished...i guess it is turning out nice though...i'd rather have it look nice and take time then rush and look like something you may find in some mudbug cobbled together....
I was going to do a full exocage...but i made a hoop that contoured the rear of the cab...it looked like hell to me, so I used what i could out of it in other places....i made a new hoop that fit inside the cab nicely....it is going to be tied into the frame everywhere it contacts the floor too after i build the full rollcage inside the cab...i gutted the old dash out also, I am going to make my own out of sheetmetal that attaches to the cage and the an aluminum gauge center with some aftermarket gauges in it.

I then came out of the cab with it and made a rolling offset piece to hit the back of my tube frame...i still need to put the rear braces in the frame at the back of the frame yet...and there is going to be a lot more structure involved in this and triangulation...i just rean out of tube so this is where I left off at. I see a lot of truggies carry the main support piece to the top of the cage...the only reason I didn't was because I wanted to be able to put a window back in it....and then i am also going to make a a support that goes from where your shoulder would be on the main hoop to the floor by your feet where it ties in so it is all triangulated nicely.


I found I need to perform some surgery on my drivers side floor....i found a new floorpan pretty cheap and a set of cab corners real cheap so I am going to do the drivers side floor and the cab corners to eliminate the rust...I am going to also put in rectangular tube steel for rockers in it and tie the cage and frame into them.


I finally tore the hubs off too to rip off the backing plates and brakes so i can set up the weld on disc conversion brackets for the sterling axle also.


I did pick up some chevy outers for the dana 44 with one high steer arm and the other set up for it plus the spindles and brake backing plates. What do I have to do for rotors and hubs with this setup? run the chevy hubs and rotor? or will the ford stuff cross over? the spindles are different between the ford and chevy as far as bolt up.

I need to pickup a ruffstuff sterling bolt on disc conversion for the rear. Right now they are offering 15 percent off so I will probably order that.
I figured the single truss hoop was ugly and weak...so this is what I came up with....




I set the mounts up on the truss and figured out my 4 link upper arms...so far i am happy with how it turned out...i did a little messing around with the two pieces of tube that the tabs are going to come off of to catch the upper links on the frame side....they fit nicely though after a little messing around with the angles on the tube notcher. Everything is tacked on the axle....what is the best way to set up shocks? in front of the axle, behind, on top one in front one in back of the tube...i've seen it pretty much everyway....it probably doesn't matter too much I take it...just wanted some input on that...here are some pics of her....




I finished all the 4 link stuff for the rear...minus the fact that I need to buy coils and shocks...coils I'll probably order in the next couple days..with taxes I'm gonna buy some nice bilstein shocks for it I am thinking.






Besides the coils I need to weld those upper tabs out...I mounted the lower link mounts with 3 1/2" gr8 bolts and then welded both ends to the frame...I figure that should be sufficient enough..I didn't even bother boxing the frame there because they tie into the cab crossmember and it braces the bottom of the frame to the top so it basically is doing the same. The rear axle is ready to go together and start the disc conversion on it.

Alright...here are a few updates..I finally got back into working on these...for a while I just couldn't get any motivation for some reason...
Here is what I came up with for the rear shock mounts....I was originally going to go with a hoops but it was a pretty far distance between axle and the mount and I dont think the bilstein shocks I was looking at would work real well because I would be pretty limited on suspension droop...so I made this up with some scrap tubing to bring it down to a more reasonable height...


I mentioned before I cut off the front of the frame that I had done in tubing before...I was pretty sure a couple good landings on a rock would dent it or bend it and I dont like doing things twice so I cut it off and started fresh...this is what I came up with....I will probably tie it into the cradle bolts that I added for the bracing of the cradle to act as a skid and to tie it into the frame really well. It is all made out of 3/16" rectangle tube....the top pieces are just tacked on until the bottom section is completely welded....the 2" d.o.m goes all the way through where the drings touch it....I am going to come off the top of the 2" dom with my stinger and I ordered the ford ranger grill that I am going to use..hopefully it is here tomorrow...I am going to bend some tube that fits the contour pretty tight similar to how a lot of wranglers have the hoop around the grill...then cut the hood short and angle the sides to the width of the grille then fading to the cab width





I cut the grill hoop down, and mounted it. Then I notched the stinger where I liked it. I need to add in the two braces for the stinger to the grille and make the light hoops off the side of the grill...that will make it look a little better I think. The grille isn't mounted in its final position, just setting in the hoop. I think to clean up the look a little bit I am going to run tube from the grill hoop tight to the contour of the hood back through the cab and tie it into the front pillars of the cage when they are done. Here are a few pics of it so far.



