66 f100 2wd long box
Sorry guys, i know this has been asked somewhere before, my 66 cab is nearing completion, floors, cab corners, various other repairs( i have it on a rotisserie and I think its spun more revolutions than my wife's explorer), it has manual steering, and brakes(drum), i'd like to convert to disk, power steering, and auto column steering. I've seen some incredible jobs done on some of these trucks in the galleries, and i have a tutorial on 72-79 disk brake conversion, are they the only years you can change these over from? can you mount the cab and box on these years? Is there a 'best year' from anybody's experience that i should be looking out for?
Any advice and tips would be helpfull, thanks!!

 

You can use a newer frame but they added some length to the frames (after '66, right John?) and there will be a substantial gap between the cab and bed unless you lop a section out, which isn't necessarily that hard to do. Normally I'd just suggest bolting the stuff into your existing frame, but since you have yours so far apart already, it's less work to do the frame swap for you.

 

Fred. The F series truck chassis are identicle from the rear cab mounts to the front bumper. A 79 cab should directly bolt up on a 65 and a 65 on a 79. The floor pans are the same by those dimentions so seats, and about anything else will swap, all direct bolt up.

In 73 Ford added 4" behind the rear cab mounts and widened the rear track and chassis. The rear axles now track the front and are wider than the 72 to 57, as well as the gas tank is in the chassis. Fordboy Pete and others have written about making using the newer chassis. You can make it work by more than I method.

John

 

Fredmister,
My 66 F-100 sits on a 79 F-150 chassis. As ddavidv and JO wilker attest, the frame is identical to configuration of 65 & up F-Series Frames from rear cab mounts forward.

As has been stated the "CA" or Cab to Axle area is different as it is both wider and longer. The net gain however is only 2" in length or wheelbase as I think the 65-72 beds are +2" compared to the 73-79 beds. 66 Bed must be re-mounted by drilling new holes in bed floor, or putting the sides of 65-72 bed onto a later 73-79 bed floor assy.

Either method accomodates greater width that makes front & rear axles equally wide (same track width). Older 65-72 beds req' redrilling, at which point I fudged that +2" difference so I don't have a large gap between Cab & Bed. The tear drop shape of the bedside rear wheel openings make it easy to blend the "fudge Job".

All the acoutraments, benefits, conveniences and Goodies to make your " 66 Slick" a vehicle with 21st Century operability, safety, convenience, and comfort are to be found on the 73-79 frames Plus many come OEM with the 3" X 11" rear drum Brakes, the bigger better 31 spline rear axles, anti Sway Bars & aforementioned rear mounted, in-frame fuel tank. Given all this info, my personal decision was why swap all that stuff over when I can just swap a chassis once? Besides that I can use donor vehicle tilt Steering Column to reach the later model, superior "Saginaw Style" Slipper type Powersteering correctly from the git-go. Just use the 65-66 style body insulator & bolt kit so it "seats" in the bearing points of your 66 cab & support core panel.

FBp

 

thanks for your input, was exactly what I was looking for, I'm going to start keeping my eyes open for the perfect donor, time is on my side at this point!
ps. fbp I love the stance the update gives to your 66, thumbs up!