Newbie here... I own a 1991 f-250 4x4 diesel with a 7.3L
I have developed a clutch issue where the pedal has become disconnected from the clutch. I use the truck for my sawmill fetching logs, delivering wood etc... It is not ideal due to the standard box on it. I have found a 1993 with the 7.3L in it but it is not a 4x4 it has a stake bed and it is a dually which will be much better for my needs at the mill. The engine is blown in the 1993 so i will get it fairy cheap at $500-1000.

My question is can I swap the motors between the two trucks with out there being a problem? I am pretty sure the motors are the same but my concern lies with the trans. With one being a 4x4 and the other a 2x4 will there be problems with the swap?

If I can pull this off I would rather pay to swap motors than to fix the clutch issue. The price quoted for the clutch fix is roughly half of the motor swap.

 

The motors will swap fine. The transmissions are different at the back end, but the same at the bellhousing end.

 

Thank you for the info Phy. Is there any way to swap the trans and make the tail end the same? Knowing that swapping the motors will be fairly straight forward I was wondering about the trans because I had a new clutch put in the '91 5000-6000 miles ago. My local parts store told me that the clutches themselves are the same part number so I would just swap those at the same time if cant make the trans work somehow.

 

the short answer is no. most transmissions have a different output shaft for 2 vs 4 wheel drive models, so swapping them directly would require disassembling both and building the rear of the one onto the front of the other. your transmissions both work fine, so that would be a waste.
what you want to do is pull the engine by disconnecting it from the transmission, take the clutch and the hydraulics related to it, putting the good parts on the engine you plan to use, and drop it all in.

 

Check into your clutch a little more first. Make sure it's not a cracked firewall, or worn clutch pedal bushing, both issues on their own, but combined would seem like a major clutch failure.

Both are fairly easy, cheap things to fix, and may be what your truck needs. Some tranny shops wouldn't know about either of these issues, and could easily miss them.

 

This 93, if it has a driveline brake (F-superduty) then your transmission will swap over. Or, there is a couple different ways to do this. Are both vehicles the same wheel base? You could swap the motor tranny and t-case from yours and use your drivleline. Sure you would have a t-case in there you would never use but so be it. Youre that much farther ahead if you ever plan to do a 4x4 swap. You can convert your truck to a dually, and swap beds.

If i may ask, what is the significance in keep your transmission?

 

If you put the 4x4 transmission and transfer case into the 2wd truck, you could use 4lo around the mill for some tractor like gearing. Of course it will only be 2wd, just with a low range. Ive been wanting to do this with my dump truck for getting around in tight areas.

 

I didnt even think about that, and i use 2wd low all the time lol.. it really is a great utility.

 

Hey thanks everyone who had input on this for me. I was never really hell bent on keepin my trans from the 91 I was just wondering because the clutch was so new but that can be switched either way.

I met with the owner of the 93 today and he was tough to deal with. I was pretty intent on getting close to $1000 for his truck. I offered him $600 cash right there but he wouldn't take it. I would have offered more but the batteries were dead and I couldn't see what the exact mileage was plus he wanted to swap out the rear tires with some beat up ol things that may not have even held air. I called later in the day to offer my truck on top of the $600 so he could junk it and keep the money once everything was swapped he said he would think it over.... If the deal falls into place I will be sure to share the outcome.

 

The clutch goes with the engine, so that's covered, but throwing a truck away is a bit extreme over what's really a simple issue since everything is external on your truck. There are two basic failures of a clutch release system like this, mechanical failure or hydraulic failure. A mechanical failure would be a bad release fork, or the throwout bearing totally failed. You'd notice that though since it would be really loud and might even lock the engine up if it didn't just rip the fingers off the clutch pressure plate. The pushrod could have popped off the pedal, you can see that under the dash above the accelerator pedal.
A hydraulic failure may or may not produce a leak, but they usually do. The slave cylinder on the transmission or the master cylinder on the firewall can lose a seal, or a hole can be melted or worn through the plastic line between them. Usually a failed master cylinder will put brake fluid on your shoes, while any other leak will be external.
Look up under your dash, and while you move the clutch pedal make sure the pushrod for the master cylinder is moving. If that checks out, check the fluid level in the clutch master cylinder, it'll look low if it's at the proper level since the rubber bladder takes up a good portion of the volume there. If it's empty, you have a leak, so add some brake fluid and have someone move the clutch pedal up and down while you look for fluid dripping.