I built some headlight hoops for it. Made the hood so it was able to bolt to the hinges and mounted that. I took the stinger off because one side was a hair longer and it was off center, I just need to fit one side a little better. I cant decide if I like it with or without the stinger better yet...give me some input...I think the stinger looks fine but when I added the bracing to the stinger it looked like too much was going on up there.
I also took out the rear tubing braces that go to the roll cage...one was welded in on the frame side because I messed up and had a slightly larger gap than I wanted and then i screwed myself because I couldn't make the weld inside the cab to the rollcage...well I could of but it wouldnt of been pretty because one 1/4 of the weld I couldnt hardly touch with my hand. So I bent up some new pieces and bought some 1/4" thick tube flanges that I am going to use so that good welds can be made here at this critical area.






Between today and yesterday I put new u joints in my ford inner shafts and chevy stub shafts. I am still waiting on my balljoints from PORC...so far it has been a nightmare trying to get my items but hopefully they sort it out...reading up on them I see a lot of people have had similar run ins.
I put my tube flanges in place and welded them. I had to trim the inside of the cab for them to fit and roll them slightly. I started on the structure pieces for the rear backhalf with what long chunks of scrap tube I have left. Here is a start of her and what she looks like so far.




Tonight I fabbed up the braces for the upper link mounts to the crossmember like a member on here mentioned previously, thanks for the idea it looks like it will work great! I built the two brackets you see in the pic, everything is tacked up, they need 3 more holes drilled in the long leg of the L they will sit inside the c channel and bolt in to the frame and the lower link mounts for the front to brace that area up some. Last night I pressed in the new ball joints into the knuckles. I was looking at shocks again and I think i am going to cut off the rear shock mounts and make some towers that are low profile, right now with the bilstein shock I want I can only have 3" up travel and 6 of down...up travel seems a little short to me...what are your inputs?





Didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted to this weekend but I got some stuff done that I have been putting off. I tacked the shock tabs in place on the hoops, assembled some of the axle stuff on the front on both sides, and put the last two cross pieces in between the the new frame rails on the double tube rails I made. Here are some pics of her...




Thanks! I started molesting the cab last night...mainly because I was sick of looking at the broken glass and junk in the cab. I cleaned that all out and trimmed up the cab alot. I trimmed out the old rockers and made room for either 2x6 or 2x8 rectangle tube that is going to be rock sliders and tie into the frame 3 places on each. I then trimmed the back portion of the cab where it hung down far and was really rusty so it accomplished two things there. As you can see it looks very open to the rear of where the door would be and I am going to fill that in with sheet metal that will go down the new angle to the rockslider to fill in the gap. I think it will give it a new clean look and helps free up a lot of area for trying to fit in a tight space or off camber areas. Trimming the floors back that far too for the rockers helped me with the amount of area I have to fix from rust on the drivers side floor board area too so I wont spend as much time on there either.




I havent updated it for a while because I was sick of hauling all of my thicker stuff to a freinds house to use a 220 welder versus my miller 140. I sold the miller and uprgraded to a 180. Now I am getting ready to run the power for the welder out to the polebarn so I can get going again on the truck. That has been the only reason I havent done much lately. Well here is the new welder and the little cart I made with the tube bender...

 

That's pretty in depth. Its nice how many pictures you have. Keep it up man, that neat.

 

Looks like really neat and clean fab work.... It's cool to watch people start with so little and build it up.... great job!

 

Only suggestion I would make is moving your bucket mounts higher on the frame so you can use longer/softer springs to have a better ride and more 'flex' while keeping the ride height and COG low. Oh, and a d60.

Other than that, great work.

 

I dont say this very often on here but


DAMN!, I am impressed! Great work so far but without a 60 up front its almost a waste of potential.

 

If money is an issue, just 44 it for now and worry about tons down the road....