Don't know if here or the engine swap area is more appropriate?
So here's my back story...

Bought my first dentside 15+yrs ago, 1979 F250 Snowfighter Reg. cab, 8'bed, 400M/4 spd/NP205/ 3.54 D60s F/R(LS), converted to a dump flatbed at some point, with a 8' fisher plow, $500. Drove it on and off (mainly when it wanted to run....) for a year and a half, pushed snow awesome, which is all I cared about. Frame was really rotted.

Bought a '78 F150 4x4 to do a frame swap.. didn't do any research beforehand, didn't know about frame differences.. oh well body was decent..swapped bed on to the 250, yanked the body and nose and put it aside, sold the F150 chassis, made $$$, ... yeah, that's expanding foam holding the roof together and sign post body mounts.., whatever, it kept pushing snow. The rotted mess then..


I still have it, yard truck now..and maybe the flatbed for the Supercab?



I started looking for a frame again and found the Supercab in a junk yard waiting to be crushed. Plan was to cut the frame down for my Reg cab and part it out. There was no paperwork, so I didn't care. It had cut wiring, bent driveshaft, broken U bolts, bed falling through the frame, rotted shackles.. seemed like a junker, but the frame was good. I think it was $400 or $500 delivered to my house.

Ok the good stuff

1978 F250 SuperCab 4x4 400M/C6/NP205/D60 F&R 3.54. Factory AC Truck, bed tool box, fluid coolers on everything



Once I got it home and started going over it it was way too nice to cut up, decided to fix it up instead of cutting it up, so I parked it off to the side. Took almost a year to get the paperwork squared away, but I got it all legal. Been tinkering with it for a few years now. Got it running, I put the good bed on it, saved the side tool box out of the original bed, swapped on some good doors. I have all the good F150 sheetmetal for it, plus whatever I could save when I cut up the old F250. I have more pics somewhere I'll get up..

Got into Dodges and Cummins, bought a 1995 Reg cab 8'bed 2500 12V/NV4500/NP241HD/4.10 D60F D80R (LS), plow and tow packages, threw on some 35's on 06 dodge rims , 4" straight pipe, had the tranny rebuilt with a dual disk clutch, big input shaft, 3rd gear fix,etc. The t case went, that got rebuilt. Played with the pump. Drove it for a couple years till the thing started leaking more fluid than it held, put it down to regasket it and it stayed that way. I've parted out a couple other Dodge 2500s as well, so I have parts.
The donor


Just seemed natural to combine them...

I wanted to start a build thread, mainly for my own records, but to try to add more experience and tech. I've been lurking and wanting to do this for awhile, finally decided to pull the trigger. I've read, I think, ever conversion thread there is and I think I have a solid plan. I have a 6-8 month goal to have it "road worthy", time and $$$ will dictate that. Probably will never be finished, hopefully be my last truck.

First stage plans:
1978 Ford F250 Supercab body, frame, front D60
1995 12V Cummins/NV4500/NP241HD/D80 rear
2001 Super Duty "X" code front springs
1997 Dodge 2500 rear springs
Hydroboost

I don't have the hydroboost set up, local pick a parts haven't had any, probably going to buy it all new/remaned. Should I get F-Superduty or 99+ SD setup? Need to figure out a master cylinder, the D80 has chevy 1 ton wheel cylinders, probably step up one size on the master.

Gotta get some 4.10s for the front, would like a locker, don't see the $$$ being there, maybe if I can sell some stuff.

I need to get u bolt plates and u bolts to flip the front and rear. Make longer front shackles.

I need to measure the Dodge rear, might need to move pads, I think the frames are different widths, probably need to move hangers on the frame, think the dodge springs are longer than the Fords, haven't measured yet. I have some Carli 3" full leafs and 7100's for the dodge, might use that, idk, I want weight capacity. I have a variety of dodge and ford frame leaf spring brackets I'm going to use to dial in rear height, I want to eliminate the blocks.

