What years did Ford produce High Boy pick-ups?
Greg
71' F250 4X4

 

Probablly from early 60's to the middle of the model year in 77 when the xfer case and tranny were united in Mechanical Matrimony to live coitus mechanicus for ever more.....fd

 

1959 was the first year Ford offered a 4wd production option for the F100 and 250. Before that there were Marmon-Herrington conversions and others, Stockman knows a whole lot more about this. Highboy is a generic name.

Barry

 

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There is a good thread on this topic buried somewhere in the list, perhaps from sometime between September and November. The search function is not very helpful in this situation because it only allows you to go back a month or search archived threads. It's no wonder questions like this keep coming up as new threads.

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[FONT COLOR="#ff0000" SIZE="+2" FACE="Signature"]Thom [/font]([FONT COLOR="black" SIZE="+1" FACE="arial"]aka StockMan)
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[LINK:www.67fordtruck.com|1967 F-Series Registry]

 

As far as I know, highboys were produced from 65 to 77. But I Have only heard of 73 to 77's being referred to as "highboys". They are cool, but their steering sucks. I think 76's are best. Disc brakes and last year of 360. I think Ford changed them in 77 1/2 to please all the sissy people who wanted a truck that sat as low as a Chevy. My dad bought a 76 new, it was even a Ranger package, 8 track, carpet, and a/c, 4 speed, 360. Wow. Think it cost $6500. He still owns it. One thing for sure, they are getting harder to find. Thanks.
MIke
1966 Bronco
2000 F150 Supercab

 

Here is some stuff I pulled off threads in the recent past since I was asking this question myself.
Joe
I believe Hi-boy referred to a 4WD F-250 pickup due to the high stance it had. It was like this because of the 4wd components, namely getting the transfer case to fit underneath. Ken Search HighBoy or High Boy:Basically it's a 67- 76ish F250 that has a seperated transfer case, 3 Drive shafts and the necessary height to fit all of these parts. All F250 4x4s of this era were "High Boys".Of course, this is coming from a 2 wheeler! So I may get correctedGtex, you hit it right on the money. I think the years were from 67 to 77 1/2 the "Highboys" were made. You are correct that they were only the F250 4x4s. I'm not sure if Highboy was a marketed name by Ford of if it just became a nickname for the truck... that was a little before my time.>Try a search of the archives. A guy by the name of Stockman, >who was a very knowledgeable moderator here a few years ago, >separated fact and fiction about the Hiboys. >>Basically it was a term given to 4x4 pickups. PpppppppppppppppppppWho? The search feature on these forums does not allow you to go back to '01. You can use the main search function on the home page and search the 61-79 mailing list archives. This was something that was discussed quite a bit on that list (Ahhh-the good old days). I always hated the term "high boy" by the way.Here are the highlights for you. "High Boy","highboy", "hiboy" and "hi-boy" are slang terms, not Ford terms, which really only have significance when talking about the 1977 model year where the F250 models underwent a design change. All 1959-1977 1/2 F250's were otherwise built with the same design. This thread and the other recent one about this topic hit the highlights as far as the notable features are concerned. Stockman,
Stockman, >Thanks for the legacy info. Interesting that High Boy only >applies to 77. I went to the home page and selected search. > When I put all of the "boy" terms in I got nothing. When I >just put High Boy in I did get some threads but they were >not meaningful. I couldn't specify the 61-79 mailing list >as the search area. When I go to archives and select the >61-79 archive list, I cannot get to a search function. I >also don't get titles of the threads so it is like spinning >my wheels deciding if I should open one up. Maybe that >search function on the Home page has been changed. Anyway, >I am kind of throwing up my hands and saying with the late >Buddy Holley(freudian slip in spelling), "Oh, Boy!". >>Certainly may be operator error on my part! >>Joe > Joe, i think you missed Stockmans point. the term hiboy does not apply just to 77, his point is that 77 is the only year where it has relevance. all pre 77 F250 4 X 4's are hiboys. all post 77 F250's 4 X 4's are lowboys (yes i have seen the term used but i don't like it!). the problem is that in 1977 ford made both styles of F250 4 X 4's! most people refer to the lowboys as 77 1/2's and the hiboys as 77's. the amusing part is you could get a 77 1/2 with the heavy duty suspension and it is every inch as high as a hiboy (click on my gallery pic and look at Big Ed my 77 1/2, it is not lifted other than the 35 inch tires)

Hawkrod tapped out:
>all pre 77 F250 4 X 4's are hiboys.
>all post 77 F250's 4 X 4's are lowboys



Exactly!

