Well, I don't know if you guys remember me or not, last year or a little earlier I was trying to get info on how to do a 2x4 to 4x4 conversion. Well, I took you gurus advise and gave the 95 f-150 to my wife, bought a jeep and built the ***** out of it, broke it and the bank, then wised up and traded the 95 wrangler with the tranny about to fall out for a 97 f-250 4x4 Heavy Duty standard cab, long bed pickum up truck!!!! Dang I sure missed my fords! Well, Im back and ready to play! This truck Has a 5 spd. with a granny low gear and an overdrive. I guess it is one of those ZF things every one is always talking about. It has the 5.8. Thats a 351 windsor right? Manual lock outs. I think it is a D50 and a 10.25 in the rear I think. The door jam code is c9 and found on the web somewhere that that axle code meens it has a limited slip. Thats cool! But what I want to do is put a solid D60 under the front. What all will be involved with this? I know the axle will cost, but the alternative is stay with the D50 and small lift. Maybe 4". How strong is the D50? What is the maximum tire I can run under this truck stock and with either a 4" susp. lift or a 3" body lift or maybe both? Lastly, How can I squeeze more juice from the power plant?

Danny.

 

I swapped out a my dana 50 for a 60 kinkpin style in my 93 about two months ago. It was very easy to do. I love everything about it but the ride. It rides alot rougher than the TTB.
The dana 60 will sit about 2 inches higher than the dana 50 so I added 4 inch blocks in the rear. I probably could fit 35's under it right now the way it is, You should see my wife try to get in this thing!

 

dweddell, welcome back to the Ford family .

Your assumptions are all correct: 5.8L = 351W, axles are Dana 50/Ford 10.25", 5spd with OD 5th and granny 1st is a ZF, axle code C9 is a 3.55 limited slip 6250 lbs.

If you want to go with bigger tires and that 351, you'll want to change to a lower (numerically higher) gear ratio. I run an F350 with 351 and 33" tires and went with 4.56 gears. It originally had 3.55's and the power, or lack thereof, was terrible. For any larger size tire a change to at least 4.10 gears is highly recommeded.

Sounds like you will have a great truck with the Dana 60 conversion, basically an F350...

 

Ya I think I might just learn to like it. I figured on having to re-gear this thing to. I will be gearing at least 4:56 and running a minimum of 305/75/16(33x12.50/16). I thought about buying some cheaper tires like the Swamper LTB's in a 34x10.50/16 and run the 4:56. My HEEP I just tossed to the DOGS had 4:88's & 33x12.50/15 /4 ****y squirrels. This 351 should (I think) due the 34's with 4:56 pretty good. Now I know a guy that has a set of Yokohama Geolander M/T's(looks like baha claws) in a 315/75/16 (35x12.50/16) That is what I really want to run. I figured I would hold off on buying any tires until I descide what I want to do with the front end. I figured If I do the D60, It would giv a little lift in the front like the other guy said so I wouldn't have really buy a lift. Maybe just some shocks and either leafs or blocks for the rear. I would prefer leafs, but I could get buy with blocks until the money showed itself for the leafs. I can always weld myself up some torq bars to help with any wrapping I might get buy using blocks. What I don't want to get into though is a bunch of drive shaft work. One of the BIG QUESTIONS I HAVE FOR YA'LL IS:

What all would be involved with the D60 swap. In that I meen other than the axle, What else will I need parts wise?

Would the swap be the same if I used an 8 lug D44 from a 70ish f250 due to the leaf factor?

wHAT KIND OF STUFF CAN i DUE TO THE 351w to help turn the R's a little harder and higher? Like would just a cam and maybe some bolt on stuff like MSD IGN. hOLLEY OR FORD PERFORMANCE INTAKE/PLENTUM AND BIGGER INJECTORS and maybe a chip module thingy?

Any help would be grreatly appreciated!

Danny.

 

The difference, suspension height-wise, between the F250 and F350 SRW trucks, aside from the D60 frontend, is a 2" taller block under the rear springs of the F350 (4" block) and the frontend rides about 2" higher than the F250 as well.

Up to 35" tires will fit on a stock F350 SRW 4x4 (at least the '87-97's anyways). My 33x12.50's fit with only a spacer for the front bumper to bring it forward about 2". With the stock bumper mounting, the tires would rub on the lower corners of the bumper when fully turned and cycling over a bump in the road. Alternatively, the lower corners of the bumper can be trimmed off and the bumper mounting left stock. It was easier for me to just move the bumper forward. I also like the extra room it provides for my foot atop the bumper when I'm standing on it leaning over the engine .

With the 4-wheeling that I have done with the truck, I have yet to hear or feel one of my tires rubbing at any time. Granted, I don't do extreme-articulation rock crawling with my CrewCab, LongBed truck, but I have flexed the axles a bit and no problems with that size tire. I would suspect that a 35x12.50 would rub a little when the axle gets to moving up and down off road.

I would not bother with the Dana 44 swap. These trucks are heavy and a Dana 60 is the way to go (about 3800 lb axle rating for the D44 -vs- somewhere around 5000 lbs for the D60) . I have weighed my truck on just the front axle before and can't remember exactly what it was, but as I remember, it was somewhere around 3500-3800 lbs with the truck empty. The whole truck weighs 6500 lbs unloaded...

I haven't begun doing anything about modifying my engine. I do intend to put on a high-flow cat and some kind of 3" cat-back single exhaust exiting after the rear wheel. The Gibson aluminzed cat-back system is looking good so far and I have heard good things about that one and the Flowmaster cat-back. Eventually I would like to put on a set of emmission-legal headers and a y-pipe with a smoother bend in it. My early-EFI/computer (speed density -vs- mass air flow) engine doesn't allow alot of mods as far as cam, porting, compression ratio, etc, or so I am told, so I may leave that alone. Plus it costs alot of $$ once you start getting inside the motor...

 

How do you tell the difference between Speed Density and Mass Air Flow? I am always hearing about the two and how the Mass Air is better for mods, but I don't know what I have. It is a 1997 F-250 HD 4X4. 351w/ZF5spd.

Thanks Danny.

 

I believe that mass air will have one air tube going to the throttle body from the airbox, while speed density has two air tubes. Someone correct me if this is wrong, I think I've read that before somewhere on this site.

 

I have heard that too about the single tube/dual tube. Mine has the dual tubes and is speed-density.

Maybe Justin (MustangGT221) from the '87-97 forum will jump in here and give some more details and help you out on what you have. He is very knowledgeable on this MAF stuff.

 

Well, that is what I always heard as well. I have two tubes myself. The MAF sensors in the magazines all look like it's a single tube that fits in the air tube . I was just confused because someone had told me that I had MAF because it was a 97. However, after thinking about it a little , I think maybe they where thinking of the 97 F-150's which changed dramatically in 97. Those eng. are probably MAF.

Danny.