Looking for 2-3" lift total, might have to drop the front mounts, don't know what the stock SD springs will do for lift.


I'll be back....

10/20/16 - I'm posting across multiple forums for the knowledge base, I'might working on merging everything.

 

Any true gear head would not be able to run a crusher. I hate to think of how many trucks
Ike that have been crushed...... Good save, subscribing....

 

I love Rock Auto. I have been able to use it's database to figure out cross platform parts interchange. This build is going to be a combination of as many factory parts as possible. I want to be able to source parts at any store if need be, and I'm going to try to make it looks somewhat like they were put there by Ford. Parts will mainly be sourced from 1978/79 Ford F250/F350's, 1994-2002 Dodge Ram 2500/3500's, 1997- down(OBS) F250/350, and 1999+ Ford SD, based off the heaviest GVRW of the model.

Ok, so I'm figuring out what I'm doing with the braking/hydroboost/steering system right now. This is the tech I've come up with.

I have a hydroboost and master from a 1999 F350 SD coming. 4 wheel disks. Looks like a 1.375" (1 3/8") bore, too big for now, I'll put aside for a rear disk upgrade.

My 1978 Ford F250 looks like it should have the 1.0625 (1 1/16") bore master, the one in my truck is good as far as I can tell. 12.5" front disks, dual piston caliper, piston size 2.18" dia × 1.89" long, effective piston area 14.93 square inches; rear 12" × 3" drums with 25.4mm ( 1.0") bore wheel cylinder.

The 1995 Dodge has a 1.25"(1 1/4") bore master. 12.5" front disks, single piston caliper, piston size - 3.384" dia × 2.18" long, effective piston area 8.99 square inches; rear 13"×3.5" drums with 30mm (1.181" / appx 1 3/16") wheel cylinder ( 1 ton chevys, upgraded from stock Dodge 27 mm [ 1.062" / 1 1/16"] bore)

So after looking at all that, and knowing the Dodge brake system worked well, especially after the bigger wheel cylinders, I'm going to run the hydroboost with the Dodge 1.25" (1 1/4") master. With the huge Ford calipers and the bigger wheel cylinders, I think I'll get a good pedal range/ feel. It's an aluminum unit, I belive.. need to go look, and has SAE fitting on the correct side.. win/win

Right nowI'm planning on running the 1978 4x4 steering box, tapping it for hydro assist, and a hydroboost PS pump from a 1997-2002 Dodge. I need to do a little more research, I think I want to have the hydroboost and pump ported, seems hydro assist could, maybe, might?...overtax the system in certain situations. I might try going to a 2WD box, mounted outside the frame, I'm still looking at steering options, would like to go crossover, but I don't think I'll have clearance at my low height.


Be back...

 

Finally some pictures...What I started with, right after being dropped of the rollback..



hehe, my neighbors old deuce in the background, it had a White multi fuel engine it it, was a beast, he used it to log his family's property.


The 1978 F150 that donated a body. Supposedly it was a multiple World of Wheel winner in the late 80's/early 90's. It had aluminum diamond plate rocker guards and a matching bed liner

you can see the bed liner here..and some parts..

and where it sits, literally today..the donor dodge in the background. The beds just sitting on the frame for now, i want to set my flatbed on, see if i like it or not...I got all the damaged panels swapped out, just need to work on the cab, both Cab corners, inside the drivers door back pillar, floor patches and around the windshield is rotted on the pass side. That's going to be interesting.



mocked up 2006 Dodge rims and 315/70/17 off the 1995 Dodge donor, i don't like the front hub hanging outside the tire. Still looking at options, I'd really like to run them.


jacked up 2" to about where i want to end up. Looking at the pic it isn't really noticeable, maybe another 1". I'd like to run a 37/38" tire and be able to do some light wheeling. The 315/70/17 measures 34.5 actual dia, so I don't see 38" being an issue. Oh yeah, I'm not afraid to cut clearance in if i need it.


nice headliner..

