Hey guys, so i recently picked up a 95 f250 powerstroke 5 speed when the engine in my f150 gave up. My only problem is that it is 2wd and I would like to have 4x4 for winter. I found an older f250 7.3 idi parts truck for sale with a 5 speed and 4x4. What im wondering is could I take the front axle and 5 speed out of the idi and drop them into my truck? Is the bellhousing pattern the same? Does the front axle bolt in or is modification required? Thanks in advance guys.

 

fabrication will be required.


it would be easier to put the 95 cab, nose, and bed on 4X4 frame.
then all you would have to fabricate is a speedometer pickup.
92 and newer uses a vehicle speed sensor to drive the speedometer, 91 and older used a cable.

 

One winter I drove a 2x with 15 sheets of 3/4 plywood in the back. Worked good. Ballast. Think ballast.

Make the idi run for a winter beater and sell it in the spring.

The guys who are earning a living from vehicles are avoiding mechanical work. Be smart.

 

That's a massive waste of plywood.

 

What kind of fabrication would be required? Are the mounts for the 4x4 ttb different? Depending on how much fab work it is I could do it, I can weld fairly well and have a fair amount of tools availible. I don't want to just switch the bodies as the powerstroke is the motor I want, it runs very well and has low km(at least for around here). Is a solid axle swap less work?.
I could probably get by with just 2wd in the winter, but being in Canada winter can get pretty nasty. If I knew what was wrong with the truck then getting it to run would be a possibility. However I don't know a whole lot about diesel engines(this is my first diesel truck). I could get my f150 running again for winter, I just thought it would be nice to run my powerstroke instead as it is far better on fuel.

 

There is a dedicated idi diesel forum here with lots of good information and lots of helpful people.

Didn't hurt the plywood. Just doing what we could do with what we had to work with. People used to think like that in the olden days when they didn't live life on mama's couch with Internet, TV, legalized marijuana, opioids and video games.

 

2 wheel drive is coil spring, 4 wheel is leaf spring. so all the front mounts would have to be made. a 05 and newer axle swap would ne a little easier since they are coil sprung, but it is still not a bolt in deal. cab and bed swap is by far much easier than converting a 2 wheel drive to four wheel drive.

 

We used sand . If we got stuck, we shovelled some under the rear wheels... then pushed .

t
2 miles uphill in the snow both ways.

 

Says the guy who'd rather leave a bunch of plywood out in the weather all winter than shovel dirt into the back of his truck

 

i am another one that would rather have a pile of used plywood in the back of my truck than dirt.

 

As others mentioned, your truck using coil springs and the 4x4 using leaf springs complicates the swap. I disagree about it being easier to swap everything to the 4x4 chassis. Swapping an entire cab, bed, 7.3 PSD, and then reconnecting all the wiring, etc... is a huge undertaking. Welding some leaf spring mounts in the proper spots would be easier. However the main reason you wouldn't want to do the swap is that the F-250 4x4 has the TTB front axle. It's not a great axle, and has a lot of complexity that would make the swap more difficult. You'd be better off finding an F-350 4x4 to get parts from.

My advice is to get a set of crappy 16" steel wheels, and put Nokian Hakkapeliita R3 SUV tires on them for the winter. Put ~500 pounds of sand bags in the back of the truck, and you won't even notice you don't have 4x4. Proper winter tires make a HUGE difference. Proper winter tires even put all-terrain and mud-tires to absolute shame in the snow.

50 pound bags of sand cost about $1/each from Home Depot. They're heavier and far cheaper than a piece of plywood. Just leave the sand in the bags and it makes for easy cleanup in the spring.

 

i can do a cab swap in one day. it takes at least 3 days to remove the 2 wheel drive stuff, box the frame, weld in the mounts and put the axle in. then you need to swap the trans.
cab and nose is 6 bolts, 2 electrical plugs, and a couple of ground wires. .

 

So let me get this straight, you're honestly trying to say that: Unbolting two cabs, disconnecting all of the electrical from the cab to the chassis, disconnecting the brake lines, steering linkage, coolant hoses, power steering lines from two trucks, swapping the 7.3 PSD from the original truck to the donor frame, transferring all the chassis electrical over, swapping the rear axles (need that VSS), swapping the cabs over, then reconnecting all of that stuff is quicker and easier than unbolting a twin i-beam front end and welding in 4 leaf spring hangers for a D60?

How is everything you listed a "single day" worth of work, but hacking out a suspension is "3 days"? We've built completely custom front/rear suspensions for Jeeps in a single evening... Not to mention what you're proposing is basically impossible without a lift, overhead hoist, or at least 4-5 very strong people willing to help you.

 

no, i never said anything about swapping engines or drivelines. i said cab. as in putting a good cab. nose, and bed on a good 4X4 frame with a good driveline in it.