O.K. I'm new to this site. It appears that some of the questions that I've been having could get a little more direction by a veteran builder. Question is: My 95' 2wd short box/chrome package 300I & 5 Speed looks good. I want to put a 3" body lift and some 33/ 10.50 on the stock chrome wheels if they will fit. This way I can get a look at how it will look jacked a little before I go sinking any mor money in a futile attempt at beeing 4x. Does anyone know were I can view some pics of trucks with body lifts on 2x's? Can a divorsed transfercase be used with out major changes to the driveshaft as it is already short due to the short box? is the 5spd worth trieng to keep? Or will the little extra clearance gain from the 33's give a justified excuse to through in a powertrax no slip locker system and some 410 gears, beef up the suspension and go play and not worry about major carnage. possibly even go with a winch. Does anyone know of anyone doing the 2x beef up and were they able to play moderatley with the powertrax? do they do well on hills? What to do!!! Damn I can't sleep at night. It's driving me crazy!!! Should I just get a jeep and start over?

 

Personally i think its a waste of time. Save your money and buy a real 4x4 instead of wasting the money on a 2wd

 

Any body else out there think this is the way to go? The way I was figuring is that the 33's will only be approx $400 for some buckshots (not preference but in budget), $120 for the body lift. Then it looks a little cooler and can keep from bottoming out as much. $520 total then $460 for the powertrax and $200 for the 410's. Now with that I know I can make it through a lot of medium stuff because my 86 big bronco had 33's and a freind and i used to wheel as far as we could go in 2wd to see which was better (the ford usually conquerd the jeep). Hell it was an open diff. So the total thus far would be $1180. If later I decided to through in a TTB 44 than I should be able to pick one up in the junk for no more than $500. Now I'm at $1680. That only leaves finding a 5spd/trnsfr case. Hopefully won't run over $700 at which point would come to approximately $2380. I'm hearing that everything is pritty much bolt up. If I need to lift it later I'll need to get the leaf mounts and leafs from a True 4wd($150-$200). But I'm not going to be running this truck down to the bowles of hell just to see if I can make it out like I did many times in the bronco. Theoredically, $2500 added to the already great running paid off truck don't seem like that much when you factor in about $3000-$4000 for a truck that will look as good as mine. And you don't know what your buying. Some more opinions would be helpful. I'm not saying that my way is the only way, Just tired of buying someone elses problems!

 

A Mazda 5-sp runs at LEAST $500 used - double that for reman. $800-$2000 for the ZF (the most desirable, but probably overkill for your use). T-cases start at $300 and can be $800.

The 2WD rear suspension is the same as 4WD. Only Broncos use a different shim because of the short wheelbase.

 

I would completely agree with you for the two simple statement syou made at the end of your post there Dweddell: and That has been my philosophy with my truck, and I plan on keeping it for quite some time to come.

Luke

 

Well hell!...... Lets say I guy wanted to "simply" upgrade his 2wd (weekend warrior loaded down with 4-wheelers).
Lets say he likes the aggressive look.
now, lets lets think to ourselves........................................
How sloppy was it on the last "TRAIL" I road down before I needed to lock it in?............
How far did I go in 2wd last winter, in the snow before I locked it in?...............
How many obstacles did I push rite over, then turn and brag to my buddy behind me and hold up 2 Fingres and then "one" to his jeep??
I'm not going to the rubicon. I'm not going to MOAB. Hell, I JUST WANT TO MAKE IT UP THE DAMN STEEP HILL I LIVE ON IN CHEATHAM COUNTY TN.
Would a powertrax no-slip and a little extra clearance (33 mt's) aid a person, if acting sensibly(yah rite) drive "slightly" off the road, park, a typhoon come down and still make it back on the road.
Will the hopefully added traction help in the snow really at all? I have a 4wd, gas saving, broncoII that I'm going to be selling/trading due to my wife wanting a jeep. so there is no need for it and I don't have the big bronco any more after 2 rebuilds from melting the Aod. I just don't want to trash the truck, it's my baby!!! she hardlly ever gets drivin if it even looks like rain,snow, traffic. Basic question is will tweeked up 2wd be suficient for safe commutting?(over the mountain, through the woods, across the stream, past the bolders, over the gully out the ridge)

 