....and Joe, about the mailing list search...I think it did work for you, but perhaps I took a few things for granted when I gratuitously offered it up. Does anyone hear remember the 'list'? The search will yield text files containing "digest" packets of e-mails which were sent by individual members on a given day and time. The members would post and comment to the 'list' all day long and these would be distributed 'live' to those of us who wanted to be involved on a minute by minute basis. Others wanted to read the list once a day, or once a week, in 'digest' mode (if you already know how a basic mailing list or list-serv functions, I'm sorry). Ken set the list software so that the digest would contain as many of the emails as possible until the packet reached a maximum size. The list software would then send the digest out to those who asked to received it. This large 'e-mail' would contain a table of contents, if you will, showing all of the subject lines or topics of the individual e-mails below. This wasn't always helpful because many people would forget to change the subject line even though they changed the subject in their e-mails!

Therefore, when you search the mailing list archives, if you simply search the term "highboy" for instance, it will pull up as many files as you specify (5,25,100) which contain that term. Search will indicate a "hit" on that term even if it is in the digest as part of somebody's signature file. Therefore, to find the actual emails where there was any real substantive discussion on this topic, you will have to spend some time reading the digest files and sorting through a lot of old e-mails! When the file opens for you, use the 'find' function on the toolbar to have it search through the file. If you are familiar with boolean searches, you should be able to string several relevant terms together with the 'connectors', at least I think the FTE site search still lets you use a boolean search).

Sorry for the long winded post. Stockman.

Pppppppppppppp
I spent a few minutes using the search feature and found the most complete response ever on this issue. It is from Don Grossman, a long-time FTE member:


--------------------------
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 17:24:23 -0800
From: Don Grossman>
Subject: Re: spotting Hi Boys
Stockman wrote:
>Don: You still have that canned response for this one??
>
>> At the risk of sounding like a compleat idiot, what's a Highboy? Some kind
>> of factory lift?
>
>Stock Man

He he, you know me too well

None of that canned spam this time.

From the beginning.....
The earth was formed.... jump ahead a few years. In the late
1950's Ford was looking at making a Factory 4 wheel drive. Previous
to this back to the 1910's all Fords were converted by several
different companies such as Marmon-Harrington (?sp) and Napco. Why
send new trucks (and cars for that fact) out of house if there is
such a need for 4x4. Why not make them in house. So they did. The
first factory Ford 4x4 was in 1959. Basically all they did was add a
driven front axle to the 2 wheel drive and put a transfer case after
the transmission. Instead of redesigning the complete front end to
compensate for the change in wheel position they just added a block
under the rear springs between the springs and the axle.

You see the front solid I beam on the two wheel drive drops
down about 3 inches from the wheel center while the axle shafts are
even with the wheel center. If you really wanted to you could take
any 2 wheel drive from 59-64 and add a driven front axle. It will
bolt right in as the spring width is right. Yes some earlier years
will also work but I am only focusing in factory 4x4 years. The only
problem will be the front end will sit higher. That's where the rear
block came in. It was this way on the F-100 and F-250.

Lets move ahead again to 1965. Ford redesigned the F-100
with twin I beams in mind for the 2 wheel drive, using coils for the
front to soften the ride and make the truck less utilitarian. On the
4x4 they didn't have a twin I beam driven axle( that came in 1980)
but they decided to use the coils anyway so they still would have the
softer ride but the new design also allowed the front end to nose
down just a little. This was more noticeable with the changes in
1973. And that is where I am going to leave the F-100 and just focus
on the F-250 and F-350.

For the 65-66 model years the 4 wheel drives use the old
style cab, frame and suspension design. This kept the extra height
over their 2 wheel drive counterparts. 1967 came along and the cab
and frame design began to match the light duty trucks but F-250's and
up were still considered Heavy duty work trucks. The front leaves
maintained a high leaf count (8-9) leafs and had a positive arch.
Give or take a few design changes over the years this continued until
1970's when fuel and mileage standards began to really put hurt on
the manufacturers of big trucks. The other factor was more every day
people were buying the stronger trucks. So in order to make the ride
better and save a few arrow dynamic points the front end was changed
again. The number of leaves in the front springs was reduced for a
softer ride and maintained a negative arch (meaning they bend up in
the middle instead of up at the ends). This forced the front end
down for better airflow and put the truck at about the same ride
height as the 2 wheel drive trucks ( the end of the Hi-boy, High Boy,
Highboy, High-boy, what ever you want to call it).

As far as I know Highboy was not a factory term used for the
trucks and there was no Highboy option. The 4 wheel drive trucks
just sat higher out of necessity and design. As I have asked in the
past if anyone has and old order form from the 60's or 70's where you
could order the Highboy option I would like to see it.


How did I do Thom? Oh and Thom by the way your blue 67 on your web
page is backwards. The front pumpkin is on the wrong side

Laters
--
Don Grossman

Stockman,
Pppppppppppp