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If you are keeping the '66 F250 wheelbase you might want to look at removing the twin I beam from the '66 frame and moving over the '79 4WD crossmember. I'm in the process now of converting a '66 from 2WD to 4WD using a '78 F150 donor. Takes some work but everything pretty much fits together without any issues.
I thought about that but figured it would be easier to splice the 2 together. I cut the rear off the '66 today but I got side tracked, I'm gonna try to cut out the 11" piece tomorrow. Because of the location of the rear cab mounts I couldn't cut it where I wanted to so I moved my cut to 20" in front of the rear cab mount, so I have to also remove the 11" from behind the cab mounts. Gonna be a double splice.
I thought about that but figured it would be easier to splice the 2 together. I cut the rear off the '66 today but I got side tracked, I'm gonna try to cut out the 11" piece tomorrow. Because of the location of the rear cab mounts I couldn't cut it where I wanted to so I moved my cut to 20" in front of the rear cab mount, so I have to also remove the 11" from behind the cab mounts. Gonna be a double splice.
Looking good. I decided to leave the rear long, easier to haul lumber . Mine's a step side, much easier to splice than yours.You're doing a nice job on that bed..
OK, well the year flew by and I just got back to the resto project. I stripped the body off the '66 F250 2wd donor, and pulled the engine and trans, also pulled the engine trans and transfer case off the '79 F150 chassis last weekend. There is a bit of rot in the rear half of the 4x4 chassis, and some of the cross members so I am going to splice the rear half of the '66 f250 2wd to it. They are an exact match about an inch behind the rear cab mounts. Also I'm using the bed off the '66 so it will fit the '66 frame better than the '79 frame. I cut 11" out of the front portion of the bed to fit the shorty wheelbase, so it will be a 7'-1" stepside. This is a mockup I did with the old cab on the 'original '65 to give you ann idea how it should look.
Why not start out with a Rust free cab & other sheet metal? It would cost less than simply buying parts to save what you have. Not to mention how much time and $$ you will spend on other materials.
Thats a lot of hours saved in rust repair. Much cheaper in the long run too.
Same with a 1966 4 x 4 chassis to start with. They can be found very reasonable.
Why not start out with a Rust free cab & other sheet metal? It would cost less than simply buying parts to save what you have. Not to mention how much time and $$ you will spend on other materials.
Thats a lot of hours saved in rust repair. Much cheaper in the long run too.
Same with a 1966 4 x 4 chassis to start with. They can be found very reasonable.
That cab is my old '65, I drove it until I couldn't open the drivers door to get out any more. It's now in F-100 Heaven. I have a rust free cab and bed off a '66 I bought a few years ago in Virginia. As for the frame, what I am after Ford never built,(4 corner air suspension), so I will be modifying whatever I start with, and right now I have a good front off a '79 4x4 shorty, and a good rear off the 2wd with the bed, just have to shorten the pair by 11".
Ordering cab and rad support mounts today as well as the front trailing arm rubbers and 4 axle bump stops with brackets. I also reached out to one of the air ride companies,( Chassis Tech), with specifics on what I would like to have to see if they can throw something together for me. If not I'll have to buy everything individually. Right now I'm going for a row around the pond, then I'll get back to shortening the rear 1/2 of the frame.
Well, Chassis Tech was a joke they sent me a generic response with a link to a kit that I can't use, so I'm guessing they're just a rebox outfit with no knowledge of what they sell.
I got back to the frames today, cut the 11"s off the 2wd and welded that back together , and cut the 4wd frame and mocked it up, but didn't weld it yet. Miller Time crept up on me.
The frame is welded back together and shortened. I pulled the front coils and set the 9" under the rear and the tailgate and bed height should be 28.5" set down on the bump stops, and 34.5 at normal ride height.
I ordered 4 - 24" links and a panard bar, they should show up this week and I can fab up the rear suspension.
Still no source for the airbags and control parts, looks like I'll probably be piecing it together and guessing at the specs and the control parts.
At the moment the idea is to run manual leveling valves ,like the Firestone FIR 9257's. Then tap a manual valve between the leveler and the individual bags to dump the system or air it up to raise the truck. No electronics in the system, plain and simple.
OK, This is the frame shortened and spliced together, and set on the rear axle for height estimates. If you blow up he last pic you can see the 2 splices. Oh and the Links for the parallel bar setup showed today so I should be able to start that this weekend. I have a run to Long Island tomorrow so that will be a 12-14 hour day, and there are rumors of that happening again before the end of the week, so I'm not gonna get anything done during the week.
Looks good. To shorten my 129" WB down to 115" I cut out between the rear cab crossmember and the crossmember at the spring hangers brackets. The weld is centered between the two crossmembers, a short plate welded on the inside to reinforce the joint, and the frame boxed between the crossmembers. Waiting for a weekend without rain so I can sandblast it and paint.
Looks good. To shorten my 129" WB down to 115" I cut out between the rear cab crossmember and the crossmember at the spring hangers brackets. The weld is centered between the two crossmembers, a short plate welded on the inside to reinforce the joint, and the frame boxed between the crossmembers. Waiting for a weekend without rain so I can sandblast it and paint.
I had a bit of a problem with the 2 frames being different, the transition the '79 has to the wider rear,(34"), started right where I wanted to cut so I shortened the '66 frame where you did, but then I cut to splice on the straight section about 20" forward of that. So I ended up with 2 splices. They are just tacked together right now, after I finish building the rear suspension and altering the perches for the front bags, I'm going to add sway bars front and rear then I'll strip all the parts off the frame, blast it on the rotisserie and do all my welding and reinforcements. I like your box idea, I think I would cut some drainage arches along the bottom of the box though to keep it from collection mud and salt. I weld a lot better straight down, so doing it on the rotisserie will make it a lot easier for me. I bought the rotisserie for this job, I'm getting old, I already have a lift, this year I added LED lighting and the rotisserie to my (handicap shop accessories) .
PS: forgot to add, the cross support the rear cab mounts are on were rotted on the '4wd frame, so where I spliced I ended up keeping the '66 mounts, and I'm also swapping the front cab mount brackets for the same reason.
Hey 53deere, I just realized you cut out 14", I only had to cut out 11, is the wheelbase on the styleside different than the stepside?
Stock '66 wheelbases are 115 and 129, a 14" difference. The difference in the bed length is 20", 14" in the front of the wheelwell and 6" behind the wheelwell. '66 wheelbases are the same whether its stylside or flareside. The exception is the '66 F250 4x4 at 120".
08-31-2018, 05:52 PM
