Hi, I've been a Ford fan since I was a kid. But all my experience is with Mustangs, primarily 86-93 5.0's.. I'm currently shopping for an older truck to haul firewood,(don't gotta be nothing fancy). I came across a 72 F250 4x4, on a local car lot. It's being sold as a camper spec. that's been upgraded to a 1ton chassis. Also has had a 460 swapped in. It has a 4speed trans, and what I've heard reffered to as a "divorced transfer case".(Short drive shaft between trans/case). All and all, the truck seems very solid, and chassis wise it appears to be pretty clean and looks as though it's had recent work, by that I mean bushings look fairly fresh, no weather checking, rust ect. Likewise, it seems to run very strong. The truck currently has one of the biggest slide in campers I've ever seen. Looking at the truck from the back it looks kinda like an elephant on a tricycle, this thing dwarfs the truck, the tag on the camper says it weighs just over 4k. and although there's no mistaking the thing is there, the truck doesn't seem to mind it. It has no problem pulling the weight, in fact stick your foot in it, and the truck actually sets you back in the seat..
My questions are this.
What determines it is a 1 ton chassis? Is there anything that gives this away? The rear spring stack is actually two stacks on top of each other, the upper set having it's own set of perches. It looks stouter than just helper springs.
This whole seperated trans/ transfer case setup, is it a good setup? Any benefits, dis advantages??
The steering has what appears to be a stabilizer on the tie rods, with power steering lines coming off the cylinder. Likewise, the rod from the pitman arm back to the steering box also has lines on it, as well as what appears to be a spring loaded coupler at steering box joint?? What is this all about? Although it looks stout, it also looks spendy, and possibly hard to find. I've turned wrenches alot a years, done it for a living several times, and I've never seen anything like this..
Lastly, and this one bugs me. The motors in the truck crooked.. It has a noticeable lean to the passengers side of the truck. It doesn't appear to be loose, like a broken motor mount, it almost appears as though the wrong mounts were used. I don't know what this particular swap intails, and therfore don't know what options a guy would have to screw it up.. Any ideas??

I'm not too concerned with a mixed bag of parts, as long as I can identify what these parts are, their availability, and cost.. Hard to order parts for a 72 f250 when the parts are from a ww2 sub tender!! LOL!
With the exception of these few issues, I think the truck would be ideal for the application, crawling back into the mountains, having logs thrown at it, then crawling back out. I just don't want to get blind sided with parts issues as we go through our fair share of parts. Any info/links to info, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanx, John.

 

I can't help you with the 1 ton / 3/4 ton ID issue, but I can offer input on a couple of things.

A divorced transfer case really doesn't have any inherent problem that a married setup wouldn't have. The issue there is simply that you have 2 more u-joints to service and another shaft.

The steering 'stabilizer' you see is actually part of the power steering system on these rigs. They use a hydraulic ram that receives input from the pump and the steering box (hence the hoses on the steering box). It is pretty tough, but I've heard once it starts leaking you are hard pressed to repair it.

As for the motor being crooked... well, aside from looking a little goofy, I can't see it being a big problem so long as you make sure that it's always full of oil. If the motor wasn't parallel to the rest of the drive train, then you might have a problem, but just being rotated doesn't seem like it'd be an issue.

 

The rear leaf springs on top are the overloads. When they are down on the perches, you are on the overload springs. The rearend on some F250's is the same as an F350. What does the date tag read? F25..F35. What are reset of id #'s and letters. That truck probably had a 360 or 390 eng. Check for homemade frame stands between crossmember and motormounts. Maybe one made incorrectly or is broken. Put and chain on drivers side between engine and frame to keep it from torquing over on you and causing safety issues. My 71 F350 (2wd)has integral power steering. No external hydraulic ram on the tie rod like the old Mustangs etc.

 

as far as I know ford didn't make a 1 ton 4x4 in 72 there were light and heavy 3/4 tons though and the easiest way to tell is look at the front hubs the heavy trucks had much larger front hubs the only prob I have ever had with a divorced t case is they dont like to shift when your moving i dont see the motor being rolled over as a real problem sounds like mabey a perch that wasnt made right or installed wrong these trucks do tend to be a little harder to get some parts for than other models but most anything you really need can be had the steering is kinda a bad thing you can swap it to integral power with some modification there is a cpl articles on this site telling how to do that or a manual steering unit is a direct bolt on

 

Thanx for all the input, answered alot of my questions/concerns. I guess I wasn't real clear on the 1 ton thing. It's an F250 3/4 ton that was, "upgraded to 1ton suspention", I assume by a previous owner, if at all. The only reason I care at all weather it is or isn't 1 ton suspention is the dealer and I are off on our opinion of what the truck is worth,(go figure). And his trump card is "all this recent upgrading on the suspention". Also, like I stated in the original post, it would make it alot easier to order parts if I could nail down what the current parts are from. No big deal, just makes life a little easier.

I think we're pretty close on the price, still a bit more than what I wanted to spend, but not out of line. I pretty much decided to buy it, provided I got favorable replies to my post.

Thanks again, Happy Holidays, John...

 

John, Welcome to FTE The best truck show on earth.

That thing will ride like a buck board on a rock road with the camper off. The truck wouldn't have any problems with 8,000 lbs on the back. The setup needs that extra weight to make it ride easier.

Unless you are gonna go into the firewood business, it may not be the best choice for occasional hauling. IMHO

John

 

the overload springs cost about 200 bucks to put on a vehicle, and jowilker's right- it will ride like crap empty.. truck originally had a 360 factory in it and they just set the bigger motor into place without the correct mounts.. the steering is called hydraulic assist and it is okay unless it goes bad, then throw it away and use the same pump but buy a 2wd power steering box or a 72 and use it, you have to box the frame- use a piece of 2x6 channel i think- that fits right between the frame channel and then drill your new holes for the box, 1 hole will remain lined up from the box thats on there to the new one... i'd try to find a 73-76 f250 if ya could though, they're cheaper, parts are more available, and they're every bit as tough.. JMO

 

Thanx, again for the added input. I was pretty well set to buy. Just thought I'd skim the classifieds. Wouldn't ya know there's a 75 f250, 4x4, 390, 4spd, needs paint, runs great. Gonna go take a look tomorrow. There's your sign..

Just for genral info. I have started a small firewood business. Wanna get set up to pull a cord on the truck, and a cord in a trailer. Aprox 4-5k lbs. each depending on the wood... Although this is just a side business, I want to be able to load this thing and get down the road without having to worry about hurt'n someone. Likewise, as I said. This is just a side deal for some extra Santa cash, and if I play my cards right maybe a couple 10ths off next years time slips. (Hey, Santas gotta play too..) So, I'm trying to stay around, $1000.00 - $1500.00..

Thanx again, John.

 

John, The truck can haul two cords in the bed alone.

I have never done it, but suspect a truck set up like that one wouldn't handle very good on the track. Too heavy for one thing.

It will make an exellent work truck, a daily driver.....not.

good luck with the hunt

John

 

I would add to this, that the 460 swapped into there may cause you more grief than the truck is worth.
I just did a 460 swap, and it was easy because I used the correct mounts - which are extremely hard to find. The Ford factory mounts are extremely sturdy, because they are cross-bolted.
If those mounts in there are not strong enough, you could easily spring that engine right out of there under a heavy load, and ruin everything.
If the mounts are double bolted (cross bolted) then you have the correct ones, and it should be safe.
If not, it may be too much of a franken-truck to be worth the extra hassle.

Just my opinion.