Wow all I can say is great job! I am doing a similar rebuild on the same truck,(1979 f-250 4x4 regular cab long bed). I found your write-up Very useful on my path to completing my project. Thank you sir for the reference, I have read every post and I will fallow your progress. Thank You sir.

 

Thanks for the kind words FMJ! I pondered doing the exhaust myself for 2 weeks straight, then realized I lost 2 weeks of time I coulda been fabbing up my exhaust! Decided it was time to pull the trigger and do it myself cause I'd be wayyyy more proud of it, and have a really high level of control over the final result.
Haha why is that?! There's plenty of work to do on the truck.

Thanks Barry! Glad you're enjoying the thread and the information - what's been useful to you so far? I'm curious

Speaking of final results...

Here's what I wanted in the end (work backwards!)


Mocked up with a Home depot pail and 2x4's I had laying around. The goal is for the rear dumps to clear the rear tire without the exhaust heating up my meaty rubbers, but to also make use of all that room outside the frame rails


Here's how I achieved the final result. S-bends from Hedman Headers purchased. They fit the Hedman long tube headers perfectly and give enough room to rotate the ball/socket flange up/down without causing leaks
Hedman Hedders 18700 - Ball and Socket Style X-Tension Tubes (2-1/2" S-Bends with 3" Collector Size). S-bend offset is 5.5 inches IIRC.
Small collector extension (came with the headers) shown for comparison.



Measured 1000 times, cut twice. Fully welded up with 75 Argon / 25 CO2 gas, and stainless 308L wire on my Lincoln 110V MIG machine. I would have preferred a tri-mix gas, but it's darn expensive!!! I used what I had and it worked.



In the dead center is about as pretty as my weld got. That's a weld only a mother could love... but it works. Function over form I say.



Purchased some Walker 35119 exhaust hangers/insulators. They're a 1.5" hole offset, with 3/8" holes. Purchase 10 feet of cold-rolled 3/8" solid round stock locally, and went to town. Hand-bent each hanger to my liking.



Installed and functioning. Once one side was complete, I mocked up the other side with roughly the same measurements and adjusted so that the mufflers/dumps ended up in the EXACT same spot. Minor differences between sides because of the header collect exit location, but it all all adjusted according to be a mirror image.

Driver side. Installed, hanging on 1 hanger. Planning for 3 hangers per side. Dumps not installed. Not painted yet. Mufflers have exactly 8 degrees of angle in the XY plane (each). Did this to prevent crud + water collecting on the mufflers. Gives it an opportunity to fall off.



A look at the tail end. Yes, it points at the tire, but the dumps haven't been welded up yet. Also planning on running chrome exhaust tips on the dumps.



Location of muffler in relation to cab + box. You can see the hanger peeking out from under the cab.



A peek at the hanger. 1 is enough to allow me to drive this sucker The other 2 can come later LOL. Hangers are bolted to the frame through existing holds. 4" long piece of cold-rolled flat bar (1/16" thick) welded to the top hanger rod, holes drilled in the flat bar, then bolted to the frame with lock washers, flat washers, and nylon locking nuts.



A worms eye view. Dumps not installed. Just look at that ground clearance!!! WOOHOO!!

 

Good pictures, and it looks like you're having loads of fun.

Your welding is as bad as mine ! LOL

My friend told me that my welding looked like bird sh$t.

We're still friends.

Some of those hangers look too smooth on the ends.
Put something on the ends to prevent them from ever sliding out of the rubbers. (So that they sort of look like a horizontal 'L'.)

 

You gotta post up a video. We want to hear it.

 

Nicely done, Aaron!

Agree with SlikWillie on a video!

 

That truck is bad@$$! That steering wheel is a killer score too!

 

The stuff I found useful off the top of my head are:3G alternator,super duty break booster,how to remove the bed with an engine hoist,and your use of por-15. Thanks for the info.

 

Thanks for the replies guys!

Just got back from vacation in the rockies. Man, it sure is nice out there! The smell of a lush forest every morning... hard to beat!

Anywho, back to working on the truck. Video will be posted soon - gotta finish those dumps and chrome tips

Got my eyes on another (and better shape) Cactus Smasher + factory box rails. For cheap too! Will post more soon

 

Update time.

Tailgate is on, adjusted, and working properly. Lubed it up to keep the squeaks to a minimum (I already hear enough of them! LOL)



Cactus smasher + factory box rails.



Took some measurements of my U-joints. Both on the rear driveshaft need replacing. Not really sure what to make of the measurements I took...

Rear D-shaft Front Yoke. Measures 1.060 inches. 1-1/16"?


T-case output yoke. Measures 1.051 inches. 1-1/16" ?


Another measurement (same as photo above). 1.048 inches. Not quite 1-1/16"... Not sure what to make of this.


Dana 60 Input yoke. Measures 1.122 inches. 1-1/8" ?


Rear d-shaft u-joint flange @ rear diff. Measures 1.057". 1-1/16" ?


So I'm not sure where this leaves me... take the u-joints out and continue to measure so I get the right ones?

Still not clear on what I'm ordering for replacement u-joints... 1330? 1310? 1350?

 

https://spicerparts.com/resources/measuring-u-joints

 

Excellent info! This is exactly what I was looking for.

Time to drop the rear d-shaft and get some proper measurements!

 

Hey Aaron, I haven't been one fte much these days, but when I am I've been lurking on your thread! Gotta say, great work man! You'll love it when you are done and get to drive it around with all the ppl you pass giving you the thumbs up. I've been driving the big crew cab everyday this summer with no issues! As far as the u-joints are concerned, there is such thing as a conversion joint that has 1330 on one side and 1350 on the other. When I used a rear drive shaft out if a 79 f250 on the crew I had to use one of these joints. Good luck.

 

 

Thanks for dropping in guys! I didn't know so many people were silently watching my build thread. Keep the comments/criticisms coming

Thanks for the compliment 77_crew. I really like your truck too! I wish I had the time/money to paint mine like you did yours.

Duly noted on the u-joints. I think I might have a 1330/1350 u-joint on the rear diff cause the measurements weren't the same at all.

15" wheel - I was surprised by this when I got it because I thought all sport wheels were 14". I like mine too! The leather is really nice to grip in your hands when driving.

More progress to come. Hopefully soon. Another parts order on its way.

 

I think you can do it yourself...all it takes is a little time and some patients, which I lack both of these days...lol. as you know, I paid to have the crew cab painted, it was expensive, but it turned out really nice.. but also as you know I painted my highboy myself and it turned out decent. It was my first paint job and I think I did ok for painting it in a dusty old shed in the winter time with bad lighting etc. It only cost me 6 or 700 bucks in paint if I remember correctly...you can do it...