My post today addresses simply, was there ever a F250 crew cab long bed 4x4 7.3 made? I know it sounds like a dumb question, but I can't find much on google about it, just that shortbeds are rare. But, I thought I had read somewhere at some point that if you got a crew cab in an F250, it was only a shortbed, but you could get a shortbed or longbed with the ext cab (which is what I have ext lb) but that shortbeds are very rare. I have seen a lot of ext cab longbeds, in fact most I see for sale are just that. I have seen a few ext shortbeds too, and when those go for sale, people want more than a crew cab.
All the f250 crew cabs I have ever seen in person have been shortbeds. I have never seen an f250 crew cab long bed in this body style. I am pretty close to positive that the F350's were only made in longbeds, whether it was reg cab, ext cab, or crew cab, and i think that duallys only came 2x4 from factory.

Reason I ask is somebody is interested in potentially trading their 1997 F250 7.3 4x4 crew cab long bed for my camaro. The pictures he sent me shows exactly that. There are no engine shots, so it could be misleading, however, it has the powerstroke badging on it, which would be weird to put on if you didn't have it (although im sure somewhere out there, somebody has done it). It also has the wrong bumper on it. It has the smooth chrome bumper on it with no holes cut out in it at all. Not a huge issue, and most likely was due to the fact that it was f-ed up, but just another thing I noticed right away. Body looks decently straight, maybe only a little worse than my 97 f250 i have now. I am pretty sure it is an XL model, because it had manual window cranks all around. I am not picky, so that is really an irrelevant thing for me. Me and bubba have done quite a bit on these trucks (him more than me, swapped that 7.3 in his bronco) but unfortunately, he left for bootcamp last week, so the chances of me confiding in him much the next 4 years are a lot less likely now.

 

From what I have read and seen, there were as follows: (not including regular cab options)

F250: crew cab short bed, Super cab short bed, Super cab long bed, no dually

F350: Crew cab long bed, Super cab long bed,
Dually: Crew cab long bed, Super cab long bed (both 2x4)
Cab and chassis was the only dually 4x4

However, that is what came from factory. People can swap parts and make any combination of body styles and options. Case in point: I put a D60 front axle on my f250 crew short bed that only available on the f350.

They most likely swapped the front fenders from a F250 onto an F350. Get the VIN and find out for sure.

 

Ah, I didn't even think of the fender swap. Yeah the first thing I will want to see if the title then the vin. I can Google those real quick and then go from there. That's what I do every time I buy a car. I got so good I didn't even need to look up third gen camaro vins because I looked at probably 30 different ones in junkyard.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/vindecoder.php

 

sweet, thanks for that. I usually just type stuff into carfax and just see what it comes up as unless I can find a tool like the one you posted. Awesome.

 

No difference in front fenders for 250 and 350, just the badge was different.

Years ago I 'built' a '97 F-350 crew cab short bed. You could not get one from the factory, but I had a nice F-250 cc sb, then found a parts truck and swapped the D60 front axle, front and rear sway bars, rear helper springs and blocks, added cab lights and swapped fender badges. That's pretty much the only difference.

EDIT: Perhaps the front fender swap comment was because the OP stated solid front bumper. Maybe one of the previous owners of truck in question had front end collision so they replaced the bumper and fenders from misc parts, and fenders happen to have F-250 on them. ??

 

Yep that's what I was getting at. They had a rusted out front clip or hit something head on, and had a f250 with good front fenders and bumper, and didn't bother to swap badges from the damaged fenders to the new ones.

 

Here is an update after meeting the guy.

He came and looked at my camaro and decided he wants to do the deal still. So the next step is I go look at the truck. He brought the title and it is clean. It is a 1997 F350. The fenders were changed out because the previous owner claimed there was some damage to each one that was bad enough that it bothered him, and he just didn't take the f250 badges off. That is a little strange, but not the oddest thing I have ever heard.
The bumper is stock because... it was originally a 351 V8. So the vin will show it as a 351 gas engine not the 7.3 diesel. I know bubba was going through this stuff when trying to figure out the legalities of an engine swap and still passing emissions. From what he found, it was legal to do if the engine being swapped was at least an option for the vehicle, but it just didn't get it, but could be directly swapped in. Which it could, as it is an F350.

