All, I recently bought a 2003 Ford F250 7.3 FX4 form the salvage auction. The car has had a heavy hit to the drivers side that pushed the cab all the way to the frame.

The cab is tweaked enough to the point where the shut lines on the other side are not straight and the engine has moved forward. My initial thought was to find a cab but I suspect that as heavy as the truck was hit, I suspect the frame is bent.

I found a flood damaged 2003 2WD F250 with a 5.4 motor. I'm kicking the idea around of swapping electrical and drive train over from the 7.3 to the 5.4.

Given the 5.4 gas and 2WD, is there any differences between the frame and the cab?

Thanks

 

As long as they are the same wheelbase and cab/bed configuration, the frame should be the same, as would the cab shell.

I am going to be doing a similar swap in the next few months myself. I have a 2000 7.3L/ZF6/4x4 and my cab and frame are rotted beyond repair. I bought a 2003 2wd/5.4L/Auto truck with bad motor and missing trans. Frame is solid and the cab has virtually no rust. So, my drivetrain will be transplanted into the "new" frame and cab.

From what I have been told by the local SuperDuty experts ( a couple guys who have cornered the local market on SuperDuty parts trucks), along with I have found on the internet, it will be necessary to completely strip each truck down to bare bones, and take EVERYTHING from my diesel truck and move it to the replacement. You'll need to do the same. That means also stripping the cabs down to sheet metal, so you transfer over all wiring and of course the diesel dash.
On the front end, all the holes for the 4x4 parts will already exist in the 2wd frame. You'll just need to remove all the 2wd front suspension parts and brackets.

You didn't say whether your diesel truck and the donor gas truck are stick or auto. That's important. The middle of the floor pan is different, with the stick truck having a bigger "hump". If your diesel is a stick and the gas cab is not, then you will need to cut out the center hump/trans tunnel from the stick truck and transfer it to the new cab. I acquired a spare trans tunnel, so I can prep my new cab before I take my current truck out of service.

Which brings me to the next point. If you are going to do this, be prepared to spend a couple thousand dollars on other parts to do "while your there". There are many maintenance items on the 7.3L that are very difficult to do with the engine in, such as the oil pan, motor mounts, various leak prone plugs and seals, oil cooler, exhaust manifolds, turbo up-pipes, etc...... You'll kick yourself if you don't do them while its out, and end up having to pull everything apart again soon. I will also be replacing my entire p/s and hydroboost system while its apart. I am also seriously considering having all underhood exhaust parts ceramic coated as well.
I plan to also take the opportunity to thoroughly clean and rust proof my entire chassis, the cab inside and out, the bed top and bottom, as well as possibly dyna-matting the cab. Now is the time to do it. Once and for all. The cab and frame will never be so thoroughly open and exposed again.

 

Thanks for the detailed answer, I've decided to go yet another way as I bought another 2003 7.3 (2wd, sb) f250 XLT. This one had something fall on the bed and crush it and also damage the rear of cab corner. The damage is minor and can be pulled.
The truck runs well, interior is in good shape (XLT cloth). I will swap the Lariat interior from the one with the caved in side into this one along with the overhead info system. This quest all started when I bought a 2002 7.3 dually last year that had some parts (computer, interior guages etc) removed.

I wanted to fix it up but prices were astronomical for parts, so I went searching for a parts car. I found an SRW F350 which was hit in the rear (lightly) and thought i would use it as a parts car but it was too good to part, so I fixed it up.

I found this second F250 which was also too nice aside from the caved in cab so I bought a 3rd F250 with a nice cab but a damaged bed.

Now have a plan...I will swap the bed and interior from the first f250 lariat FX4 to the second f250 XLT. I will use the XLT interior in the dually along with the dash from the FX4 and the computer and keep or sell the 4x4 parts.


If I get lucky, I may end up with one nice truck and some of my money back