Interior is decent, bench is out of my old F250, I'm probably going to run the Dodge seats until i can get something heated in leather.

more parts...stupid jump seats are coming out..i don't have kids..only thing they are good for..

Truck appears to have come out of VT, I have no history on it. Ziebart probably saved it even thought is sucks to remove to do metal work..

The one spot of rot that could be an issue. I have a spare roof skin and the cab off the F150 if i need it

 

Subscribed... LOVE the wrecker! Makes me want to jerk the cab off mine now. You can see everything going on!

 

Slow progress, started stripping the plow frame/front end. I've been working on figuring out what wires were cut and which harnesses need replacing, I believe I have all good harness to replace them. Found some rot at the cowl/firewall seam, doesn't look too bad, I need to pull the A/c box..it won't be hooked up for a couple years probably, I think I'm going to make a block panel and just run the non-ac ducting from the parts truck for now, i only really need heat at this point.

I wasn't planning on putting this on the road till the motor swap was done. Well my other 79 f250 yard truck popped the radiator the other week, I went to pull it and found the frame is in WAYYYY worse shape than I though, motor mount is collapsing, tranny crossmember is almost rotted off one side, so it's done. I started stripping it of any usable parts, which consisted of a recently rebuilt holley 2 bbl W/elec choke, a really nice Y pipe and some 3" pipe and generic muffler. I have an old 3" flowmaster 50. I'm going to go to the PickAPart this week, hopefully, to find a correct length driveshaft, maybe some exhaust pieces. I need to grab some rear U bolts. Some quick harness swapping, bolt on a fender, clean up the brakes...I think that's all I need to get this thing roadworthy for the time being, at least good enough for around town. My DD needs tires, so I either put a few hundred into those or a few hundred into this and have a 4x4 truck, which i have 2 sets of tires for already...no brainer..

I figure I can do the front spring/rear suspension work while i drive it and get the 12vavle ready- re-gasket, KDP, advance timing, AFC mods, 4K gsk, rack plug, port and mount he351cw.

here's the Hydrobboost I got, I think I've seen them run upside down to get the accumulator to the other side for a little more clearance. yes/no? anyone know anything about that?


I have more pics with measurements I'll try to get up soon, Photobucket doesn't want to cooperate, i just wasted like an hour trying to update this...

 

Had some good luck yesterday. Going through my dodge parts I found the '95 f350 d60 knuckles/spindles/hubs, etc I picked up to swap my dodge to manual lockouts..I forgot i had them. I wasn't looking forward to tearing my hubs apart just to drill them for 9/16" studs, now I don't have to. I had also bought all new bearings/ seals/ rotors, pads, etc.. so I just need to figure out if there are BJ/KP specific parts I need to swap out and get the **** painted.

Opinions on leaf spring clips. The SD clips are held in with a rivet. One of my clips are broke. I'm not impressed with the replacement sheetmetal wrap clips. I was going to fab new ones, straight sides with a cross bolt on top. How are people attaching them? I was going to cut down a bolt, get it cherry and beat it in for a rivet. Then I got to thinking, there's no real load on them, a standard gr5/8 countersunk head bolt should work fine, right?

 

Every piercing through a spring is a new weak point. Not as much on the ends as more so in the middle. But still creates a weak point. every break I've ever seen has been at either the center bolt or the factory clamp / rivet.

I use 1" X 1/4" flat stock and cut to length best I can. More is always better. Then drill about a 3/8" hole in the middle of the flat stock. Then I tack weld up into the bottom of the bottom spring through the hole I just punched where I want it to set. Then wrap the flat stock around the springs one side at a time while overlapping the two ends of the stock by using clamps and the hot wrench and taking my time to keep everything lined up nice and pretty. Be sure to cut the first ear off flush with the other side of the top spring and even bevel the end a tad for the other ear of the flat stock to wrap over. And lastly weld the 2 overlapping ears of the flat stock together up on top.