So now I have new questions. Anybody with specific Arizona knowledge or anybody that has gone through this in their state done something like this before, and able to register it and pass emissions? Unfortunately, bubba left and I didn't get his parents address up north where emissions aren't required, and I was planning on registering my current f250 up there. So I don't know if that is an option now to register it and not deal with emissions. that is what he did with his bronco after the 7.3 swap. I don't have a problem doing this, but I can't think of any relatives that have property in Arizona where emissions aren't required that I can register it to to not have to worry about it. I know some people get a PO box somewhere and then cancel it afterwards as well.

So first things first, if I can, how do I go about doing emissions correctly with this swap? If it can't be done, then is anybody here in Arizona willing to let me register it at their property where emissions aren't due?haha

I also know with this issue aside, I will still have to inspect the truck and figure out if the swap was done correctly. Unfortunately, I haven't learned as much as I would like to know going into this, but, I have done enough work on my truck and bubbas to kind of have a general understanding of some things to look for. The guy I met said it starts up and runs great every time, doesn't smoke at all. So assuming I don't find any reason to believe this swap was botched and done by a methhead, then the only hold up will be the fact that it was a swap. I am pretty sure a lot of people have done this very same swap on here, but I'm not sure how many have worried about the emissions aspect.

 

Do diesels that old require emissions inspections where you are? You may be in a catch-22, where if it were titled as a diesel, it would be exempt. My first call would be to AZ-DMV, explain the situation, ask what can be done.

Does it have the diesel tach and diesel indicator lights on the dash? What tranny is in it? It has two batteries in parallel? I mean, if it starts and runs and drives, most likely they did everything right, esp. wrt. the electricals/electronics. Would be useful to find out what year the donor truck was (assuming all the diesel goodness came from one donor).

 

Yes emissions are required. I don't know of an area here where emissions are required where diesels are exempt. I had to do emissions on my 97 7.3 2 months ago. I was going to register it up north where emissions isn't required but I easily passed so I just registered it here. AZ-DMV isn't exactly reliable. But I dont think that is unusual compared to a lot of DMVs. They have helped me cheat emissions before.

I haven't seen the truck in person yet. I have seen a few pictures and just the info he has told me. So, if we just assume he is not lying or mistaking about any of the information he's told me, then it was a 1997 F350 with a 351 auto 4x4 drivetrain, and now has a 7.3 auto 4x4 drivetrain. I did talk to him after he left and he said for sure that the swap was done using a 1997 powerstroke. He also said he's including a spare 7.3 that came out of a 97 as well. So, as far as emissions goes, a lot of the things I have read have said you can't put an older engine in, only newer and I think same year. But don't have an actual concrete law in front of me for certainty. But he was positive the swap was done using a 1997 drivetrain and said the dash was also swapped, not just the gauge cluster or certain gauges (I know you don't technically have to swap everything out). I own one of these, as well as helped a buddy look one over to help him,buy one, and have messed around with bubba Jones swapped bronco so I do know what they look like. So if something immediately is off, I will know. It's the smaller details I might not catch.

I do know the HPOP was different between 1994.5-1995 and 1996-1997, but that isn't immediately visible. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head. If anybody has any ideas, let me know.

 

Do the 7.3 and the 351 have the same bell housing pattern?

 

Unfortunatly no, the only one close to fit is the 460 E4OD and even then you have to drill new holes to fit.

 

Thats what I thought. So if he actually had an originally 351 truck, he swapped in the 7.3 and the 7.3 trans, or he has an adapter plate.

 

unless he made some adaptor plate for it, I don't think you can make it work. I believe the 460 bell housing pattern is pretty close, but one or 2 of the holes are off.

He said it was the engine and transmission swapped from the donor truck. I don't remember if the transfer cases were the same or not.

 

I think you're overthinking this.

go to the AZ DMV website or call them. Find out what the emissions criteria is for a 1997 F350 and go from there.

If you plug that truck into a scanner does it throw codes? If it doesn't just run it through as a gas job. Who cares.