Probably also true - but the parts truck's body is damaged and the interior is trashed, plus it is a standard cab.

Mine the body is decent - not perfect but pretty good - the interior is good, and it is a supercab - which I need to haul a family of 4.

Still thinking pretty seriously about buying the parts truck for the tranny (which as it turns out is a C6), transfer case, and axles. Never know, maybe I can sell/swap the leaf-sprung SFA for a coil-sprung TTB that will bolt right in.

 

I did something similiar with my 80 F250 2 wheel drive... I bought a 80 F250 4x4 rolling chasis, rebuilt it and put my motor, cab, and bed on the new rolling chasis. Much easier and it was pretty easy. Now I have an incredible 4x4 while keeping my prestine motor and body. Everything fit like a glove.

 

Nah, not going there. If I can get a TTB and a tranny/tcase that will bolt right into my truck for cheap, I'll go for it. If it's going to take anything more than that it isn't worth it to me. I don't expect to need 4x4 that much or that often to be worth too much $$ or effort.....

 

From 80-86 all Ford trucks that were 2wd. used coil springs in the front!
(F150's-F250's-F350's)
Also 4wd. Broncos and F150's used coil springs. (these are 1/2 ton vehicles with 5 lug nuts.)
F250 light duty (6800# gvwr) F250 heavy duty (8600# gvwr) and F350 (9000#) and heavier 4wd's (8 lug nuts) all used leaf springs.
FORD DID NOT use coil springs on any 4wd. F250 and F350 (3/4 and 1 ton)
4wd. trucks of this vintage! All 4wd's had leaf springs!
In 1980 Ford put the TTB front end in all models of their trucks to lower them to make them easier to get in and out of. Also to give them a smoother ride.
The trucks that carried snowplows had serious problems keeping an alignment with the TTB. So, midway thru 1985 Ford started putting the Dana 60 (monobeam) solid front axle in the F350 4wd. only. This truck would be the one most apt to have a snowplow.
I collect and rebuild 80-86 Ford F250's and F350's. I have had approx. 75 of them. I currently have about 20-25.
I have a stack of frames with 2wd's and 4wd's on top of each other. In looking at the 2wd. and 4wd. frames there is a lot of differences up front.
The 4wd. frame is boxed in front of the crossmember for strength because leafs carry the vehicles weight differently then the coil spring.
It will require some MAJOR fabrication of the frame to properly install leaf springs in place of a coil spring set-up. This looks like a job where you would remove the truck's nose and motor in order to do the job properly. And if it's not done properly, then you are left with a butchered up piece of junk you can't sell or use!
Also, if you're going to go thru all this work, personally, I wouldn't transfer the TTB onto the truck! I would track down the more desireable Dana 60 monobeam and install that.
Like a couple of experienced Ford truck builders suggested, start with a 4wd. frame and transfer your body parts. This way you can sand blast and paint the frame. Clean and paint the motor and drivetrain components. Basically do a nice job you can be proud of and all the while knowing that the job was done right! It will also steer like it's supposed to and will not have problems at the alignment shop.
I would be patient and search for a rusted out 85.5 to 90 F350 4wd. with the monobeam and start there.
I have done this several times and know how labor intensive the job is. I would envision converting a 2wd. frame to a 4wd. frame would be just as much labor. If your going to put that much work into a truck, if you start with a 4wd. frame, when you're done at least you can say it was done right!
Steve G.

 

8 lugs... well said. That is exactly what I found out when I started the research on my conversion. It was really nice to work on an open chassis... clean and paint the frame, drop the correct motor mounts, mount fuel lines, mount break lines, install new tranny, drivelines, axles, springs, lift kit, cab bushings, gas tanks, engine, etc. I had both trucks in the same shop and transfered everything in good shape from my 2wd to the new 4x4. The rub marks in the frames from the fuel and brake lines were the same! As for the frames, much different. Front coils vs leaf and I'm not sure how feesible it would be to strengthen the 2wd frame to handle a TTB or solid axle drive. Everything else fit perfect... body, gas tanks, bed, bumpers, front clip, engine, etc. A guy can pick up a rolling chassis pretty reasonable. If you don't want to rebuild the chassis like I did, find a truck that was in fairly good shape with lower miles. The only thing you need to do to your cab would be to cut a hole in the floor for the 4wd linkage. It is actually already marked out on the 2wd floor. It was an incredible project and no one would know that it wasn't completely stock!

 

OK, so If I'm reading you right 8 Lugs, the only way to go to a coil TTB would be to get the front axle from an F150 or FS bronco - BUT they are 5 lug. With the weight of my 6.9 diesel riding over the front axle, that doesn't sound like it would be a very good idea to me.

Wonder if it would be possible to swap the knuckles and hub assemblies off a 8-lug leaf-sprung TTB onto one of those Bronco/F150 5-lug coil sprung TTBs? That way I'd get the 4WD TTB axle, the coil springs, AND the 8-lug wheels. Is that feasible?

Basically as I've said before (2 or 3 posts ago), I am NOT interested in doing a full frame-off restoration or any other kind of frame work. I'm just not going to invest that kind of money and/or time into such an old truck. If this can be done easily with bolt in stuff that can be had cheaply, OK.

If it requires major work or expense, it ain't gonna' happen.

 

CheaperJeeper... I hear you but I think it will be just as costly doing it your way and a lot more specialized fabricating. Even if it was possible it still wouldn't be as good. I think the major work and expense would lean towards the way you describe. My point about getting a fairly good rolling chassis is that you wouldn't have to restore it. Just bolt your stuff on and go. A lot less work and everything would work right. Short of doing it the way I suggested, I would just sell your truck and go buy a 4x4. Less time, work and headaches.

