Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum, and any forum for that matter. I normally can find what i'm looking for online on most subjects. I think that I might need something a little more specialized for this though. I just recently purchased a 95 Ford F-150 4x4 with a 351 engine. It's the Eddie Bauer model also. Well the guy I purchased it from changed the suspension. He said that it came off of an F-250. My question is how would I go about identifying what year and model it came from so I can buy simple parts like brakes and suspension components. I tried calling the guy a few times and to no avail, he won't return my calls. I wanted to avoid driving another 70 miles back to his house to find out. The tires go really crooked when I put it in reverse making me think that something is worn out pretty bad. It drives straight in forward with a slight pull to the right. I know that where the pitman arm hooks on to the tie rod end, that tie rod bar (whatever it's called) is worn out and needs to be replaced. It has huge leaf springs in the front and rear (I think that the standard F-150 came with coil springs) along with the full floating 8 lug rear end and 8 lug front hubs. The hubs are manual locking from the outside but the 4 wheel drive controls are push button on the dash. I tried them out and all seems to work well. I'm also going out on a limb and assuming that this has increased the towing capacity as well. One of the reasons that I bought the truck was because it was listed as an F-250 because I wanted the extra towing. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you guys in advance!

-Chris

 

You really should have asked questions about it before you bought it.

To answer your question, it's anyone's guess what axles he put under your truck. Pics of both axles would help in identifying them. If I absolutely had to guess, the rear is probably a sterling 10.25" axle, and the front is either a Dana 44HD or a Dana 50. Take a good picture of the wheel opening with the hub sticking through it and someone can ID it for you.

Now for the bad news - putting 3/4 ton axles under a 1/2 ton truck doesn't make it into a 3/4 ton truck. The frame on a 3/4 ton truck is much stronger and if you try to regularly tow a large 5th wheel, gooseneck or travel trailer, you're going to fatigue and stress the frame. If you tow heavy loads often enough, the frame will fail.

I don't know what you're planning on towing, but if it's enough weight you need a real 3/4 ton truck, not a 1/2 ton with 3/4 ton axles. There is a big difference.

And I haven't even touched on whether or not whoever did the work had a clue what they were doing. I have seen some really hacked up work on trucks that I wouldn't even sit in while they weren't moving.

 

Ok thanks. When I get off of work, i'll take some pictures. I'm not too sure if he didn't upgrade the frame too while he was at it. I was planning on putting a 5th wheel hitch in it to tow a camper. I've also been a welder for the last 8 years and could do some things to beef up the frame if I don't have enough rigidity. I've seen some pretty hacked jobs as well and this one looks like a decent job. I will let you know though. Thanks!

 

could be dana 60's no?

 

Ok now for some pics.











I couldn't get a good picture of the front differential because of the morning sun. It looks like where it mounts is wearing out also. I might have to change a peice of the sub frame or reinforce where the mounting holes are because it looks like there starting to turn oval. I know that the bushings are shot so i'm going to work on that first. Thanks!

 

Front is a Dana 50 TTB, the rear is a sterling 10.25" axle.

You might want to put some more lugnuts on that right front wheel.

 

Thanks for the info! Yeah the guy thought that it would be important to put all 8 on the rear wheels but only half of them on the front because the front left looks the same. I'm still a newbie but what does TTB stand for? Would these be limited slip or posi's? Just not sure, because if not, I might upgrade them. I also have to work out the shocks and sway bar for the front suspension. They are hooked up in the back but not in the front. Does anyone know if the front sub frame (where the Dana 50 TTB is hooked into) is a removable part? The holes where the bushings are pretty worn out and you can see where they bolts are moving around a bit. It sounds pretty scary when you hit some bumps. lol. Thanks!

 

TTB = twin traction beam. It's Ford's trademarked name for their independent front suspension design. It was used from 1980 to 1997. It takes a lot of grief but it's a good system. Don't know if they're limited slip or not, but if you look at the tags bolted to them it will say 3L55 if it's a 3.55 limited slip axle. I would worry about getting the rest of the truck in good running order first.

The axle pivot brackets are riveted to the frame. You probably just need new bushings in there. Use quality aftermarket stuff when you replace those, not junk from autozone.

How much are you going to tow with this?

 

My negibor has a 5th wheel camper but i'm not sure on the weight. It's not huge or anything, just a small one. One of my friends also has a 78 CJ7 set up for mudding that I would haul on a car hauler with a reese hitch.

It looks like the bolts that go through the bushings have created a oval shaped hole in the axle pivot brackets. That's why I was asking about replacing the whole thing. I'll try to get a clearer picture of what i'm talking about on these. I do think that the bushings are worn out though. When I drive in reverse the tires do some weird things and go all crooked. I'll see if I can get a pic of that also. It goes straight in forward so that's good. If I can't replace the frame (if that's bad) I was thinking about welding some 1/4" steel plates with the proper size holes to the frame to fix the problem. What would you think about that? I think that it would stiften it up a bit there If I had the room to weld them in there. I got the truck cheap and just want to fix it up as best as I can to get some use out of it. I'll definatelly get some good bushings to go in the front, I know that you always do those right. Thanks!

 

Ok, I have some pictures of the truck and what the front end is doing. The sway bar and shocks aren't hooked up on the front, but I don't think that this would help. I didn't get a picture of how the bolt holes are ovaled out yet because the lighting was off. I really need to get a camera with a flash. Here goes.


This is just a full view of the truck to see how it sits.



This is after driving straight and stopping and putting it in park. The wheels are generally straight.



This is when I backed into a parking spot last night when I went out. They got pretty crooked here.



This is just the same shot from further away to show how much the tires are off.


Again, I didn't get a picture of the holes up under it but it looks pretty bad. I'm thinking that the bumps that I hit are only going to make it worse. I'll try to get a picture of some of the bolt holes and maybe i'll get under it later today and see what I can do about the problem.

 

Wow, you definitely have some really worn out stuff in your frontend. The shocks and swaybar aren't meant to address that, so hooking them up (which is a good idea, BTW) won't fix that. You're on the right track with the axle pivot bushings.

 

it looks like it could be a f150 body on a f250 frame. not shure tho. take some measurements and ill compare it to my frame.

 

I know that's it's an F-150 with at least F-250 axles and suspension. I'm not sure if the frame is from an F-250 yet though. What would you like me to measure?

I still haven't gotten the worn out bolt hole pictures. Does anyone know of which axle pivot bushings would be the best? I did some looking around but didn't find too much info on the Dana 50. I found a lot on the 44, are the bushings interchangeable on these? I think that i'm going to weld 1/4" steel to the frame where the holes are messed up and see if I can get it right without going too far that the suspension camber is off. I'm probably going to replace a good amount of the parts in the front suspension while i'm at it. Get it aligned and make it drive like new again. Sounds like a good time to kick back with the welder, some tools and beer!