My dually conversion, with some porn..
 

Thought I'd start a thread for my dually conversion. I'm doing my 4 inch downpipe and 5 inch exhaust at the same time, so will throw in some pics of that too.

I started saturday, here is what my poor truck looked like after the day was over. Took a while as I had 2 toolboxes to unload and remove, hide-a-ball plate, plus the normal stuff to remove the box. I was able to save all the bolts so that was nice.

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps0961ae6c.jpg

Sunday I didn't work too hard. My 300 dollar dually axle has almost new brakes which was great to see. The bad thing is it is an older generation axle, so I am putting my ring and pinion in it. I THINK a guy could have just switched the ujoint in the driveshaft to make it work as it is only 1/2 inch shorter, but the tone ring in this one was chipped so I just decided to pull my gears and put them in it. I'll have to spend the time to set it all up, but that's ok. I had a bearing on my ring gear carrier that was bad so I just ordered a new bearing kit for the center section to replace them all, including pinion. I also had a seal leak on the dually axle, so I ordered new bearings and seals for both sides of that too. Those parts should be here by the weekend, so we'll see if I can get it put together then. Ordered my wheel spacers and chrome lug nut covers too (thanks for the link Bill!). Here's where i left the axles sunday.

SRW axle
http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps9de23124.jpg

DRW axle
http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps26d37f3c.jpg

My dually hubs, thanks to Bill and Corey Lasalle! They are all cleaned up, ready for new bearings. I put new bearing in my hubs a couple years ago, and as long as they look ok I'm going to pull them and the races and put them in these hubs.

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps64110541.jpg

Here's a few pics of my new exhaust. It's a 5 inch cat back diamond eye kit. The dp is a 4 inch SD diamond eye dp. The little box has new clamps, universal hangers (I modified mine for the straight pipe exhaust so got a couple extra), 4-5 inch adapter, and a 5 inch 30* elbow.

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps56c397e7.jpg

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...psb2b406a5.jpg

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps249ff532.jpg

My plan is to work on the exhaust tomorrow afternoon and new years day.

Looks good! I like my Diamond Eye kit, though I have the 3" dp to 4" exhaust, and mine has the muffler, no cat. On a side note - Diamond Eye didn't give me any stickers in the box, so I called them the other day (even though I've had my exhaust for over a year now) and told them that I liked to have stickers from the places I buy things for my truck and never received any with my exhaust kit, then asked them if that was something they could do. To my surprise, the lady said "Sure! What's your name and address?" I got them today...they're nice! :-X04 Good luck with the conversion. That should work really well for what you use it for...now you just need 2 more doors! :-X22

Lol! 2 doors are enough for me! There's only two of us that go anywhere in the truck. My dog sometimes goes along, but she is fine in the back. There is definitely no cat on here, I just got that kit as I'm building the rest myself from that point forward. I am putting the muffler on though.

I don't think I got any stickers either, I may have to do what you did! Thanks Tyler!

Ahhh...you can never have enough doors. I often think I'd like to have 6 on mine! Heck, if I have any more kids after this one pops out, we may have to do that so I can haul them all! LOL.

Ya, you need more doors! Bill any good at body work? Maybe you can get him to graft a couple more on there after a frame extension! I am not dealing with a family like you! LOL! I have me and dad traveling in my truck. It's big enough. Plus I've owned it for 14 years, its a part of me.

I know you already ordered spacers, but I'm posting this anyways. This is the picture I tried to text u twice, but for some reason you never received it. Lol

http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/...psad8c2387.jpg

FYI, that is a 3" DP

Progress is good

Do u have any pictures if Drw complete? Also are those the front hubs?

why spacers?

No, it is a 4 inch dp Brad. May look like 3 inch, but it's not.

Thanks Travis, that is what I ordered.

Doug, I don't have any pics of the axle complete. Those are the front hubs too. I'm running spacers because I'm going to use my 265/75 tires and just buy 2 new for the front. With those spacers they will be about the same distance apart as the stock skinny tires are.

