I guess this is a better place to start an ongoing thread about my truck than the matching tech section. Most of the questions I have, are already answered with a little searching there.

(having to upload pics with my phone since 1st gen iPad and postimage don't cooperate. Easier to type on the old boat anchor of a device though)

So, here goes nothing.

I have big dreams for this 94 F250. I've owned her for several years now. Bought just in time for a nasty northeast winter. One day I hope to make her into a Truggy!

For now, it's just getting her back into shape so I don't have to drive my Hyundai in the snow. I do have a healthy pile of parts on hand in the meantime though. Might as well improve along the way.

In other posts I may detail some of the many troubles I've had making repairs, or causing troubles by not making repairs. For now, without further ado(except to login with my phone and post a pic...

 

This week's project...

The pile of junk before you came out yesterday. It has been a long time coming. Last winter a hub locker grenaded on me and the wheel nearly came off going down the road. Hence the shiny mile markers pictured. Nightmare fix, just glad the spindles survived. All could have been prevented with just a little maintenance that I neglected to do. Happy to answer any questions on that repair...

That was not the first time the Dana 50 had caused me some grief. And who wants one anyway! A balljoint 60 is ready to go in tomorrow. But Will, your sig clearly mentions a kingpin 60, you say?

It's a rust bucket. Which if I had paid any attention to when I got it or for the 2 years it's been sitting in my garage, I might have done something about it before I needed to put it in my truck. So a few weeks ago I found the newer 60 and planned some time off to make some much needed repairs.



Now when I went to rotate the front driveshaft to remove it, I just couldn't. Thought it odd. But went to shift the transfer case into neutral... Not even considering that the hubs could be locked. Or that 2 high should allow the driveshaft to spin freely anyway. Sitting where it is, hubs unlocked, still can't spin the pinion...

SNAP! Right where the arrow is. Pulling that out tomorrow, and praying a friend can tig it back together in the evening. Never even knew that thing existed and I've been in ford trucks for 18 years.



The rest of this project up to now has been pretty straightforward, thanks to the numerous swap threads and a couple great write-ups. The exception being the leaf spring bolts wouldn't budge. It's like they were welded to the sleeves in the bushings. Boy do I know how corrosion works though. Another post another day...

I threw the book at these bolts. Didn't want to torch the bushings while they were still in the truck though. So I stopped last night after dark, and after grinding off the threads on 2 of the bolts. Went back at it today thinking hey, sawzall through the bushing, then the bolts, problem solved. Except the brand new blade went through the rubber and didn't even put a shine of the darn sleeve.

But I was further ahead than yesterday. So I put a cutoff wheel on my 4 and a half inch grinder and went in on the newly exposed sleeves. Success! A little bit dangerous, but the springs are out. Couldn't get all the way through all of the bolts. Once I was like 60-70% through the tricky ones, I was able to break the head off with a socket and ratchet though and that's what I feel was, my greatest achievement today. Since not much else took place.

Ran to the hardware store for track bar mount and spring bolts. Washed a dirty spring that came fermunda an IDI. Scraped gunk off the cross member. Still felt good about getting the springs out though. Just don't make me think about how long it took...

 

Parts on hand for future projects:

MAF conversion. Everything. It's for a 5.0L, but came with smoked front lights/corner/signals, a beautiful washer/coolant reservoir, throttle body, and tach cluster.
Felt like I robbed the kid. But I did pull most of it while making sure he didn't break anything.
$245

New spectra premium rear tank/pump/hangers. Had to drive 65 miles but the car gets 40mpg on highway and a $5 toll each way.
$100!

No name stainless long tubes, not even sure of what grade of stainless. Another similar drive
$160

GT40P heads. 2 sets from the you pull.
$30/pair!

Crane 1.7s with allegedly 8k miles on them, delivered to my nearest convenience store.
$140

Might update this post later cause I know I have more stuff lying around to go on.

I missed one of the JY Exploder intakes but the one I brought home for another $30 I sold online for $130ish picked up.

I also have all but a 2nd 5.8/e4od/1 tons drivetrain on hand. Short a transfer case. Non roller block. Not sure what to do with all that yet. $500 into all of that.

