Today I found a long bed 75' F150 Explorer with a 360 and a bad tranny. It has the bed side tool box and it that cool orange color with the white Explorer stripes. I had a dream of a Cummins powered, 1 ton 4x4, but I think that is out of my price range right now, so since this truck is a F150, I was thinking a Dana 44 front and granny low 4spd.

I used to have a poorly built 79' that had a built 429CJ, C6 and a NP 208 (?) Dana 44 front and Dana 60 rear. The truck had 44" Boggers at the time of purchase which were swapped for 38.5 Groundhawgs, then reduced again to 35" Swampers. I also swapped the Dana 60 rear for a 9" so my lug pattern would match. After spending a couple grand getting a bunch of the problems fixed.. I sold the truck.

For this truck, I am thinking a 4" lift and 36" all terrains. I want the truck to be able to be daily driven for my wife to take to work (30 mile round trip) and functional if I want to cruise the beach or ride some trails. The wife works for DuPont at their Titanium mine, so she will need the 4x4 as well. What are my best choices for tranny and transfer case? Also I have always heard maximum tire size is 37" on a Dana 44 and 38" on a 9" rear... So is 36" safe for these axels? Thanks for the input.

 

Forgot to mention the truck is a Supercab.

 

A C6 and an NP205 with lockers front and rear driving at least 3.73s with 36-inch tires. I've got 3.50s and run 35s and it's a lil doggy off the line in second with an NP435. Of course, first gear climbs like a billy goat.

 

Found a complete donor 76' F150 with 4.10's and lockers. The tranny is a 4spd... Motor is junk and body is rusty.