I am curious as to why you went to a SD 4"

Got it Darin. Figured it was something like that.

I have a few reasons. My stubborn self figured the more air I can move out the cooler it will run. Although probably very minimal, it won't hurt. Another reason was because when I put the 3 inch dp in that came with the turbo kit, I did some serious mangling to firewall/floor area to get it in there. Although nobody can see it, it bothers me knowing its all cut up and pushed back, looking like crap. I'm going to cut it all out and form in a new floor piece around the dp. The last reason is kind of along with the one before, but the dp is hitting the bellow on that side too. So more clearancing is needed anyway.

Truck is looking good Darin. I run 265/75 on my dually with a 1/4" spacer what size spacer are you going with. I like the look of the 265's better than the 235's. Here's some pic. before and after.


235's
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ctureid=145782

235's
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ctureid=145783





235's
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ctureid=145784


265's
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...php?albumid=39https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...php?albumid=39https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...ctureid=138763

If you run Factory 4wd rims(5.35 offset) you can run 265s no problem

2wd rims are only 5.00 offset

Will you be a putting on a dually bead or a flat bed?

What gear ratio are you going with?

Looks awesome Darin. Looking forward to seeing it done!

I didn't know they made different offset wheels for a dually. I will check my and if they are 5.00 I will start looking for some 4x4 wheels. I don't like running the spacer. I could probably get away with out them until I put a load on it, they don't touch it just close.

Van is different again. they are 5.15. Dam ford and changing things

You can look at GM and dodge wheels too.

I am running dodge offset (alcoa) Aluminum wheels on the Inside rears. I just had to have the center machined out to fit over the hub. I forget what offset they were but it was pretty good

This is 2 dodge wheels back to back with a 2" spacer and 315s(just because I got impatient and wanted to see what dual 315s looked like)
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...0/DSC03194.jpg

Those 315 look bad a$$ on there. If I had a wide hip girl I'd look into 305 or 315's. Also what your frame coat in? Looks so smooth and like factory new under coating.

Thanks guys. Those 315's do look real nice.

Kevin, I'm running some factory steel wheels for now so I need to use the 2 inch spacers to make them work. We've got different backspacing wheels for sure, cause I know I'd not have enough clearance with a 1/4 inch spacer. Well, they may clear, but would be soo close I couldn't put a trailer on for sure. With the 2 inchers I should have around 1 1/2 inches between the tires, just like the skinny stock tires are now I got with the wheels. That number may be a little bigger. The 265's are 2 inches wider on my factory aluminum wheels, but I think the steels are an inch narrower so the sidewalls will probably suck in a little making them a hair narrower. I've got simulators to use on the wheels, someday I'd like to get some nicer wheels but these will work ok for now. I bought the wheels, simulators, and lug nuts for 200 bucks so that was a good way to save some cash for now.

Phil, I bought a dually bed this fall. It is already red, however, not the right color red so I'll get it painted. That won't get done until summer sometime when I build up some more cash flow. I switched axles with someone to get 4.10's a little over a year ago, that is what's staying in here.

So I have a 95 F250 I been considering turning into a DRW. I bought a 92 DRW axle from an F350 with 3.55 gears in it. My problem is the spring perch on the axle is shorter than my springs. Do I really have to adjust my spring hangers on my truck or should I be looking for a different axle?

Looking good Darin! Keep the truck porn coming!

That is all sandblasted, 1.25 gallons of POR15, then top coated with 1 gallon of Valspar Low Glare Black

My 97 CCSB build - PowerStrokeNation : Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum

What do you mean by shorter? Closer together? If so you got a cab and chassis rear axle. You need an axle from a truck that left the factory with a bed installed. Look at this thread for measurments. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post13216938

Thanks Nate!

Beemac, what Tom said above is what you need to know.