 

It's in! Need to decide which calipers to use. And bought all new chinese steering parts so I can hopefully drive it tomorrow.


Can't get the t/case yoke off with my electric impact so I'll be leaving the 1 tont front driveshaft out, for the time being. Once it's aligned I'll drive to a friend's house with a bigger compressor and use that to remove the yoke.

I did get the t/case shifter welded up, although it's ugly and you won't want to have seen the pic if I posted it. Melted a bushing in the vertical tube, knocking out the plunger retainer. Will try to find a replacement, as well as the bushing that goes to the shifter link I had to cut to remove. I may yet end up buying the dorman replacement 600602 if the thing doesn't shape up.

Seriously thought I'd be up a creek, getting the new axle in place. Wasn't that bad though. I used a hoist to get it close. Set it down on a $20 home depot wooden rectangle dolly with a couple 2x6 blocks on passenger side. Slid right in with enough room under to fit my low profile 2.5 ton jack, up it went with some fenagling and the rest is history.

Back at it tomorrow for the finishing touches...

 

Driver side knuckle hole is too big for the tre. Hoping I can find a sleeve that appears to not exist, instead of searching and paying for a less abused knuckle.

Stopped into Ford after the local auto parts store to see if I could service the 4wd shifter. They only sell the whole unit, and supposedly you have to buy the install kit as well...

Just $595.

I'll probably be picking up one of the transfer cases locally on Craigslist for $150 if it comes down to it. The linkage bushing isn't available either so it might mean removing it, and nut/bolting the linkage back on.

 

Found a f-series guru by chance through a Craigslist ad and we've been mulling over this knuckle issue. Every email he sends leads to another idea.

First I had called Ruffstuff after Diesel Brad's recommendation. They sell a 7/8ths o.d. tapered insert for the GM 1 ton tre. No current solution on hand to make my tre work, or to make the GM tre work in a ford adjustment sleeve. Ford rod end o.d is one inch, GM is 7/8ths. Same 18 threads per inch pitch though.

After talking with this nameless CL gold mine, my first plan of action will be to measure my knuckle height, and take my tre to a local machinist. If he can make me an insert to keep Ford parts in it, effing beautiful.

1st backup plan will be to order the GM tre and Ruffstuff insert, as well as a 7/8th drill bit. Once that goes in, clamp the Ford link in the adjustment sleeve, try to position GM tre in the sleeve and heat it up til I can close the sleeve around the GM tre.

More backup plans are in my head but I needed to get these on "paper".

Is anyone else having this sloppy knuckle hole issue? In my search I had seen a few threads that didn't really provide an answer, and was further surprised to not find an off the shelf solution. If my local shop is willing and reasonable I will definitely grab a handful of these inserts.

On to my 4wd shifter. Craigslist man sent pics of his current setup using the simplest ever 80-86 version, which only required slight bending to work in the usual trans tunnel hole. No detent. Just straight front to back 4wd shifting.

His second setup he didn't get pics of yet but it's the 87-91 shifter with detent/gate removed for the same front to back, no nonsense shifting.

Anyway if you all could cross your fingers that the first machinist I can get to before closing time on the first possible day after work can make me this tapered insert, I'll be much obliged.

 

Update!

I got to 3 machinists and all willing to make the insert, though the first two were too busy. The third fella was interested in helping but I'd gone there empty handed with only some web pics of what I wanted.

After returning to the axle and measuring the knuckle hole, my heart sank. It's already so wallered out I couldn't even use the GM tre insert from Ruffstuff. It still has some taper, but it's over an inch wide at the bottom, and the hole comes within a quarter inch of the inboard edge of the knuckle.

The only real fix here is to remove the knuckle and get it welded and reamed to the right size. Not interested.

So remember the rusty kingpin 60 I mentioned earlier? I bought the HF needle scaler and will be getting to work on that in the next few days.

Today though! I went to the u-pull in search of a 4x4 shifter. Found 2 OBS units, one in perfect shape, and one seized and previously welded. Grabbed the pivot bolt and good boot/o-rings from the bad one, and the complete good unit. Both were only held in by the rubber thing under the floor shifter boot.

Found a brick nose version that was easy to remove due to the floor being rusted away to the trans tunnel, also. I plan to make that work for me and sell the nice one most likely.