Just keep in mind also the more spring clamps you fab and the tighter you make them and the more towards the ends you go the stiffer it makes the ride. I've used wood blocks to make more breathing room before for more travel but you better weld the ears together as good as possible.

I've done this quite a few times on other people's rigs and never heard back so I assume the technique works??? Especially considering how the folk I've done this for beat their rigs. LOL

 

This is why I don't like the wrap type clips, they don't look like they have room to let the spring move properly. I've done a bunch of reading on it. You don't want the leaves clamped too tight together or you'll get a harsher ride for multiple reasons. The leaves can't slide freely on each other, it compromises any progressive rate the pack might have in compression and they can't unload from each other on the rebound stroke. All of which contributes to a harsh ride.

There's a gap spec between the top of a spring and the clip ears/cross bolt to get the best ride while still containing the spring. I read the spec for my superduty springs last week, it wasn't much, something 3/32" . I didn't bookmark the page , but I have another spring I can reference. I know you can go with more space on the clips to get more flex out of it, one reason I want to bolt them on, maybe I'll want to change down the road. I'll use the existing rivet hole and just grab some countersunk head bolts that fit.

 

I'm new to the forum thing. I'm going to do a Cummings swap into a 1978 F250 4x4, but first thing I just realized is that I believe my flatbed is to heavy for the F250. It's an all metal bed with toolboxes. I've only owned for 3 months. I noticed a sway in the roundabouts that we have and was looking over the truck. Noticed that there is only one clip on the rear leaf on the front of it and the springs have moved side to side. I figure I have two options, 1) produce a clip for the rear of the spring, but that doesn't solve my weight problem. 2) put in the rear from my doner dodge. 97 dually 4x2. any input? I'm going to double ck my measurements. If memory is recalled the dodge leafs are 3" longer. I figure I would use the front of rear leaf brackets on the ford where they are and extend the rear bracket back on the ford frame, that will give me a longer wheel base or see if the dodge spring will fit into the ford bracket without moving them. I doubt that will work. I'm figuring the dually should raise the rear a little and be able to handle the weight of the all metal flatbed. once I get it installed I'll look at the driveshaft and alter at that point if needed. Any thoughts?

 

I would use the hangers a shackles from the dodge, then get the axel centered where it should be, then the wheelbase stays the same.

 

I don't mind the longer wheel base. With the flatbed I don't have to worry about a wheel well centering. I figured if I use the ford factory hanger it would be aligned. I'm looking for feed back.

 

I never did this, but here is what's in my notes. The Dodge springs are 27 7/8" front, 32 1/8 rear. The Ford spring is 25" front, 31 1/2" rear. In order to keep the wheelbase the same you'll need to move both brackets. If you only want to move one bracket, I'd move the front bracket 3 1/2" forward, it'll move the wheel about 5/8" forward. If you move the rear mount back, it'll push the axle back 2 7/8", you might run into wheel well clearance issues during suspension travel. The wheel moves up and back during suspension movement. Just try and keep a close to stock shackle angle for the best weight handling. The Dodge springs and shackle SHOULD fit in the Ford frame brackets, it's all 3" stuff. You'll still need to move the spring perches on the Dodge axle, they're about 1/2" - 1" closer together than the Fords.

 

double post

 

Dodge frame brackets won't work great on the Ford frame, that was my original plan. The dodge and ford frames are slightly different widths and shapes. The dodge frame brackets aren't as wide as the Ford's and would move the springs 1" in towards the frame on each side, so you'd still need to move axle perches. It also looks like the frame would need notching or an access hole to get the bolts out if you used dodge frame brackets. I have a pile of hangers and i was trying to get a combo to work so I didn't have to cut and weld the perches. Stock Ford frame brackets and moving the perches made the most sense.

I didn't realize you had a flatbed, I was thinking utility body. Move the axle wherever you want. I just measured my truck, you could move the rear mount back 3.5" no problem, it'll end up around the rear crossmember.