I started the downpipe this afternoon. I had to do a pretty good amount of firewall/floor removal here to get that 4 inch sucker in. That was pretty much a pita. I'm at the point I don't need to cut anymore, and have the flange and elbow right off the turbo made. I cut the flange end off just a few inches after the bend on the dp. Then cut a "V" in the inside of the bend and made it a sharper bend, as it wasn't sharp enough to get down where I needed it to. Tomorrow should be easier, I just need to finish piecing the dp together and hang the exhaust. I have to pick up some metal the end of the week to fix the hole in the floor, I'm out, so that won't get done yet.

I'll put some pics of the DP and hole tomorrow.

Man Darin, your doing a lot of work and its looking good!

Thanks Glenn! I want to have this done in a 2-3 weeks if I can, so I'm gonna stay after it fairly good. Lots of other stuff to do this winter.

Talked with Bill last night and he just used a cut up piece of body panel off a parts truck for his floor piece. We have plenty of parts cars/trucks in behind the shop so I should be able to get something there to use.

I still need to get some 1/2 inch metal. I'm getting rid of the hide-a-ball that was in my pickup and putting a solid one in. I'll use the bracket that is there for the hide-a-ball and modify it for the solid mount.

Sucks your so far away.im gonna cut mine off my frrame when i do the new bed..id give it to you lol...its a CHUNK o steel!!!

Darin, what kind of hide a ball do you have? I have a B&W turn over in the 97 that I really like. I put one in the 96 crewcab also. The 96 C&C has a fold down type that someone put in wrong, it folds from front to back instead of side to side. You get slack in the ball that way. I'm going to have to cut it out and either put a solid one in with a door to cover it, or put the fold down in under the the door as it sets way to high now.

It's a fold down type Tom, that folds down side to side. It's getting pretty worn, as when its up it has quite a bit of play forward and backward. I'm gonna pick up a piece of 1/2 x 6 x 8 plate to put between the 3/4 steel braces on the truck now. I'll weld it to them, and put some extra support underneath to tie the plate and cross braces together. I got a solid ball with a safety chain hookup on it with the bed so I'm going to use it. Blow a hole in the plate and be good. I'm going to weld the nut to the bottom of the plate when I get the ball tight into place. My fold down ball NEVER got folded down anyway.

Got the dp built and the exhaust hung today. It's all done except I didn't clamp anything together yet. I will do that after I get the box and axle back on. Make sure on clearances, etc. Lots of time into that thing, but now I have a nice big downpipe, and will not have to worry about any rubbing when I get done. I think it was worth it, but it was a lot of climbing around, hooking up and removing the dp more times than I can count, etc.

Here's a few pictures. I didn't take any from underneath, but at the end of the dp is the 4-5 inch adapter, then a 30* 5 inch angle pipe, then it adapts to the 5 inch system.

First shot is my hole. I made it a little wide, but made things a little easier. Doesn't really matter, just a little bigger patch piece.

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps66f5d4e1.jpg

Here's one top view shot. I've got a good 1/4 inch clearance from hitting anywhere. That will be plenty.

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps56ce0840.jpg

One last shot of the old one and the new one side by side.

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps88a7892e.jpg

I may have a little time the next couple days before the weekend to finish the floor. I'd like to get that wrapped up, then do the rear end this weekend. We'll see how things go.

Looks good Darin.

Nice sewer pipe man!!!!

Looking good. I'd recommend that when u put the rest of the exhaust in you use the band type clamps over the round u type ones. Make it nice to get a part when there a problem later down the road.

Wholly crap Darin, I'm impressed!! As much trouble that I had with just a 3 inch, I should have gutted the firewall like you did. Oh well, give me something to do next winter, right? LOL Of course, I'll need up dates thru the summer in how that works! When we convoy to RRE you will blow my doors off. :-X19

X2 a thousand times over. It was a PITA getting mine apart and I put it back together with band clamps.

Rre for the win!!!!

The convoy is getting bigger!! :D