Hey all, Im entertaining the thought of picking up a 05 f350 dually 2wd and installing a front axle. Most of the work i have done on truck has all been on 4x4 frames, never a 2wd frame. Can the 2wd frame be modified or is it just easier to get a doner 4x4 frame for cab ??
What ya all think??
Cheers

 

Not too sure on the leaf front ends, if its a coil spring front then its all about time since it all just bolts right in. The coil spring front end you need all the brackets obviously and the coil buckets as they're different. Also need the pitman arm, steering box is the same. You'll need the transmission to transfer case adapter, the transfer case and its shifter components, the front drive shaft (and hope it fits or you'll have to order a new one of the right length on Ebay, trust me I know), the rear drive shaft (again you might be ordering a new one if its not the right length). Takes a solid 2 or 3 days. I recommend getting the axle and striping it down and rebuilding/replacing all the parts before you start ripping the 2wd apart. Good time to grind and paint the axle, this also finds broken/missing parts before they become a problem.

 

When doing the coil buckets, mount them using 7/16 bolts, then go back one by one and drill them out just a tad to accept a 1/2" bolt. The rivet holes are not 7/16 and just aren't 1/2".

 

OK So it is doable...... There are a **** tone of f350, f450, and f550 2WD trucks in Cali.. Rust free and would be great 4WD's here in Canada... There are lots of wrecked 4x4's around with front axle assemblies...HMmmmmm
Thanks , and any more input would be appreciated..

 

By the time you source all the parts and complete the job you will be miles ahead just finding and buying the truck you are looking for. I have seen this more times than you can count and its just not worth it to do.

 

Agreed, its far easier to just find a 4wd truck you like than building it your way. Would I do the conversion again, not sure, I'd REALLY have to like the truck. After doing it once I could probably do it again in 1/2 the time. I know exactly what to do and there wouldn't be as much screwing around to make sure what I was doing was the right move. The real added bonus was that I saw each and every part of the 4wd, I could check things for gap and slop. I used much more reliable and heavy duty parts to make sure I wouldn't have to go back, which even if you bought a used 4wd you'd probably want to do to make sure everything was solid for the long haul. Am I sorry for the life experience of doing it. not really, me and the truck are very much in tune and I know much more about all the components so when I hear or feel trouble I have a good understanding of where to look or what might be wrong. I did learn a valuable lesson, Don't trust a seller. They assured me the axle code was for a 3.73 like my existing rear axle so only the front would need a swap (tag front and rear was missing and I forget the axle code but I couldn't find it for a 2009, it came back with like a mid-eighties code for 3.73). When the dana was opened it showed 3.55 on the gears. The diesel rear 10.5 also has 3.55 and the unLimited slip diff (along with 2 lbs of mud inside the pumpkin). I'm running it around with the stock rear as I finish accumulating all the diff parts I want to regear both ends to 4.10. I scored a trutrac Sunday for 300 new in the box so next is the actual gears and install kits.

 

I looked into this for my '99 F-250 and determined it wasn't worth it. At minimum, I would need to get/replace:
- Entire front suspension including springs (2wd is coil springs and independent front suspension where 4x4 is leaf spring and solid axle) I believe the 2005 4x4 is already a coil spring, but you'd need to replace it anyways due to the ride height differences.
- Entire front steering....everything
- Transfer case
- Different transmission tail shaft assembly to accommodate the t-case
- front and rear drive shafts
- electronics and switches to select 4x4

After checking into all of that, it would be probably several grand just in parts assuming I could get a donor in good shape. That and the fact that I'd have to basically pull the truck down to the frame to get all of it done just wasn't worth it IMO. There are a couple videos of people doing it on youtube if you're interested.

 

In my case I bought a wrecked out 09 f-250 std cab long box diesel for 500 that the previous guy stripped everything he wanted and knew I didn't need. I then spent around 1000 to get: new brake rotors, calipers, pads. All the joints in mevotech terrain toughs, every single piece of the steering, a bilstein dampener, 4 shocks, all 5 flex brake lines, 25' nickel hardline and fittings, rear hub seals, rear bearings, timken front hubs, 5 or 6 u-joints, maybe more that I can't think of. Then 150 for a set of Mile Marker hubs, 168 for a 36" front driveshaft, 180 to put my U-joints into the double cardone joint of the 39" shaft that didn't fit (anybody need a 39" driveshaft with all new greaseable u-Joints?). So maybe $2500 into the build with better than OEM parts. I've sold parts off the carcass for around 600 back off the build, so currently down around 1900 out of pocket and I have a TON of interior parts left.

 

I have done it on my old 03 leaf spring bought a parts truck parted it out got all the parts I needed and sold what I didnt. only thing I had to get was the right front drive shaft and cut the rear shaft down. all the holes were in the 2wd frame. so it was basically a bolt on deal.
on the 05 + with coils I imagine it would be just the same, you still need trans a transfer case.etc.
I even at one time bought all the swap parts from the junk yard out of another truck.
donor truck can be gas or diesel for the front parts , the trans and tcase will be the hardest to get.

 

So I'm also contemplating doing this. I currently have a 2005 F-350 dually diesel with low miles, it runs very well, and there is no rust. I have a few questions:

Can I keep my existing transmission and use an adapter or whatever is needed to mount the transfer case to the rear of the tranny?
Does anything at the rear need to change, such as taller spring blocks, or is the rear ride height fine?
Is the front axle of a dually different than the standard Dana 60? It seems it must be.
I'd be looking for the manual shift transfer case which requires zero electronics to hook up, and doesn't require a new dash bezel.

I'm potentially willing to pay a shop to do this work. What is a reasonable price to expect to pay, including parts and labor? $5k dollars?

 

Hard to say, find a shop that's willing to throw 20+ hours at it. Lets say they get it done in 20 hours (2 10hr days) at 125/hr its 2500 in just labor to the shop. That's if you provide them with every single part they will need and there's no surprises. Maybe you have some friends who are inclined and work for 30 racks?

 

Thanks for the good info. The thing is, I'm quite mechanically inclined myself. I'm assuming this type of work is very difficult without a lift. I have a fair number of tools, but my "lifting" tools consist of a 4-ton floor jack and two twenty ton jack stands.

 

My 09 does not fit on my small 4 post in my barn. I did the entire project on a concrete floor with (2) 3 ton jacks and 20 ton jack stands. Once you rip the 2wd components out of the way you'll have plenty of room to slide the axle on plywood under the truck. A friend or a bobcat is most helpful when trying to muscle the axles around. I should of shot a video when I by myself muscled the front end onto and into place using 2 furniture dolly's from garbage freight. Only sucked when trying to keep the pumpkin twisted up and away from dragging across the epoxy floor as I rolled it under the frame. For the faint of heart this maneuver is not. The truck was basically held up by the trans, e brake, 2 large wheel chocks and the jack stands. If it decided to roll forward for any reason it would of tipped the stands and crushed me to death for sure.

 

I have a tractor with forks on the loader, that could be useful for moving the heavy components. Not wanting to die under my truck, I'd probably figure a better way to keep it all solid.

 

To mount the transfer case to the trans you need to change two parts on the transmission. One is the extension housing. This easily unbolts from the back of the trans. Take off the 4x2 housing and bolt on the 4x4 housing. You also need to change the output shaft. To do this you take the trans out of the truck and tear it down. Take EVERYTHING out of the transmission. Then install the 4x4 output shaft and rebuild the transmission.