I also found a Windsor dipstick tube from a bull nose that a member here had been trying to locate. Have to check my subscribed threads to find him and get it sent off to its new home.

Wish me luck with the kingpin. I need it.

 

I confuse brick and bull nose trucks. The dipstick tube is 87-91 and the shifter I'll be using is 80-86...

 

Best harbor freight purchase of my life. Got friendly with the kingpin today and the top half is all but done. Unfortunately this little guy highlighted how weak my old compressor is. Between its age and former owner's abuse, the poor thing takes about 10 minutes to fill and its only a 15 gallon tank.

So I wound up finding other crap to do while the tank filled numerous times. The lawn looks GREAT with no leaves, dog doo, or weeds, and the summer plants cut back. Hopefully I can get after the axle some more tomorrow.

 

Aaaaand we're sidetracked:



Put a couple hundred down on this tonight and should have it wrapped up tomorrow. Just a driver for the time being. No rust above but some below that the new scaler will take care of.

95, speed density 5.8, 4x4 and auto. Did not check the trans code... always forget something.

Quad shocks, that's neat. Electronic transfer case and auto hubs. All seems to work properly.


Ad was up for 2 days, when I saw it today.
Anyway I'm gonna baby it, as the miles are high. Whole thing is more of an insurance plan in case I don't finish everything on the 250. Won't miss work due to snow on the ground.

 

Round 2

FIGHT!



And it's in. Pay no attention to the old steering junk. Made it somewhat easier than having the spindles flapping around in the breeze.



Question about the Warn hub lockers. Hopefully someone can chime in. The kingpin axle had rough rotors and calipers so I swapped them with the ball joint axle's components. In looking over the hub lockers I found one set retained by an outer snap ring and a spindle snap ring. The set on the BJ axle was only retained by the outer ring, and it was more like the spiral locking ring on my Mile Marker lockers, but heavier.

The BJ units also seemed very rebuildable, where the kingpin ones were kind of a one piece basket that held the inner gear/spring with a shim or two.

Both caps have the plastic ****, but I'm wondering if one set is the heavier duty hub locker. These are the first Warn lockers I've had apart that were still useable...

Took it around the block a few times last night and it felt good. Ordered bolts for the driveshaft at t/case yoke today, and they should be in Saturday. And I think I'm going to use the correct 4x4 shifter for the time being, just to get it done.

Anyway, hardest part of the whole "2nd round", was lining up the stupid preload nut and holey washer on the spindle.

On to the drivability issues, and someday the 1 ton rear blocks as there is a slight height advantage in the front now.

 

You will need to change the pitman arm on the steering box to the f350 one. There is enough difference that you will have what feels like play in the steering when going straight and you will end up with a larger turning radius. I found this out when I converted my 96 250 to a d60

 

I have one but I can't get a puller over the old arm. I have the nice snap on cone style one. It worked fine to remove the 350 pitman arm from a section of frame that came bolted to my kingpin axle. It was tight but there's enough room on the crossmember. On the 94 it's like a CH less of clearance in the small relief they put there.

Seemed ok on the test ride, but if it's a problem at highway speed, I'll remove the box and do the Saginaw conversion at the same time. I'll find out tomorrow as I'm planning to drive a few towns over to look at some new shoes. Not sure the backspace is quite right but they seem similar to a set of wheels in my garage that were on there previously.

These were on a 2000 Dodge and they're American Racing. Going to bolt one on the front and turn the wheel to see where they get close to rubbing. They have decent 285/75 16s.

 

I ended up cutting a section out of the 250 Pittman arm to get it off. Puller wouldn't budge it. Do some tight circles, you should see it is a bigger diameter.

 

Oh there was nothing tight about the circle today haha! I didn't notice the steering play you mentioned but, I've never had particularly tight steering on one of these trucks. Never had all new joints/drag links and tre's either though.

I know there's no way I'll get the puller on with the box and the axle installed. To get the 1 ton arm off took a lot of PB, an impact gun, letting it sit with tension, and a little light dead blow kissing on the puller. And that thing was like it sank with the titanic rusty.

Wheel/tire combo was a bust today, but looking at some newer Alcoas with the terribly reviewed federal couragia m/t 285's in the morning.