The 2wd rear suspension is not the same as a 4wd rear suspension. The brake lines are longer and the leaf springs are wider. The 4wd conversion will lift your truck 2" above what it is now. Also, with a 3" body lift and a 2wd, you will be really stuffing those 33's in there. Look at my green truck in my gallery. That is a stock 4wd on 32" tires. Picture my truck an inch higher and you're 33's 1/2" bigger in diameter. Not much room for movement there. The 10.5" wide tires will fit on the stock rims. The red truck in my gallery is a 2wd which got a 4" suspension lift ($700) and was running on 32" tires. A 4wd conversion is a piece of cake and is basically a bolt in job. Remove the 2wd suspension and replace it with the 4wd suspension, then change the tailshaft on your transmission to adapt to a BW13-56 transfer case (stock and very good transfer case thats what you want). Then have driveshaft work done or just buy a driveshaft from a 4wd truck of that same configuration (long/short bed, reg/ext cab). You'll also have to move the tranny crossmember back and bolt it to the transfer case mount. Then punch out the plate in the floor and stick the shifter through. You can even hook up the dashboard lights to get them to light up when you put it in 4wd.

Edit: I had the red 2wd in my gallery that I put a 4" suspension lift and 32" tires on. It has a ford limited slip in the back. It would go pretty well off road. It does about as good as my 4wd now because the 4wd I have now is just open diffs.

 

Cheatham county, Tennessee! Robertson/Cheatham county is my old stomping grounds! My advice: You have a dependable, paid off 2WD that will run forever if you maintain it. Level the stance, put some nice wheels and tires on it, and use it as a daily driver and a parts runner. For the extra money tied up in a 2WD to 4WD conversion, don't get in such a hurry, buy a Trader's Post every week and do some riding around, and you should have no trouble finding you a good 78-79 Ford F-150 4x4. These trucks are straight-axle workhorses that are dependable, tough, simple, and have a good following. You can buy Rough Country 2 1/2" coil springs to put in the front (1 hr. job), some 1" blocks to add to the back to level out, and a set of 15x10's and 33x12.50's. Although I didn't have any trouble, be sure to check your brake lines and drive shafts after the lift. On 78-79 F-150's, the radius arm brackets are dropped lower than the previous years, so you shouldn't have any problems there, either. A front sway bar to help on-road handling is a pretty good move, too. Tell Middle Tennessee "hey" for me.

 

Well, Hamknight Road (yahh) got shut down so I guess don't need to get in such a heel fired hurry to change. I'll probably just get another set of 31's but this time a m/t and just go with it. I'll keep riding the back roads looking for a wrecked doner for my 95'.
MustangGT221, you stated ...."change the tailshaft on your transmission to adapt to a BW13-56 transfer case"
I totally AGREE, the 1356 is a good transfercase, hell they use it in 1-ton applications! should be strong enough for a 1/2 ton.
But I'm not real familiar with the Mazda 5 spd (I think thats what it is anyway), Can I really just change the tailshaft to a t-case connector? Will I need to have the output shaft changed out or is it good to go, just unbolt one and bolt up the other? Hell I still have a spare BW 13-56 that was given to me for the 86 bronco I had. I f thats the case then 31's here I come and when I find the front end I'll have it wooped! The rear suspension can stay for know. the added 2" will look good and when I decide to lift it I just swap the leafes out then or get a 9" set up.
Some more opinions on this would be greatly appreciated yall!

 

dweddell

I'd go for it!! I totally agree about the swap, as a matter of fact I can make you a good deal on the TTB I just tore out of my truck for a 79 solid front! You just gotta come to Virginia to pick it up.

As for the Mazda tranny, I'd stay away, have heard good and bad stuuf, I'd look for a ZF to put in.

As for the lift, when I originally wanted a low cost lift for my TTB, I went to a local junk yard and got a set of F-350 2wd coil springs and put them up front. The stiffer springs actually gave my F-150 a little more than 2" of lift. Out back a set of add-a leafs from JC Whitney did the trick, I was able to run 33's no problem. The bonus was that my Eddie Bauer F-150 sits lower than a regular F-150 4wd, so even after puting the spring and taller tires, I only sat as high as high (hood to hood height) as a stock F-150 4wd! I got tired of eating tires from the TTB and carrying a snow plow, so I sawpped to a solid front with a 6" lift. To be honest, I'd just skip the TTB swap and go for the solid front swap, just make sure you get all of the brackets, trac bar and steering linkages form the older solid axle. Check the Tech articles on how to do it.

Good luck!!

Karl

 

KJETT, you say you took the plunge and did the solid axle conversion? how does it ride? how does it flex? how does it feel on those pot wholly roads? Was it hard? did you use coil perches, shock perches, original tire rods and such form the solid axle set up and did you use the solid axles radius arms and radius arm brackets? Basically did you use all the 78-79 bracketry and stuff? How did you line it up? any welding? how many if any holes did you have to drill? if it was a bolt on affair for the most part, is there any exsisting wholes you can use to line everything up with and then just drill from there? Want to come down here and do mine?lol

 

I'll tell you in a few days how it rides. I still need to get a driveshaft made for the front. I actually used an axle from a 72 F-100 and currently awaiting the parts to swap from drum to disk. I still think that I can just change my knuckles out for the 95 ttb knuckles, but too late now as the chevy (ugh) parts are coming in this weekend. I have just posted a new thread asking if anyone has ever changed out the knuckles and axles from a 79 into a 72 (79 uses 297x u-joints where a 72 uses 260 joints), and the 77-79 knouckes are already set up for disk brakes.