 

Not that there's any doubt anymore, but this is correct.

CJ, it looks like there are substantial differences between the 4wd and 2wd frames for 3/4 ton trucks - I didn't know that. Forget what I said in the other thread.

 

Well.... maybe.

I can probably get the C6, transfer case, and drivelines out of an 85 Diesel F250 for $100. In fact I can get the whole truck minus engine for less than $200 - the one mentioned in my first post on page 2 of this thread.

If I could get a coil-sprung TTB that would work for a couple of hundred then I'd be into the whole project about 400 bucks.

Swapping the tranny for a tranny/transfer case combo, and swapping a 2WD TIB axle for a 4WD TTB axle would be a whole lot less work than trying to swap EVERYTHING from one chassis to another. Even if I had to swap knuckle/hub assemblies off the leaf-sprung SFA (assuming I bought the whole donor truck) onto the coil sprung TTB (assuming they will swap), it would still be just a matter of a few hours additional labor.

I got my truck for a grand. That's pretty darned cheap for a 3/4 ton diesel in good shape here in my area. Ones in similar condition seem to be going for two to three times that price. If I can convert it to a 4x4 for another $400 or $500 and a weekend worth of work it would be worthwhile. Diesel 4x4s in decent shape are going for around 3-4 grand around here.

 

solution...
parts needed:
(1) D60/D70
(2) radius arms from a 70s F150
(2) rad. arm brackets
(2) upper coil buckets from 70s f150
(1) trac bar from any ford SFA equipped truck
(2) 4" lift coils from a 70s F-250/F-350
You will need to lift your truck 4" for the axle to clear the engine x-member. So things like 4" rad arm drop brackets and a drop pitman arm would better the situatin. But arent totally necessary to finish.

Remove the leaf perches from the D60 and weld the rad arm mounts on. Put the rad arm brackets on your truck. Put the new coil buckets on, install raduis arms onto axle, then into brackets. Install springs and steering linkage. Remove truck from jackstands and let support its own weight. Line up trac-bar, mount the bracket on your engine x-member the install the bar. Get a driveshaft and t-case installed and you now have 4wd.

Its not all that hard if you have access to cheap junkyards for all the little parts, you want to find a good axle and t-case though. Another option would be to run a divorced t-case.

then you have the best of all worlds. 4wd diesel with a solid coil sprung axle. Diesel power, 4wd traction solid axle strength and coil spring ride quality.

 

I'm interested to see how it will work out. It is interesting and will be a fun project. Good luck and let us know.

 

I think I may have an easier solution....

Parts list from 85 F250 Diesel parts truck;
8-lug hub & knuckle assemblies off the leaf-sprung axle
C6 & x-fer case
Front & rear drivelines

Parts from a mid 80's FS Bronco/F150
Coil sprung TTB front axle

Take the 8-lug knuckle/hub assemblies off the leaf sprung F250 axle. Put the 8-lug knuckle/hub assemblies on the coil sprung TTB from the Bronco/F150 (in place of the original 5-lug units). Install "hybrid" axle in truck in place of existing TIB axle. Shorten or lengthen drivelines as necessary

Any reason why this wouldn't work? I've been told that the "outers" (knucle/hub assemblies) from the F250 should bolt right up to the TTB from the F150. Is that info right or wrong?

 

That will work, and you get to keep the coils.

The F-250/F-350 coils are stiffer and a little longer than the F-150/Bronco coils - just something to keep in mind when you try to get this thing aligned.

 

I am going to step in here because this thread is still going, and I am thinking about doing sort of the same thing. From doing some searching on this website and some others, this is what I have found out so far(no practical experience yet);

The 1/2 ton 5 lug ttb will not interchange with the 3/4 ton ttb. The 3/4 ton housing is made different for the leaf spring mounting, and it seems none of the knuckle/spindle stuff will interchange to convert a 1/2 ton ttb to 8 lug. I did find there are one or two guys that have taken early 70's chevy 3/4 ton 4wd straight axle parts, and have made them fit to the 1/2 ton ford ttb to convert it to 8 lug. It's somewhat involved but can be done I guess.

The coil spring frames are different from the leaf spring frames. That was mentioned above, and I have found this out reading some other posts.

These are the only two major stumbling blocks to a 2wd to 4wd conversion.

If you are interested in giving any comments to my senario, I am going to explain it below;

I have a 1980 f150 4wd drive pickup. I have patched and repaired and swapped engines, rearends, frontends, etc. to keep it going for the past 15 years. The only thing I have never repaired or replaced over the years is the c6.

Mechanically it's sound, but the body is falling apart. I have repaired the frame(you can see pictures in my album) and patched the body with 2 different beds and brand new fenders. The body and bed are rusting out again, so here's my plan;

There is a state department auction coming up in my area, and in the list they have a 1988 f250HD 2wd pickup. It has a fuel injected six. My plan if this thing looks good, is to take the running gear out from under my truck and put it under the 88. This will essentially make it a f150, but I have been happy with my 1/2 ton, it does everything I need. I just want a good body and the fuel injected engine would be nice too.

Since the f250 2wd has coil springs in the front, I am hoping it's all going to work with no trouble. The only things I am wondering about is if it is an auto tranny(might have to swap the steering column out) and the speed sensor for the tranny(my old c6 may not have a spot for it if it fits in the tranny. I think some of them fit in the speedo cable. Some of them also fit in the rearend, but this would not be good since I am swapping the older 9 inch into the 88).

 

You'll be fine with the speedo and the tranny. The C6 doesn't care how fast you're going, and an 88 has a mechanical speedo, like your 80. The only thing you'll lose is the rear ABS, but since it's such a **** poor system to begin with, you're not missing much.