2wd to 4wd conversion

[kreeg]

I am wanting to take my 1970 SWB 2wd cab and bed and set it on a 1977 SWB 4wd chasis. From what I have read it is posssible I was just looking for a few more specifics on what to expext. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[fordman]

for a 77 F150 no problems. on the F250 frame the rear cab mounts are suppose to be on the outside fo the frame instead of the inside of the frame like the 2wd trucks. so you have to drill two new holes in the cab to mount it to the frame.

[basketcase0302]

You might want to shoot Ford4X4fun a PM as he did this and might also have a little more insight:
http://www.fordification.com/forum/memb ... ile&u=3474

[ford4x4fun]

I can't find my thread on my body swap I am 99% sure that your cab and bed well go right on. Someone on here knows the exact difference in the frame that causes the wheel to be offset with the bed. I believe it is 2 inches, but I could be wrong on that. I know if you pull your bed off of the cab a little it looks a lot better. When you do this though I would like to see some pictures. When I get back I am pulling my body back off of my truck so that I can finish what I was wanting to do with my frame. Should be sometime this summer!

[knightfire83]

Someone PM me about the same topic, here was my response:

Mine started out as a 2wd 70' f250. One winter I got stuck going to work on a icy hill at a stop light. Half an hour later and sliding over a couple lanes it got going, but I decided this is not going to happen again. I placed a add on Craigslist to buy a 4x4 parts truck and got a response from a guy with a 75' f100 4x4. I instantly bought it and the conversion began.

You can somewhat easily put a Bumpside body on a 73-79 Ford 4x4. The frame is 2" longer due to the newer trucks having an additional 2" of cab space behind the seat. The cab and front clip will bolt into place, however you will have to drill new rear cab mount holes in the cab floor if you have a f100 cab. There are dimples in the floor indicating the position of the holes. On f250' cabs the holes are drilled the same as 4x4's so you wont have to drill anything.

The newer frames are wider than the bumps right after the cab area. This will not allow you to use the original Bumpside box mounting holes. This is fine, as you can just drill new holes.

Being that the frames are 2"longer there will be an additional 2" space between the cab and the box when the rear wheels are centered in the wheel wells. To make up for this I just split the difference and offset the wheels by 1" and have a 1" larger space behind the cab. It really isn't noticeable unless you know what to look for.

The newer trucks come with rear gas tanks also, which is nice, but if your going to use that, you will need to cut an opening for the filler neck. (Not hard.)

Use the steering column and linkages that the 4x4 came with, it will fit a Bumpside cab just fine. Either use your old turn signal switch or wire up the newer one.

Better have a friend or two to help, the body parts are large and heavy. I Pulled the cabs and boxes off with an engine hoist, Front clip came off as 1 piece. It took me about 2 months working on it to get everything just right.

Just a note though, you get better power steering and front Disc brakes with '76 on up on 4x4 F-100's & F-150's.

To make it even easier you can find a 67-72 4x4 and just swap bodies and everything should bolt right up frame to frame.

If you are good with tools and have common sense, the conversion isn't that hard to do just time consuming. If your thinking of converting a 2wd frame to 4wd I wouldn't advise that route, unless your a rich master fabricator, there are two many differences between them. (Front cross-member, steering, boxed in frame, etc.)

It's a tremendous amount of work to convert but 100000% worth it when you can throw it in 4wd and go anywhere.

Here's some pictures of the project: http://s849.photobucket.com/albums/ab51 ... onversion/