Hi there, as you can tell I'm a newbie here. I'm the owner of a 78 F350 that used to be my dump truck. I'm beat all to hell and have been forced into retirement.The truck is a rust and dent free 85,000 mile work truck that I intend to rebuild and use it to pull a 5th wheel RV around North America. I've been driving this truck for 9 years and I really like the bareness of the cab and the fact that it is one of the last trucks built with round lights(sept 78) it's also in better shape than me.
I bought a 89 F350 for a parts truck and I'm trying to decide if I should cut the cab off and swap cabs or if I should swap suspensions. My 78 is a regular cab with a 400 that I want to rebuild with a 4 speed that I'm getting rid of. The 89 is a regular cab with a 351w that I'll use until the 400 is done and a 5 speed zf that I'm keeping. Swapping the cab and front clip would be physically easier from what I can tell. I've also got a 77 f150 with a 400 and a box that I'm using for parts.
My thought is that with the 89 I'll have a more modern suspension that I can get upgrades for more easily than the 78, eg 3.54 rear gear, rims and brake parts. I've heard that this frame is stronger than my 78's. If any body out there has any experience with this kind of swap or possitive advice I would greatly appreciate it. Please note; I've had a lot of strangers and mindless idiots tell me how my truck is nothing more than a worthless piece of crap and I sick and tired of it, especially when most of these people are driving beat up rust boxes.
Once I've got my back yard rearranged I'll post some pictures. You'll see one of the few advantages of not being married, ha ha. Hopefully my girlfriend does'nt read this and I'll live long enough to finish the truck.
Thank you for reading this far and hopefuly someone out there can help with advice. I'll check the forum to see if anybody is doing a similar project. Let me know if this is posted in the wrong place. Sincerely, Perry

 

I don't know the factory specs, but I find it hard to believe that an '89 frame would be stronger than a Dentside's frame. These old rigs are built like tanks.

Assuming the suspension on the '89 is twin I-beam, I really don't think there would be an advantage to swapping them out. Suspension and brake parts for the '78 are still readily available.

 

i have a 1977 supercab f250 cab mounted on a 1990 f150 frame and fuel injected six cylinder engine(still building this truck), cab mounts are the only issue i found are a little off (cut and re weld to fit cab) i think it will make a cool old truck for you to ride around in

 

MY PREVIOUS RESPONSE TO VOCATEXAS WAS INAPPROPIATE I'M SORRY FOR SOUNDING LIKE AN A$$
Thanks for your response VocaTexas, when I get the deck stripped off of the 89 I'll compare frames and see what the differences are and make my choice depending on which option is easiest. It was my brother that told me that the 89 should have a stronger frame, but also confirmed that it would probably be easier for me to swap frames. He's been a dually ford owner and Ford dealer mechanic for over 30 years. He's now an independent with a customer base.
As for parts costs, I've found that used parts around here are well used and are pretty close to worn out, plus the parts on my truck are usually in better shape than the part for sale. The parts stores here have a tendancy to label anythihg in standard measurements as special order. I don't mind waiting for a part and paying the premium, but not when the package is dusty, opened and in thier warehouse.
I've got to rearrange my yard and clear some snow in order to get the 89 in my yard, this should be an adventure. I read the F100 build up last night, WOW that is a beautiful truck, the guy sure loves that truck and it shows. I,m not doing that kind of build up as I don't have the time or money, but I can sure appreciate the skill and talent that it took to build it. Thanks for responding and in the future I'll keep my correspondance on a more possitive note. Perry

 

Hi steve, thanks for the reply. I was hoping I could leave the mounts on the cab and if need be just redrill the frame, but I still need to strip the frame off the 89. Was, is there any alignment problems with the steering colum. For curiosity sake I'm thinking about keeping a finance leger but I've been told it would make me cry. Perry

 

hello i have not installed a steering column yet but i think the 1989 column will be a better fit without modifications, i redrilled my cab in the rear and mounted rubber cab mounts atop the frame rails and the positioned the front of the cab over the original 1990 frame mounts (used additional cab bushings for alignment) radiator support will line up close i just redrilled outhe holes a little, hope this helps.thanks

 

