Oh I can no take responsibility for writing that, just for the copy and pasting of it. F350 (Ed) is the author, to bad he is not on FTE anymore, great guy with lots of knowledge.

I copy and past his advice alot, he has a great write up on "buliding a truck" and SD leaf swap to a 73-79. I have that stuff saved to word doc for re-reading every so often and post when it looks like it will help.

Thanks for the attempt to rep, YOU are the one that needs REPPING with all the awesome information you provide and of course grumpy..lol...aka Number Dummy gets a pat on the back too.

K.B.Joe thanks for the rep....

 

Thanks KBJ for the "rep by remote". and Rich, you still deserve the reps for the copy and paste. It was relavent and informative even though you weren't the original author.

 

I would prefer my truck, whether its a 2wd or a 4x4 to be engineered that way from the factory for a lot of reasons, not the least being resale value.

 

My truck was free and,is simply a toy, I was just wondering what if. I've got a good idea for a hot rod style truck.

 

I'm sort of torn on this subject, if the truck is in nice original cond. and unmolested by multiple previous owners, it should stay that way and be taken care of. If its a beater and you want a offroad rig and have the skills to fabricate plus money to do so, I say go for it. First thing to do is remove all the 2wd hardware i-beams,radius arms/brakets, coils/buckets. After thats all done its not that hard to add a x-member to the front of the frame with springhangers and atleast a set of 6'' leaf springs (I say leafs because its easier to fab mounts for and works better than coils IMO) to clear the engine x-member. And also you will need to relocate the steering box and build custom steer linkage. The route easiest to take for installing a transfer case would be to use a remote/divorced mounted np205 t/c. this will require a custom x-member to mount in the frame and allow you to keep your current motor/trans setup. This particular system uses a short d-shaft between the trans and t/c letting you retain the 2wd trans. If you can handle all this the t/c shift linkage will be easy to do.

As others have said this is alot of work/money and for most people, starting with a 4x4 to begin with is a much easier route. The great thing about these trucks is that you have options when it comes to suspensions, if you prefer coil spring front susp. get yourself a half ton (f100/f150) and if leafsprings is your thing find a 3/4 or 1ton (f250/f350)

 

My truck is pretty beat, it sat in my grandpas field with goat for 25ish years. The original trans doesn't concern me, I wanna zf 5 speed. The truck is useful for its engine (300 i6, runs great), frame, rear axle, and cab. the bed is trashed, the tail gate and taillights are long gone. I may look for a 4x4 in need of an engine and use ugly as a parts truck.

 

I have a similar question to the first thread. I also have a 2wd ford. 1977 f150custom. I recently bought a 68 f250 highboy chassis, axles and all. Would this be a good match or am I gonna run into a bunch of problems? Any ideas are greatly appreciated. thanks

 

I believe you will have some frame width issues, especially in the back half. Requiring you to drill new mount holes in the cab and the bed?

Time to get the tape measure out and get to it. Also I do not believe you will have p/s or p/b provisions on the chassis and that could call for some extra work to get it to work with your top half.

And you would need to transfer the complete wiring harness.....

68 is a closed knuckle front end, sorry to say it has a bad reputation for leaking and some other issues I can't remember at the moment.

But I imagine with enough time and money anything can be done, I'd rather go find a 78/79 that is already 4x4 and save yourself alot of time and work. Unless you have alot of time, I doubt it would be a weekend body swap project.

 

I have a new front axle for it, with disc brakes and powersteering. The guy I bought the frame from said everything should mount up, my biggest concern was that too. The mounts on the body have all been reinforced because it use to be a pulling truck, And with the wiring harness I was just gonna take it to the new frame when i switch the body over. i know there is a couple diffrent steering boxes I can use. Just got outta high school and have been wanting to do this to my truck since I got it when I was 16.

 

Sounds like quite a project, 78/79 steering box is what you will want, as far as "should" bolt on....??

Here is a link to some folks that can help you with locating all the pieces and parts and probably some advice.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...HE6x4LMv0rYK0Q