I have always been told that 73-79 body parts are the same. is this true regardless of what they came off of- F100, 150,350? Obviously the short bed, long bed, WB beds are different, but wanted to confirm the whole front of the truck is the same

 

Pretty much so, but there are some differences like rust protection, fuel fill locations, emblem locations, etc, .... and the 73 / 74 years had different tub shapes in the bed inner walls as I recall.

 

I'm not 100% for sure certain but I believe I've read that the radiator support is different on the 78-9's for the revised grille and headlight mounting holes. It may be a case where the later support has both holes and could be used backward, but the early part won't work with the new grille without modification. Someone who knows more will correct or confirm me.

 

I swapped a 73/74 front clip from a 2wd I think it was an F250 but might have been an F100. I bolted it on a 79 F150 4x4 I had years ago. I did need to modify the driver's side inner fender. The steering box was closer to the cab on the 2wd and I needed to remove some sheet metal for clearance around the steering box on my 4x4. I swapped grill, radiator and radiator support too. I am not sure what, if any, differences there were with radiator supports since my original was destroyed in a wreck.

73-76ish F250 4x4 "High Boy" have a narrower frame than the 73-79 F100/150/250 2wd & 73-79 F100/150 4x4. 77ish-79 F250 "Low Boy" has same frame width as F150 as far as I recall.

F350 and up I have no clue, but I am guessing many parts can interchange, some will require modification though.

 

AFAIK X2 all that, yes for the most part front clip for a 73-79 is the same. Yes core support for a 73-77 has the round headlights and the 78/79 has rectangle headlights. But the swapping the grill shell, inserts and headlight buckets is not that hard, a little redrill in the core support for the buckets and there you go.

73-77 hood does not have FORD on it, it is in the grill shell. And yes 78/79 has FORD in the hood. But they all bolt on the same. 73-77 front bumper is shapped a little bit different than a 78/79. But they will bolt up either year direction.

Core support radiator hole size is different on a 6 cyl/302 versus 351/460. Not a reason to swap the core support, just cut the hole bigger or make brackets to mount a different size radiator.

2wd and 4wd F100, F150, F250 pretty much same same in the front clip, doors. Yes earlier cab has gas tank in the cab. And then the filler neck cap was exposed in the bed for 75-76, and then 77-79 got a gas flap. Yes a High Boy 4wd rear frame is narrower, so really all that means is the bed bolt holes are in a little bit different places.

Fenders...73-76 has the badging on the fender, below the cowl. 77-79 badging is ON the cowl above the fender. A reg cab versus a Super Cab, the front clip and doors same same. Super Cab has a split folder front seat. Even a 78/79 Bronco front clip and doors same same like a truck. Earlier 73-76 bed has badging below the dent trim. 77-79 NO badging on the bed. 73-79 tailgate same same.

A little bit of wiring differences in the earlier 73-76 versus a 77-79. That is my 5 min guesstamation. And yes as stated in the very beginning all stated is AFAIK so not 100 % fact, but I feel pretty dang close.

 

If you're really wanting to get into the weeds, there were some safety related changes to the internal structure of the hood along the way as well. I believe another post listed it as 78 for the change year that added cutouts to the inner hood structure for "crumple zones." There are also some earlier hoods with bolt on brackets to grab the cowl area and prevent the back of the hood from lifting in a crash. Not sure if it was for safety, but i recently pulled a core support from a 75 F-350 and it had some round reinforcing tubes behind the front fenders that connected the core support to the cab. Never saw those before.

 

All great information and thank you all.

 

Drivewayfab...you mean these brackets?