Just got my 89 home and did a quickie re con. Either it's got ball joints or ford reconfigured the ibeam king pins. My 90 cube van had normal king pins so I assumed this would have been the same. As for the steering colum the one in the 78 is nice and clean but the 89 has the key in the colum and has a key lock on the other side and such things elicit swear words from us good mennonite farm boys plus it has a steering lock when you take the key out. If need be I can make any adjustments that are nessessary. This new frame is no where near as clean as my 78 in fact it's almost scarry. I think I screwed up by eyeballing the truck and not measuring the wheel base. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out as I had to have the truck towed home and my alley/driveway was to slippery to jacknife in the truck, good ole winter time blues. I put a deposit on the truck last week and test drove it and it ran fine, tonight when I picked it up the clutch didn't work. and the guy acted surprised and said it worked fine when he moved his trailer with it on sunday. The cold weather up here can be rough on slave cylinders or it may just have to be reblead. I just need enough clutch to get it in the yard as I'm going to use the bellhousing off my 400 and it's a lever. I've got a 77 f150 coming in on tuesday and it's got a rebuildable 400 so I've got no shortage of motors or tranies. The 89 has a snit brown cloth seat that is going to replace my snit brown vynil seat for the time being, it makes a big difference on the driving experience at -30. thanks for the info Steve, check out that F100 build up(long post lots of pictures) it's worth the hour or so that it takes although it is kind of intimidating to industrial builders like me.

 

Steve, saw that naked truck video of yours, is that satin finish rattle can canyon black. last winter when I did my body work I bought 12 cans thinking it was flat. turned out to be a good mistake for once. You got to get posting and show us some pictures, that way we can cheer you on.

 

I've got pics as far as my garage but I must admit that computer usage and understanding is a definite weakness for me. I'd really would like to get a few of them posted so that you guys can see what I'm working on and with, plus it would make asking questions easier.

 

Find some youngster to show you how. Us old f$%#^ks don't know how what were doing.

 

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Plus, we'd like to see what you're working with.

Go to PhotoBucket.com or Tinypic.com and open an account. Follow the directions and upload your digital image files.

After uploading, note the image address or Universal Resource Locator (URL). For images, it is framed with these "tags" [img] and [/img]. Copy and paste the image address in your thread post. I'm not sure about photobucket, but Tinypic allows uploading of up to five files at one time.

 

Still trying this picture thing, be nice if this damn internet would stop going offline.
I don't know if this helps but here's a http thing. Ihope I got something to work.
Perrycolp's Library | Photobucket#
theres pictures in my garage and I found a nice pic for my avatar.For some reason my computer keeps freezing up and going offline, it won't get past the home page for tinypics so fast and easy sign up isn't to fast or easy.

 

Thanks for the link HIO Silver, it was really good timing, much appreciated.
I'm not a fan of crappy weather, but it's nice to have a day off after 5 days of cutting up truck decks. I'm all grindered out. Got a chance to put my $79 2 bbl rebuild kit in and I got to do it on the kitchen table. LoL! Guess I'll put it on tommorrow.
Theres a tow truck driver looking to build his own wrecker and he keeps asking about my flat plate. I keep telling him to go up the alley 3 doors and check out my 89. It's the perfect platform to build a wrecker on, but the dumba$$ just doesn't get the hint. I know the truck he has as I scoped it out last month plus he has the money to buy it and I might get a day or 2 of work out of it. Just enough to be a irritant, such is life.
Have a good weekend everyone. It's nap time for Bonzo, I'll update my library tomorrow.

 

P.S. Thanks Teds74ford your wiring thread is going to be a life saver for all us wiring rookies. A few less burnt down trucks I hope.

 

Finally got back to work stripping the 89. I had a tow truck driver bugging me while I was cutting up the 79's deck, he wanted a deck to build a wrecker body on. 3 times I told him to drive up the alley and check out the 89's deck. it's an ideal platform for a wrecker. He never figured out how to go up the alley and check it out.
A new guy named Chris showed up twice, needs a small deck for 2 round bales for feeding cattle, took pictures and base measurements. Called Friday a.m. for frame mount measurements, texted him pics of mounts. Wants deck but can't make it into town, he legitimately lives 30 miles out. we make arrangements for sat noon for him to pick up deck. I spend 7 hours cutting bolts, removing trailer hitch and lifting deck so that I can drive out my truck and drop it on his. Pulls a no show and won't even waste the 30 seconds to return call or even answer his phone.
This town is notorious for no shows and better late than nevers, especially on jobsites. I don't blame Easterners and Americans for not investing in this town or if they do they bring their own employees. I'll Have some "workmanship" pics in my library in a couple of days.
So I guess this one gets cut up also as it's in the way now.
I'm starting to see why my bro said I would be better off with this frame. I'll take pics when I do the workmanshp pics.