3/4 ton swap to 1/2 ton truck

jamie · Post by **jamie** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 2:06 am

i have a 68 1/2 ton that i use for hauling firewood and gravel and was wondering if i could swap the 3/4 ton suspension from a 71 2wd on it and be a bolt on process? or if the suspension is the same can i just use the heavier front coils and rear springs?

Post by **FORDification** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:32 am

It'll bolt on...with some very minor mods. The bolts holding the rear leaf springs are larger on the F250 than on the F100, so you'll need to either get the leaf-spring brackets from the F250 (the frame brackets), or slightly enlarge the holes on the F100 brackets to accommodate the larger F250 bolts. You gotta be VERY careful here though....use a diegrinder to enlarge the holes, and just do a little bit at a time, stopping frequently to try inserting the bolt. If you enlarge them too much, your leaf springs are going to be wandering around in the mounts.

I believe the front axle pivot bolts are also larger on the F250 than on the F100, so those I-beam bolt holes would also need to be slightly enlarged for the F250 pieces.

If it was me, I think I'd just add a few leaves to the rear F100 springs.

MadMaxetc · Post by **MadMaxetc** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:32 am

The coils are the same in front.

You could probably just swap the real leaf springs. But you will have to do like Kieth said about the bolts.

fordman · Post by **fordman** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:43 pm

or just do a body swap from the f100 frame to the f250 frame.

flyboy2610 · Post by **flyboy2610** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:17 pm

fordman wrote:or just do a body swap from the f100 frame to the f250 frame.

That's what I would do. I seem to recall reading that the F250 frame was made of thicker steel.

jamie · Post by **jamie** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 2:41 am

thanks for the info guys, i was looking around my buddys junkyard hoping to find a 3/4 ton with discs in front if i was going to bother swapping front suspension i didn't want to stay with drum brakes but all i found with discs are 1/2 tons. the coils on the truck i have look smaller than the 3/4 parts truck but it might be my imagination. I'll just swap the rear springs for now and keep my eye out for a 3/4 ton disc front end.

RedneckTexan · Post by **RedneckTexan** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:48 pm

I'd swap the rear axle too, what good are HD springs without a HD axle? i.e. if you put 10,000lb springs on a 5,000lb axle, all you'll be able to haul is 5k

390Nut · Post by **390Nut** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:37 pm

jamie wrote:thanks for the info guys, i was looking around my buddys junkyard hoping to find a 3/4 ton with discs in front if i was going to bother swapping front suspension i didn't want to stay with drum brakes but all i found with discs are 1/2 tons. the coils on the truck i have look smaller than the 3/4 parts truck but it might be my imagination. I'll just swap the rear springs for now and keep my eye out for a 3/4 ton disc front end.

The coil springs will be smaller diameter for a 6 cylinder truck than for a V8 truck.

What kind of engines you got in those things?

fordman · Post by **fordman** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:42 pm

i thought the front coils were heavier for f250 than they were for f100. engine wise they are suppose to be different for 6 cyl and v8 i thought. where is that engine weight chart at again.

cdeal28078 · Post by **cdeal28078** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:55 am

I wonder if the lighter gvrw F250s had different springs in the back. reason I ask is years ago when I worked my truck a lot harder I swapped springs from an F250 onto my 71 F100. All I had to do was pull the bolts and swap the springs. Re-bolt them. I didn't have any trouble with the bolts and the springs fit like they were supposed to. Just curious
clint

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3/4 ton swap to 1/2 ton truck

3/4 ton swap to 1/2 ton truck

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