I think your ford dealership is full of it...unless the person before you changed the gears in it?

 

Like Bobby said, since you do have a 4x4, you will have to replace the rear axle with the same ratio axle as the one you have now. If you repalce it with a different axle ratio and it doesn't match your front axle ratio then this will throw the drive train into a bind whenever in 4WD high or low. It won't matter when in 2WD.

Check your door tag for the code listed under axle. It will tell you what is came with from the factory. Do you know the full history of the truck? Have the axle gears been changed from what was in it new?

 

when i got brakes at autozone they asked what yr and they brough me drum pads

 

I have a '99 with rear drums and I was wondering about this conversion. Has anyone find anything out over the course of the last 5 months since the last post in here?

 

Posting this in case anyone else finds this 14yrs later, like i did. I have faith there will still be many Triton engine's booting around.

Needed a work truck, couldn't afford covid pricing, so i bought an old 97. Never touched a drum brake in my life.. figured the time i spent learning old tech wasnt worth it. Decided to do a conversion. All the online conversion kits suck cause they make you buy their ****ty rotors and pads for 3x cost. No thanks. Found this thread, went out to the wreckers.. after looking in many door panels, turns out the 02 ford f-150 has an Axel 19, same as my 97. (More importantly, it uses disk brakes, and you'd need to take your rear axel shaft off regardless if you're using a conversion kit)..

Check the sticker inside your driver side door, then go hunting!! 10th digit is your year. Letters are 1980'-00' .. https://www.blueovaltrucks.com/tech-...v-i-n-decoder/ .. use that as a quick guide.

Still need to confirm the gear ratios are the same.. but im sure they are. Havent completed the swap yet, but figured I'd post this before i forgot.

Hope this helps someone.

 

An axle code of 19 is just 3.55 open. Doesn't tell you if you have an 8.8 or a 9.75 -- your eyes do that.

Also, drums are simple once you go through one. Nothing wrong with a conversion but not wanting to learn drums is like buying new underwear everyday because you don't want to learn how to use those scary buttons on the washing machine.