ok heres another question about my front end. THe springs on my truck appear to have not much of an arch to them. Do i need to look at upgradeing them? my truck sports and extra 335-340 pounds in the form of a custom front bumper and winch hanging off the front end. thanks for the input in advance.
Greg
Custom Built and modified F250 highboy, custom dump box, Warn model 8274 winch mounted on the 335 lbs front bumper
67-75 F-250 4x4's were sold under two different GVW packages. 80-90% of trucks, atleast this is true for the earlier ones, were the lighter GVW (around 6600?) the lighter trucks had the weeny front end like you have, 5 leaf front springs, no rear overload springs and no provisions for them iether except for some drilled holes in the frame where the brackets went.
The heavier trucks were 7700 GVW, you *could* consider these the "1 ton" 4x4's of thier day since nothing heavier was made by ford back then and they were substantially stouter for hauling weight than the lighter trucks. The 7700 trucks had the 3500 pound closed knuckle 44 front end which was worlds heavier than the lighter front end, 6 leaf front spring packs, riveted on rear overload brackets and factory rear overload springs.
So armed with this info, now you can go look at your truck carefully and figure out what it was originally. If the rear overload brackets are riveted to the frame then the chassis was a 7700 truck. That means the 6 leaf front springs you have are the right ones, but the weeny front axle was switched under it at some point. If the overload brackets are bolted, welded or missing then odds are someone just slapped some 6 leaf front springs under there.
Regardless, your front springs are shot. These trucks are called highboys for a number of reasons in different peoples minds, but the biggest one is probably because they actually sit pretty high. Yours does not. When these trucks were new, they had 31" tires on them and the top of the front tire was below the lower body line on the rear of the front fender. Your truck looks to sit about 2" too low.
New front springs? I don't know if anyone makes stock replacements, you can have a spring shop make them for you. There are a couple good ones here in Portland. Or you can buy 4" lift springs for your truck or you can buy lift springs for a 99-04? super duty which are close enough to work fine.
ok so the overload perches are bolted on telling me this was origonally the lighter gvw. also the 4" lift springs, will they affect the added springs in the rear of the truck? if so how would i compensate for this seeing as i deffinately want to keep the added strength.
Greg
Custom Built and modified F250 highboy, custom dump box, Warn model 8274 winch mounted on the 335 lbs front bumper
LMC sells both the 5 leaf and 6 leaf springs for the highboys. Also skyjacker sells a 2" and 4" lift set of springs for our trucks as well. If you look at fireguywtc's truck, you can see how the 2" lift springs look installed on his truck.
What do you want to do with the truck? You keep saying hauling, but what does that mean? What is your realistic budget?
People don't lift trucks because they need to usually, they do it as a want, not a necessity. It costs money in springs, shocks, U-bolts drivelines and tires. You can go buy another complete lifted truck for not much more than doing it to yours paying retail for new parts.
Figure out what YOU want and can REALISTICALLY afford before tearing your truck apart and throwing money at it.
My best recommendation for you is do all the you can to your truck without spending a dime. Clean the heck out of it, steam clean, scrub, buff out the old paint and wax it up nice. Fix up the interior, stitch up a ripped seat, fix the speedometer, clean off rust and touch up paint here and there, take your weeny front axle apart carefully, clean it up and put it back together correctly buying the minimum parts you need to get it in decent shape.
Doing this stuff will get you a truck that's respectable looking and help others to understand why you're putting effort into it. It will also help you develop local connections for getting parts, borrowing tools, etc. If you need parts and can afford to wait for them place wanted ads on craigslist. This works every single time without fail. You may have to drive a little ways, but odds are you can find any part you need and luckily you're dead between Portland and Seattle so if needed you can go either way to get something if the savings justify it.
Thanks for sharing your situation. Your questions make perfect sense now and lets me read between the lines a little bit when reading one of your questions and trying to think what the best way to answer it would be.
I think the truck will serve your needs well left at stock height with good 6 leaf front springs and any 76-79 F-250 4x4 front axle you find for a good deal.
if i have a choice between open or closed knuckle what would be the better choice? also if i rebuild the axle i have and shim the camber back into place would i still need to replace the axle?
Greg
Custom Built and modified F250 highboy, custom dump box, Warn model 8274 winch mounted on the 335 lbs front bumper
Open knuckle wins hands down. As was said many times now, you have the weeny axle. My suggestion is fix it if you need to use the truck, it takes an hour or so, the trunnion bearings aren't expensive, they're tiny little things on those weeny axles. You cannot use the thing at all the way it is. When you find a better axle, be it two days or two years later then get everything you need on hand and switch it under the truck.
