Hello,
Iv put a lot of time and money in to my 1972 F250 and I absolutely love the truck. I upgraded to high grade disk brakes converted to power steering installed a good 351W with custom exhaust, sealed my gas tank, and replaced my whole cooling and heater system. However I just recently moved to Seattle WA area and will probably move even farther north. Well one big problem that I have found is SNOW. So I was wondering if any body knew what is involved or if its even possible to convert my truck over to 4WD. I really don’t want to give up my good old friend and the frame is in perfect clean condition. Any ideas??

Thanks much for any info

 

Well it isnt as easy as just throwing in a transfer case and a front axle
The frames are different between the two....so lots of fabrication.....but since I have never attempted it so I am going on the info I learned here and there over the years.....
But if you want to swap the body onto a 4x4 frame been there done that :-) Not really that bad, took a couple of full time weekends though.

 

Sparky,
If I were to go the same route and swap the body would I need a 67 to 72 frame? Also would I be able to use the disc brake and power steering parts? Would you be able to go in to specifics on the body swap.
Thanks

 

I've talked to a guy in town about converting 2wd to 4wd. He did a custom job on his F250 complete with supercharger, lift and gullwing doors, etc. He did not recommend doing the conversion. He said it was a lot of work, not that it was all the customizing, but just the 4wd conversion. He did tell me that the frames were not the same and lots of fabrication was involved. His recommendation was to find something as close to what you want to avoid costly and time consuming modifications. I took his advise and I'm happy for it. It took me quite a few years to find my 4wd F250. I found that there are very few 4wd F250's for sale in California, but more in Oregon and Washington. You shouldn't have such a hard time finding a 4wd in your area even if you decide to do a body swap.

 

Sounds like alot of work and mods but it would be nice

 

The frames will all work from 67-79....but there are some differences in the later years and also between the F100/150 and the F250/350.
As in frames got wider/longer in later years, so box mounting wont be a direct swap.
Also the F250 had power assist steering until 771/2, it was never my favorite system and I ended up swapping in integral power steering to replace it.
It all depends on what you want your truck for and what is available.
Personallly I am partial to F100 4x4 frames, which I am kind of looking for now to put under my 69 F250 2wd body.
But since I just swapped the 69 body onto a 73 2wd frame last year I dont know how my wife will take me tearing the truck apart again

 

Sparky,
You mentioned something about power assist steering up to the 77 ½ year models. What exactly is that? Since of newer years usually = better technology and I want the load capacity of an F250 I would then think it would be best for me to look for a 79 or 78 F250 5WD frame. Would you agree or do you think it would be less modification work sticking with a 67-72 4WD (you had mentioned the box swap difficulties.)

 

Faithful Old Road Dog,

Thanks for the info. It seems that, like you said it is more work than it may be worth. I’ll probably be better off doing the frame swap.
Thanks

 

Maybe there is a cheaper way to go. If your only problem is snow and you don't really plan on off roading or anything of that nature why don't you just throw some weight in the box and you should have plenty of traction in the winter. That is what I did with my truck and it works great. Also it is alot cheaper. I just threw gravel in the box, so it didn't cost me a thing.

 

The power assist steering uses a selector valve and a hydraulic ram to "assist" the steering vice the intergral power steering box. It has a lot of hoses and mine always leaked and the parts were hard/expensive to find/replace. There are two articles in the "Tech Articles" on how to replace it....not too bad to do especially if you swap it with the body off.
If I am not mistaken the F250/350 4x4 frame stayed pretty much the same from 67-771/2. Also once again if my "rememberer" is right your body is pretty much a direct swap. The frame was narrower after the frame, then in 771/2 it widened. This is why the box isnt a direct swap...you either have to drill new mount holes or what I did was bend up some brakets to bolt to the frame so I could use the existing holes.
The F100/150 frames got wider after the frame in 73 and also a little longer....as did the F250 2wd frames. Check my gallery and you will see a 69 F250 body on the 73 frame......it resulted in a slightly larger gap between the box and the cab.....because the frame is longer and I wanted to centre the wheels in the wheel wells. Pretty much useless trivia to you as you are planning to use a 4x4 frame.
If you were to use a 771/2-79 F250/350 frame the extra mods would pretty much be adjusting for the cab/box gap issue.
Any swap would involve adding the transfer case shifter and cover to your cab, steering column...you need a 4x4 column there are slightly different although you probably could adapt yours with a custom steering shaft......not really sure on that one as I used the 4x4 column. Maybe someone more knowledgable can clear that up. Then the fuel tanks.....if you have an incab tank of course you can keep that...but the frame mounted ones, depending on the year/location on frame, may present issues if you plan on using your existing fuel filler caps/hoses.......but not a hard one to fix either. Exhaust system...the 2wd one may or may not fit.
On the bright side you can use alot of your engine related parts, rad. engine, accessories etc.
Another plus to using the 67-77 1/2 F250 frame is the transfer case is a divorced one, not bolted to tranny. So you could actually use your present tranny although you may possibly have to adjust the small driveshaft that connects the tranny to the transfer case for the correct length...highlight "may" I did not have to ......but I used the same type engine/tranny as was in the donor frame originally.
All in all it is a little bit of work but not too difficult.....take your time, take "before" disassembly notes and ask lots of questions here
Hope this gives you some ideas and isnt too confusing....I tend to ramble sometimes

 

One advantage of the married unit versus the divorced unit. On a divorced unit, if the u-joints fail on the main driveshaft, you're dead in the water. That main shaft drives the divorced transfer case which in turn drives the front and rear drive shafts. On a married unit, you can remove the rear drive shaft, lock the hubs, shift to 4 hi and be on your way. When my main shaft broke, it left me stranded. I replaced the u-joints with HD Spicer "sealed" u-joints. Actually, I had a new main and rear shaft made up because mine were in such bad shape.

 

I skimmed this because it has been covered in depth before.
Here is my reccomendation: I drove my 72 F-250 2wd in Alaska for 15 years and only got pulled out 3 times and a 4wd would have been stuck too. I ran a 3.73 limited slip and with about 500-600 pounds in the bed(not too far back) with 31x10.50 T/As that I put about 260 studs in. I could drive 60 on black ice and many times pushed through 2 feet of heavy wet snow. Now I will admit there were times I wished it were a 4x4 but it never failed to do everything required of it. Now if you get a 4x4 you have to run it locked in most of the time because the extra weight in the front makes them pretty helpless in 2wd. I had a 79 F-250 4x4 Ssupercab and it wouldn't even pull out of the gas station onto the street unless you cogged it in. The 72 was actually a much better winter rig for all around driving. Limited slip is a must.

 

Hey there,
I would swap frames. I've played around a bunch with swapping 2 to 4 wheel body parts and frames on 67-72's. I'd buy a beater 67-72 F-250 4X4 (around $500 in the NW) and throw the body away. Then clean up the 4X4 frame and go as in depth into rejuvinating and modifying the running gear as you see fit. I'd just swap in a later model open knuckle dana 44 disc brake axle and replace sloppy U-joints and leaky pinion seals. Power steering would be the most expensive addition on a 4X as any route you go will likely cost around $500 to add it to the truck. I'm partial to the integral box as they don't leak or have a dead spot in the middle. Then put your body on the new frame. It would probably take a couple weeks to get the new frame ready and I've swapped frames in a weekend with time to work the bugs out. But I already had exhaust that fit. You would need to put different exhaust on it as 2wd exhaust won't clear to good. Good luck. If you need help finding a 4x4 frame, ping me off list. I drive portland to everett all the time.