I am restoreing my grandfathers 1972 f250 w/ 390ci. are there any helpful hints i should know?

And i wanted to know if there is anyone out there that has ever converted a 72 f250 2wd to a 4wd? How much work is to it can anyone help?

 

YES, there are.

You will get more detail in the answers if you put more detail in the question. Get some pictures in your gallery with some descriptions. What are you starting with and where do you want to go?

These are good, old trucks. A lot like the solid trucks that went before, but with modern drive-trains, and not too much plastic (you may have a plastic grill). A lot of stuff can be used off of trucks in the range of '65-'79, F-100 through F-350.

Also does your idea of restoration mean "Just like factory" or "make it better than new"?

 

Im sure lots of people have done it common swap well basically you can do anything with effort confidence and patience and fabrication skills and what not first of all you should get a complete donor truck like yours but 4x4 so you can swap all the 4x4 components to your truck

 

Archie is right about putting more detail into your questions and putting pictures up of what you have questions about. Once I started getting detailed and put up some pics of the rust problems on my truck, I got great advice within 24 hours and a few offers to help me out. This is a great site and we are great at sharing what we know.
Karl
PS This is my100th post!!!!!! Now it is time for me to become a supporter, I just have to find the link to that page.

 

OK, You have started 3 threads, lets stop that nonsense and stay with one, please. Are you doing this for yourself or for your grandfather?

Tell us a little more about the truck. You stated that it has a FE engine, the 390 could be a 360, but for the moment we will stick with FE.

You have posted about making the truck a 4X4, so let's start with remodeling rather than restore. If you are not going to be using it as a heavy duty work truck, you might easily get by with a half ton chassis. 76 was the last production year with the FE engine, so finding a donor chassis with the tranny that you want to end up with could be a better way to begin.

For me, my truck has to have power steering & disc brakes, auto tranny, FE engine, and I would like to build a 4X4. Finding up to a 79 half ton 4X4 would the a good starting point in my case. Being that I have torn into several of these older trucks, I am toying with the idea of a later chassis but will not be a direct bolt up.

So lay it out start making a plan, don't end up with urine in your hat.

John

 

A couple of things about a total restoration. Most people don't realize how much it will cost. Remember, you get what you pay for so if you cheap out you probably will regret it later down the road. Many people I have known say they want to restore or "Cherry" out an old vehicle and when I see it, I see a rust bucket that should be scrapped. Be realistic about your plans. My 67 F250 is at about $30K and still going. I will never be able to sell it for what I've put into it. You must realize these old trucks will never bring the bucks a Mustang or similar vehicle will bring. You will never be able to insure it for what you put into it either. And the another problem is once its looking good, there's a lot of bad people out there that will try to steal it. Lowjack has already saved mine. If your willing to accept these facts then good luck and I hope you enjoy every minute of the project as I have on mine.

 

First off sorry about the three threads, I am new to all this so i was unsure how to post what iI wanted to ask. So I am learning and I will get better . Now the truck I am working w/ was my grandfathers and passed on to me when he had to stop driving due to health reasons. the truck was bought new in 72 by him, so I have all the paperwork for this truck. Everything is original now it still has the working Am raido in it. I just need a 4x4. So I want to convert it and then restore the whole thing. Some to like new & some better than new.(under the hood & in the cab better). The truck has sat for the last 5 years and it is time to get something done with it. I will get some pics on here soon. Thanks for the help guys.

 

The twin-I beam front suspension makes conversion to 4WD a little tougher than it would be on a truck with a solid front axle. There are a number of options, including putting your sheet metal on a 4x4 frame. A lot of people have done this, but the VIN on the frame will not match the VIN on the body. Different states will have different rules, but the best thing to do is be certain that you have clear titles in your name for both vehicles should you take this approach. The up-side is you will have a "real" F-250 4x4, as close to stock as you care to make it.

Others may have better ideas, but I'll throw one into the mix, just for fun. (I have not done this, other than as a "thought experiment" and I would be curious to see if anyone has done it and how practical it is.) Some years of F-100/150 used a strange front-axle setup that went under coil springs. This was a light-duty setup and many will not like this idea, but if you only occasionally need 4WD, this option might require less surgery to your truck. (Some late-model F-150's even had a front axle that pivoted in the middle to provide a slightly independent front suspension, but even I doubt that this is approach is a good idea.)

I ask the critics to be gentle with this suggestion - it is just put forth to get the discussion going as POPAZ'72 seems to have the 4x4 conversion as a central part of his project.

 

Hi POPAZ'72 and Welcome to FTE! Please take a moment to check out the Guidelines if you haven't already done so as they contain important info that you'll need while posting here:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/guidelines.html

I have combined your threads and the original posts in them in order to make a little more sense to the readers.

Interesting that you should aske about a 4X4 conversion on a '72 as I'm about to do one as part of our Chapter 4X4 mud bogger project. I'll take pics as I go, but here's the plan so far:

I have purchased a 4.10 open knuckle high pinion Dana 44 complete with leaf springs, spring hangers and shock mounts from a '77 F250. I'll measure for reference points for the location of the front wheels relative to the frame, pull the twin I-beams and mounting brackets/spring towers off the 4X2 crossmember and frame and set the front axle in place with the wheels located as per my reference points, then determine from that and from measurements taken off the doner truck where to locate the rear spring hangers, and then go to the fronts. I will have to do some fabrication there as the frame horns are quite different between the 4X2 and the 4X4.

There will be some steering issues to work out as well, since the 4X2 box is located further back on the frame then what's needed for the 4X4. I have a couple of options I'm looking at for steering at this point. Easiest (and spendiest!) is to buy the power box and column from the '77 that the front axle came out of. I also can get power boxes from an '86 4X4 and a 4X2 Ranger (which mounts ahead of the X-member like a 4X4 box) for free, so I'll try those for fit first.

I expect to encounter some unforseen problems, but all in all it looks like a reatively easy conversion compared to some others I've done. A fair bit of fabrication will be involved, so if you don't have access to welding equipment and know how to use it, I wouldn't even attempt it. Some critical welds will be needed on mountings for vital suspension components, not a place where you want a weld failure!

Would have been easier to just swap the body onto a bumpside or dentside 4X4 frame, but that would have entailed spending more money so we're using what we already have...

This will be powered by a 460 running through a C6 and T-case from an '85 F250 4X4 diesel. Should be a fun ride...

 

Ok so this brings up the question, what yrs can i try to find if I was going to put the body on a 4x4 frame?

 

A bumpside, '67-72 would be a direct fit but were not available with power steering so if that's a consideration, it would have to be swapped in. Otherwise, a dentside, '73-79 can be made to work. My understanding is that the early cab is a direct fit to the later frame but the bed requires different mounting holes to be drilled, a not-too-difficult task. It's a fair amount of work to swap a body onto another frame, what with wiring, fuel and brake lines, etc. but it's still very do-able and there's very little (if any) fabrication required.

 

Is the bumpside a long bed?

 

This terminology was news to me, but now I know I have a "bumpside", which refers to the convex V-shape running down the side of a '67-'72. The '73-'79's are "dentsides" because they have a concave groove along their sides. (And I just had gotten used to people referring to my '61 as a "slick".) (They all can be long or short.)

Your '72 is a "bumpside".

 

I never heard any of that terminology till I came here. You always learn something on FTE!

 

TigerDan; you must be new to this forum, welcome aboard.
Had to give ya a bad time bro.