Ok, this is a "Can it be done?" question. A friend of a friend just totaled his 2005 F250 Lariat FX4 6.0. I was talking to my friend yesterday and he said that the buyout on it from insurance was going to be $600. He was wanting me to to go in half/half with him so that we could both have some spare parts whenever we needed them. My question is this...I'm interested in converting my truck from leafs to coils, and if I have the opportunity to do it for $300, you can bet I'm gonna jump on it. However, can it be done? I know there's a lot of parts that will have to be changed out, but how in-depth would it be? My concern is not with the parts themselves, but with their mounting brackets...for example the bracket where the coil springs mount to the frame...is that bracket welded on? Same with the sway bars that run along the frame rail...if there's a ton of brackets for the updated parts that are welded to the frame, that's gonna get pretty rough and I don't really want to dive into all that.

Oh, and none of the front suspension parts were messed up...it was a front end collision but the frame or any other chasis part was messed up.

 

Wouldn't it be easier to put your cab and bed on the '05 frame?

 

I think I would have to do a powertrain swap too cause I don't think the engine runs either.

 

Wouldn't it be easier to crawl underneath and have a look around?

I suspect you'll find the frame is a bit different includinging the thickness in attachment areas.

 

The frame was entirely unaltered from 99-10, with the exception that in 08 they changed the front end slightly. But no, the frame is identical from 99-07. There may be brackets that are welded to the frame for the new suspension parts, but i am not going to be able to look any time soon so I figured I'd ask. But just to show how the frame didn't change, the bar that goes across the front below your bumper can be completely removed on 05-07 models because it was what the leaf springs mounted to on the front, and for some reason they didn't do away with it when they switched to coils.

 

What about the pickup points on the front axle?

 

Not really sure what that is.

 

Most of that stuff is probably riveted on, but you'd have to check to be sure. And the holes where they are riveted on probably don't exist on earlier chassis.

I THOUGHT the front part of the frame was widened (or narrowed?) for the coil-spring front-end, but I have no idea if that's true or not.

Time to get out the measuring tape.

 

A good friend of mine does salvage and repair on ford diesels and he said there's absolutely no difference in the frames

 

Where the radius arms, spring buckets, shocks, etc. mount.

 

Thats why I'm posting this thread, I don't have a truck to look at right now but I'm curious as to whether all those things are welded or bolted on.

 

There is a guy on here that actually did it... you have to break the rivets, but you can bolt it all back on. He said the only holes he had to drill for were the radius arm brackets. But anyways, here's they guy's profile. You could contact him and I'm sure he could tell you all he did!

Just keep in mind, though, tat you have to use the newer axle and the thing about that is that it has a slightly narrower wheel base. So, you'll either have to swap both the front AND rear axles or you can make up for it using different spacers and/or back spacings.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong up there... ^^^

 

Well, I know the backspacing on the wheels is different (to keep from hitting the leaf springs) but I'm pretty sure the flange to flange dimension is the same on the track dimension.

 

might as well swap the axles, then you can use the bigger brakes...

 

A few years back when Ford came out with the coils I was thinking doing that to my 2000. I wanted to see if I could install a 8inch Four Link Fabtech lift kit. It looked easy to do. All I needed was some brackets on the axel to switch from the leaf spring mounts to mount the radius arms. I went over to Fabtech with my idea and they said they have know plans on a leaf to coil convertion kit. So I stayed with the leafs.
About a year latter Fabtech came out with a convertion kit! I think they took my idea!