I'm thinking about replacing the bed and possibly even the cab due to rust on my project '76 F250 4x4 for my son. This was an old ranch truck.

Bed: When my son took off the old headache rack / bed rails we found significant rust completely through all along both bed caps.

Cab: there is significant rust in several spots around the rear window, a side window drip guard and in several spots along the windshield where it rusted through both the outer and inner walls. I'm thinking it's cost prohibitive to consider having either repaired.

I did a little searching and found a salvage place that has a '75 F150. Both the cab clip and bed are in 'A' condition and they are asking $700 for both, and they will pull off the chassis and I will pick them up in person.

1. Is $700 reasonable if they are rust and dent free?
2. Am I correct in thinking the cab and bed are identical between f150 & f250?
3. I've never pulled a cab before but other than being time consuming and removing / labeling everything in some sort of order it shouldn't be to bad?

All thoughts welcomed....

Thank you!

 

1973/76 F100/250 8' Styleside beds are the same, but the mounting holes are in a different location due to the High Boy's 33 1/2" width between the inner frame rails behind the cab.

1973/76: F100 2WD/4WD & F250 2WD; 1975/76 F150 2WD/4WD: The width between the inner frame rails behind the cab is 37 1/2."

 

No, they're not quite the same, but you can use them anyway.
The 73 to mid-77 F250 4WD used a narrow frame, its a few inches narrower than the F100-250 2WD.
The sheetmetal is identical, it's just the mounting holes are drilled in a different place.
The front cab mounts are in the same location. The rear cab mounts are are wider on the 4WD cabs The eight mounting holes for the bed are closer together on the 4WD trucks. You can either drill holes in the bed or fabricate small mounts and weld them to the outside of the frame rail to mount the bed using the original holes.

 

Ah, yes I remember that now which brings up an important question.

At some point this trucks frame was cut/welded (before we acquired it) right around between the cab & bed. When I ran the door tag vin# it came back as a '76 F250 2wd. I verified the VIN# on the door matches the frame and the title but this is a 4x4 truck. If I remember correctly, when I found the # on the frame it was rear of the weld so assuming at least the rear portion was from a 2wd.

So I just went and measured the outside frame width in several places.

Under the engine is ~33.5" outside
At the bed/cab is ~35" outside.
Ahead of the rear axle is ~38" outside.
About centered under the fuel tank is ~37.5" outside.

So can you confirm, is the complete frame from a 2wd or is it a mix?


Thank you!

 

So the rear frame is indeed from a 2wd truck so this f150 bed would be identical, correct?

Actually the weld on the drivers side is right where the cab and bed meet. On the passenger side it's welded right around the rear of the front spring shackle.

Sorry for any confusion..

 

The VIN is stamped 2 times along the passenger frame rail. One below the passenger floor pan and again on the front passenger side in the engine bay area. Only for sure way would be to pull out the flapper wheel and go to work?

 

Back about a month or so ago, when I searched for the VIN, I looked very closely for the other frame vin in the engine bay area but couldn't find anything. I think I recall reading something about not all models had the VIN stamped near the engine compartment.

I guess it really doesn't matter since the rear portion is a 2wd frame and the bed & cab I located are on a f150 so they should fit as-is.

Thanks!

 

The whole point is whether the bed and cab interchange. If there's a possibility of some strange frame work being done, the easiest thing to do is measure the bolt spacing on the two beds.

 

Agreed .

I was just hoping to determine what I was up against. The cab & bed are located in another state, about a 9hr drive.

 

Oh, yeah, that would complicate matters. Not as simple as just go out and measure.
Regardless, it's not that difficult. Narrow and wide frame cabs and beds interchange, its just a little more work than if you're going narrow to narrow.

 

Sorry another question so I get it right. The frame from the back of the cab to the rear is the wider 2wd f250 frame but the cab & forward is a 4x4 frame.

I measured and the rear cab mounting bolts are 24" apart so I'm assuming the cab is a 4x4 High Boy cab? Can someone confirm this and what's the bolt spacing of a 2wd cab?

If so, do I have to find a 4x4 cab or can a 2wd cab's rear mounting bolt
holes in the cross-member be moved/re-drilled?

Thanks!

 

The width between the inner frame rails behind the cab on 1973/79 F100, 1975/79 F250 2WD, 1975/79 F150 is 37 1/2."

The width between the inner frame rails behind the cab on 1973/77 F250 4WD (High Boys) & 1973/79 F350 Regular Cabs on the 140" wheelbase is 33 1/2."

No such thing as a 4WD cab. ALL 1973/79 F100/350 Regular Cabs use the same cab, front fenders.

1973/79 4WD's use a different left fender inner apron than 2WD's.

 

Awesome, thank you sir for the clarification. That makes sense because the rear cab bolts to a cross-member not the actual rails.

I'm assuming there are 'cover plates' for things like transfer case shifter on a 2wd truck?

 

Maybe same cabs but prepped differently from factory. The rear mounting holes for all highboys and all F350's (along with all supercabs) are wider than a standard F100 cab. The rear cab mounts of highboys / F350's are to the outside of the frame where as a F100 is mounted to bushings that sit in the center along top of a cross member.

Been there, done that. You will need to drill new holes to use a standard cab on a highboy. Funny though, highboys have extra top holes/grommets lined up to the inside but no bolt holes drilled if you were to go the other way. But regular cabs do not.

 

Here's the illustration from the parts catalog. It shows the difference between the 2WD and 4WD rear cab mounts.
In it, you can see that the rear cab mounts on the 4WD cabs bolt to brackets that are riveted to the outside of the frame rail. On the 2WD cabs, the mounts bolt to a crossmember inside the frame rails.