I just completed swapping a 95 front clip on to my 85 F-250. It was so easy, I am suprised the truck didn't blow up just to get back at me. This was a total bolt-on affair. There were only 4 things I had to do differently, and you don't have to be ASE certified to do it either. 1)The bottom fender bolt under the truck goes in vertically on the 85 and horizontally on the 95. I found some "L" brackets from a CB hanger and used them to bolt the bottom of the fender to the truck. 2)When installing the cowl panel, the corner tabs were to far apart to touch. I bent the cowl tab up and the firewall tab down so they met at an angle instead of vertically. 3)I used the 85 inner fenderwells, the small screw holes didn't line up. I drilled new holes through the plastic to match the fenders. I also had to trim the plastic at the front at back to make it fit better. 4)The 95 front end has an extra light bulb on each corner. I had to splice that in and I also had to use the headlight plugs from the 95, but the wires were all colored the same which made it a snap. The 85 hood release cable connected right to the 95 hood latch. Under the hood looks identical , all the holes I had in the 85 inner fenders were on the 95 inner fenders as well. The bumper is a whole other issue. I have a custom made bumper that needs some brackets fabbed up to install it. I have a pic of the completed swap in my gallery though. Feel free to check it out.

 

it looks good.. I would have never thought of swaping the front clip

 

i have always wanted to do this swap on my 81 f-150 just did not know how i could do it but since you did it i might try it soon so do i need to change out the core support? and do buy a whole front clip used cuz i was thinkin of buying everythin i need from lmc but that might be a little more than i want to spend thanks trevor

 

Yeah you need the core support so the 95 grill/light assembly can attach to it. You don't even have to drain the radiator or disconnect the A/C to remove it. I just slid the core forward, and popped them out of it. You also need the cowl panel too, or you will have a huge gap on each side of the old one. I had thought about buying everything from LMC as well, but couldn't justify the cost for a visual upgrade. I got lucky and scored my 95 parts truck for free.

 

thanks for the help i will see about finding a used 95 or someting thats alot of money for new parts and wow you got lucky and i was wondering about the cowl panel thanks for the help your truck looks really good hope my 81 f-150 turns out that good

 

Does anyone know about the hood? I am looking at switching from a 86 hood to a 92-96 hood but I don't plan on changing any other parts of the front clip... I was wondering if the body lines match up

 

Do you think it would be just as easy to do the reverse swap? 90s front end to an 80s?

Its easier to find the truck I want in a 90s model but I LOVE the 80s front end...that way I would also have all the aftermarket support (gauges, chips, and parts in general)

 

You can't use just the hood, you have to do the whole clip