Hi,
I know the IFS to solid axle converision is pretty involved on the coil sprung trucks.

How hard would it be on a leaf sprung truck? I have an 85 F250 4X4.

Is there an easy way to do this? Don't the 80 up F350s use a soild front axle?

What about the 70's front axles? I have heard the spring perches on the 70's front ends are mounted closer together than on the 80's trucks. It wouldn't be too hard to have new perches welded on in the right spot would it? What else would be involved?

Any advice anyone could give would be much appreciated.

Mark

 

im about to do a solid axle conversion on my truck, im using the front end of a late '70s F-150 because they were coil sprung so it will be pretty easy to put it under there, im either going to just bolt up the whole front end of the '70s truck under my truck or im going to figure out some way to fab my current stuff into that front axle since ive already bought the lift and all.

 

To install a solid axle in a 80's F-250 is fairly simple. When I modified my truck I bought a 87 F-250 frame that had a Dana60 front end swapped onto it. The easiest way to do it is to find a 1986 to 1998 F-350 4x4 truck for parts. I believe the springs bolt into the original place the F-250 springs did. Besides that you need to swap the track bar, steering linkage, swaybar and driveshaft over. Once I bought the frame I installed a 4" one-ton BDS lift. The only concern I had was that the shock mount was not parallel to the top mount, so I redrilled the holes for it.

The next major item on my agenda is to install OffRoad Unlimited's shackle reversal to gain an additional 2.5" and a better ride.

1984 F-350 4x4 460 4-spd 35" dana60, full floating sterling 10.25

 

Mark,

The solid axle conversion you are asking about is straight forward. To replace your TTB Dana 44 or Dana 50 you will need a donor Dana 60 from an F350, including brackets, brakes, steering linkage (tie rods), swaybar (if equiped), and best to check front driveline length, etc.

I just completed one for my '97 F250 crewcab two weeks ago. Went together like building a model car - EASY! The conversion went together perfectly. Should have done it years ago! No more once-every-couple-months-trip-to-the-alignment-shop!!! Plus the Dana 60 adds a "cool" factor.

The brakes are different on the '96 and '97's, so if you swap with these axles you will need the brake calipers. '86-91 D60's are king-pin style and are stronger than the '92-'97 ball joint style. Both are way ahead of the TTB axle you have now.

I have another F350 assembly - all parts. Let me know if you are interested in the F350 parts for the conversion - I have a '90 Dana 60 with brakes, brackets, sway-bar, tie-rods, and drive-line. I bought two axles and all parts at the same time. The '90 axle is 3.54 gear ratio out of a non-wrecked truck (the truck had a blown engine and the guy was parting it out). E-mail me @ ELKHUNTN@MSN.com

I also have a '97 TTB Dana50, 60K miles, 4.10 gears and auto hubs all parts including brakes for sale if anyone is interested.