Just got a 93 F250 7.3 4x4. I am hoping to make this my keeper.

picked it up for $700, it needed a tranny.

I got it home and got the dead tranny out, I noticed the front drive shaft is missing, and looks like it has been missing for a LOOONG time. crudded up dirt, etc.

Im assuming the front was locking up or giving them issues so they just removed the front drive line. (tried calling, but no answer, go figure)

How difficult is it to unbolt the entire front alxe, hubs, leafsprings and all, and swap one on from another truck?

my truck says it has axle code 35, Front GAWR: 3968LB, Rear GAWR: 6084LB

I found one with axle code C5, Front GAWR: 4410LB, Rear GAWR: 6084LB

my understanding is the C5 means the rear end has a limited slip Diff, I noticed that the front had 3 leaf springs instead of 2 like my truck. I am thinking of grabbing both the front and rear axles for the limited slip and 3 leaf springs, etc. I also noticed the rear axle had what appears to be a factory overload leaf with frame mounted stoppers

 

How hard depends mostly on how rusted up the hardware is. However FWIW I have a complete D50 with 3.55s from an IDI 88 F250 available. PM me if you want details.

 

your truck came with the dana 50 TTB.that's what your looking for if you want to keep the front low (so that you can keep the rear lower for easier loading) and get better fuel economy.another would be cheapest by far and a direct bolt in.
if you want the D60,that's a pretty straight forward swap as well.those sell for much higher prices.often 5-7x the cost of the ttb.they make the truck sit higher,so then the rear needs to be lifted to match and or gain some rake.fuel economy will go down,the higher the truck sits.
you do not want 3 leafs up front.it will ride horrible.
maybe there's nothing wrong with the front axle,perhaps the t-case is frigged up or something.don't just toss parts at it.investigate first.

 

well with the front drive line out, turning where it hooks up to the front diff by hand, it spins the wheels.... it should only do that when the hubs are locked.... so either the front diff is screwed up or the hubs are screwed up.

The 3 leafs up front on the other truck look stock, did the F250s ever come with 3 leafs as an option? I definitely dont want a horrible ride...

Maybe I should take some pictures of the truck I have found with the C5 axle and the 3 leafs up front.

EDIT: after looking at it again and thinking about it more, the differential is actually doing its job, I think the issue is with the locking hubs.

I plan on towing a 40ft 5th wheel, would the extra spring up front help with that? or is it pretty much just the back springs to worry about there.

 

here is a picture of the one with 3 leafs, is that stock or did somebody add that? and would it help at all with towing a 40ft 5th wheel or is it mostly going to just cause me a rough ride? If theres not much benefit to the 3rd leaf then Im not going to bother.

 

need to find a diesel shop in Washington that can test how well my injector pump is functioning and also test my injectors.

 

Number of leafs doesn't matter, all that matters is it riding level.

Where in Washington?

 

well I am in Hoodsport, WA but if I have to I can go anywhere west of the mountains.

 

What's to test anyway, does it run well? If yes, then it's working fine. There isn't much to it. You've been in the IDI section, you know this.

 

there is grey smoke while running, and it takes a little longer to start than the other truck. Ill have to do a seconds count later to see exactly but i think it takes like 10-20 seconds, the other truck only takes a few seconds. Also the kid said he turned up this pump, im betting too much. but your right, the other truck starts faster so I should prolly just swap the pumps and see if it makes it start up faster and have less smoke.

The one Im keeping has 247k the other is around 340k, I dont have service records for either.

I am planning on doing a compression test later too just to see where Im at.