As far as flex, it should work a lot better than the ttb, I went with a Skyjacker 6" lift for a 66-79 F-100/150 ($231 from 4wheelparts). All in all, everything has been a direct bolt in, I used most everything from the 72 axle (i.e. radius arms, radius arm brackets) and got a trac bar and steering stuff from a 92 F-350. The lift kit came with new coils, trac bar bracket and degreed "C" bushings, I will take it to a local 4x shop that will do the alignment for me and custom drop the radius arm brackes to reset my caster (?) in other words make sure my knuckles are pointed up and not at an angle. I did have to drill holes for the radius arm brackets as they are much longer than the stock ones.

Jeffs Bronco graveyard sells a complete kit with great instructions from $1800 to $5k depending on budget (not me, as I am really cheap/broke). Or you can go to the tech articles on this site and look for the "2x4 to 4x4 for '80 to '96 F-100/150's" article from Dan MacDonald. There is also another article from Daren Woods titled "Installing A 1978 F150 Straight Axle On A 1995 F150", that I got a lot of great info from.

Good luck, if you are good with tools and have some patience, you can make your truck really rock!!

Karl

 

O.K. last call for alcohol! I found a 85 f-150 , 4" lift 351 .40 over elderbrok everything. 33.12.50 x 10" deep wheels. I need to know for sure will the drive train work under my 95? it has a c-6 mine has a mazda 5spd. it is a short bed like mine is a short bed. I know some one is going to chime in and say why dont you just drive the 85? But I love my 95 and think it would look cool as hell if it was 4x and lifted. will it work? need to know asap?

 

The 85's front axle will mo demily work! You just need to get ALL of the brackets from the 85 and bolt them on your 95. The only thing you wil need to do is verify the axle ratio in the front and make sure it matches yours ('95). You could swap axles, but you will need to verify that the 85's rear has the speed sensor installed in the top of the diff. I would also use the 85's rear springs, provided that they are the same width. My 95 4wd has 3" leafs, but my dad's 95 F-150 4wd had 2 -3/4" Don''t know why, just must be a Ford thing.

If you want to keep your 5 speed, it may be more cost effective to sell the auto tranny/transfer case and go to the local junk yard and pick up a 5 speed tranny/transfer case. Either that or go to a tranny shop and have them change rear output to accept a transfer case (too much time/money if you ask me). Then cut the hole in the floor for the 4wd shifter. You should be able to use the 85's drive shafts.

Hook it up and off you go!!!! Like I said before, check the tech articles and aks questions if you get stuck.

Karl

P.S. I am LOVING my new straight axle 95 F-150 with 6" suspension lift and 35' Swamper Boggers!!! Still can't do the4wd thing yet (need front driveshaft )

 

Lets say that I wanted to go with the c-6 for sake of having a 4x now while looking for a ZF/1356 combo, will the c-6 bolt up to my 300I-6 if I get a automatic flywheel? Also, will the cross member, skid plates and stuff like that all bolt up to my frame width wise? Will I have to drill some holes ya think? Most Importantly, If the tranny will bolt to my 300, and the cross member gets installed and the drive shafts get hooked up to the axles and to the transfer case, How will I shift the thing? If it trully is a c-6, will it shift itself by way of a modulater valve (vacuum) or is it like the AOD and A4LD and have a stupid TB cable? and if it does have a modulater valve, then were would you mount it to on the 300 fuel injected motor? But, If has TB cable, how would you rig the thing? Also, will a NP 435 bolt to a 300I-6 if it is a small block bolt pattern? and would the resevoir from my 95 slave cylendar work with the np 435. (got a line one of those to and the same guy has a completely rebuilt Ford d44 TTB except the axle shafts are original and I can get that setup fairly reasonable, but no drive shafts). Any way I think I can get the 85 for 1200, the truck will flat romp. But I like the way the body style like mine looks when there lifted and 4x. I guess worst case senario, I could use the brackets for the rear leafs and use the lifted leafs on my truck, Then remove my front end and replace it with the TTB D44 along with the lift brackets. then just drive it lifted 2x/4x with my regular 5 spd. until I find the tranny/transfer case I want. Whats everyones opinion?