hey guys its been a long time since i posted anything here but getting ready to put the ole gal back under the knife. ive been wanting to do a 4x4 conversion on my supercab since I bought it, and it has just now become feisable to do so. Friday I purchased a 79 f250 4x4 for 700 dollars. it has a dana 44 high pinion up front, dana 60 rear borg-warner trans and a np205 t-case not shure on the engine. I know there are going to be some issues to address such as the 2wd frame crossmember or front sump oil pan on my truck. for right now I want to focus just getting the axil under the truck and get it rolling im considering fabbing some blocks from box steel to hang the spring mounts from (to lift the truck enough to not remove the 2wd crossmember ) I would realy appreciate pictures of other conversions

ps. im going to use as many of the factory parts as I can to save some dough im not afraid to do some crazy fab work either

 

I think you'll discover that the rig would need to be lifted rather high in order to avoid having the D44's center section crash into the crossmember.

Here's a thread for your information: FTE Thread: Quadrazer's F350- 2WD to 4WD Conversion...

 

yea im beginning to agree. if I was tp remove the cross member and add a tube type foreward of the axil would I have to worry about my oil pan? I have a rebuilt 390 with 10,000 miles on it I wasn't looking foreward to ditching it.

 

Dunno... I guess we''ll know when ya get there.

 

I also have thought about converting my 75 F250 supercab to 4x4 and thought it might be easier to just extend a frame on a regular cab 4x4 to fit the supercab. Regular cab 4x4s are easy to come by and pretty cheap.

 

why would you have to ditch an engine, when all you really needed to do was find a 4x4 rear sump oil pan from a truck that was already 4x4. you already said you didn't know what engine the donor truck had...maybe it's time to check? you could already have the solution to your problem.

 

1979: First year F350's available with factory installed 4WD.

1979 F350 4WD's came with either 351M or 400 and Dana 60's front & rear.

 

yea I know the engine on the donor truck is a 351 or 400, can anyone tell me if my frame widths are the same? im out of town and cant mesure. also would there be a problem with fabbing a "sub frame" for the front spring perches to mount to and same for the rear to make the width of my truck work with the width of the springs on the donor axil? this would also lift the truck a few inches ( I would like to lift the truck a small ammout but keep it tastefull and I could do so with the stock 79 springs

 

Go custom three-link; Fox, Bilstein, or King coil-overs; a Dodge NP205; and, a Bowtie D44: 1979 Ford F-150 - Three Link Suspension Conversion - 4Wheel & Off-Road Magazine

 

1973/79 F100/350 & 1978/79 Bronco FRONT frame width same.

REAR frame width (behind the cab): 37 1/2" ~ 1973/79 F100/350, except...

33 1/2" rear frame width found on: 1973/77 F250 4WD (High Boys) & 1973/79 F350's on the 140" wheelbase & 1973/79 F350 Cab & Chassis.

 

I am getting ready to convert my supercab to 4wd this winter. At first I thought it was going to be really easy and everything would just bolt into place, well thats not the case! the big problem here is that a 4wd frame is diffent from a 2wd frane from the firewall up. Sure you could just buy a 4wd supercab frame and put our body parts on it but that is not what the OP and me are after. I have done ALOT of research and so far I have come up with 3 main ways to convert it. (I'm not saying these are the only ways to convert it to 4wd, this is just what I have read and come up with). You can lift the crap out of it to allow the tranny to clear the 2wd crossmember, only problem here is you have to fab up custom front and rear shock hoops or use blocks in the rear. (1979 Ford F-150 - Shocks & Hoops Installation - 4Wheel & Off-Road Magazine) If you are advanced in welding and fabrication you could cut the crossmember off the 2wd frame and then weld and fab a 4wd crossmember, leaf spring mounts, and motor mounts ony the 2wd frame. Or you can modify the frame. You can do this 2 ways, by stretching a regular cab 4wd frame or by cutting the 2wd frame at the firewall and the same from a donor truck and weld and brace it in place. The problem with stretching a frame is it will be weak in two spots in stead of one when you weld a 4wd front end on it. It is totally up to you how you do it, I am eather going to weld a 4wd front end on my supercab frame or I am going to weld and fab the components for a 4wd front end onto my 2wd supercab frame. I am not going to lift the crap out of it with front coil shocks because I want leaf springs up front for towing capabiltitys.
Best of luck,
Hunter

 

i know i could do this a lot of ways but the front leaf springs are here to stay i would love to see some pictures of conversions DONE WITH LEAF SPRINGS. im beginning to get cold feet about cutting the frames and graphing them together im leaning towards cutting out the 2wd crossmember adding a tubeular crossmember just foreward of the axil getting a rear sump oil pan and oil pump for my 390 and finishing the process by fabbing some new engine mounts installing the spring hangars in the "factory" area of the frame

 

slightly different application, but this a good thread.



Converting a 1979 CrewCab 2wd to 4wd

 

does Anyone know The Length of The Stock U Bolts For The Front On A 79f250? The Parts Yard Cut Them And I'm Trying To Order Some. Also Why Do The Fronts Mount Opposite Of The Back (Nuts Faceing Down In The Front?

 

Im not sure on stock exact since I have yet to find a truck with the stock u bolts intact...... I used- 9/16th x 3"x 9 1/2". had to cut some left over thread off though...