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1968 Ford F-250 Prerunner Build

OK thank you. I found a few photos and will be doing something similar once mine it tore apart to grind the shift rails for twin stick and a few new gaskets.
 
make sure you got room around that exhaust against the firewall for air flow or it will slowly boil the passenger
 
I have atleast 1 inch in the tightest spot between exhaust and firewall. I will be adding some of that fancy gold reflective heat shield as well as sound deadner like dynamat and some heat mat type stuff to the inside under vinyl flooring sheets and caulking the edges to keep it all sealed from getting dust/dirt under it.
 
OK got the passenger seat mounted up and it's the same as driver side with a slight variation to the notches for the tubes but keeping all the templates made it go much much faster with some tape and re cutting the notches for tubes.

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OK went camping since sunday and finally back in the shop today this afternoon. Got more of the floor board fitted and the pieces of floor board above the transfer case will be removable to aid with removing the t-case and working on it if needed. Space is tight with the t-case clocked up like it is and I got the floor pan around 1/4" above the t-case and 1/8" away from the seat which is good since 2 urethane t-case mounts and urethane motor mounts it shouldn't move more than 1/8" MAX. The bead rolled center piece will be bolted onto the side piece which is made of 3 pieces and will bolt to the rear and side floor pan pieces that will be welded in fully and I'll leave 1" flange past the tube to install rivet nuts to attach this removeable middle piece. Lots of fitting the seat in and out and such so didn't get as much done as I would have liked today but still forward progress which is good.

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OK got the link mounts and stuff on side of the frame welded up so I could install more of the floor pan. Also mounted the muffler with a couple hangers too.

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OK put in a few hours today and got more panels tacked in and made. Front middle bead rolled piece held in by clekos will be bolted in and removable.

The outer and middle back piece had to go on bottom of the tubes to keep the seat tabs above the floor pan so i can seal it all up.

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Nice tin work on the floor.
Given the tube work, is the cab removable from the chassis? Assume it is all one piece.
 
From all measurements and such It appears that with a lot of strength and help I will be able to lift up the cab to finish welding everything and then the firewall and floor around the edge I left a lip on the cab to spot weld/seal that up just incase I need to change cab out in the future.
 
Yeah I'm going to get some mock up axles machined here locally with some DOM tubing welded to make sure it all works as it should and then take those dimensions and get a set of axles custom made.

OK well got the floor pan fitted besides the edge to cab since my plan is to lift the cab up/back to be able to weld it fully. So I started addressing the rear axle truss that I did back in 2014 and I never really like the design or the fact I used the stock diff cover. So now I got a 3/8" thick beefy Motobilt diff cover and going to remake the center part of the truss. Before I had 6 3/8" bolts attaching the center removeable piece that is welded to diff cover to the truss at axle tubes. The way I had it all the bolts would be in shear if the axle tried to bend. So I cut all that off and made some 1/4" think plates with 1/2" bolts to beef it up a bit and make middle section still removable. I got the plates tacked onto the axle tube truss, diff cover installed and now going to start making templates/plates for the middle section to tie it all in. Also I welded before to the cast center section by pre heating it and welding, then wrapping it in a welding blanket to slowly cool it down. The upper link mounts are welded to the center section BUT don't have anything really to keep it from wanting to go forward/backwards so from the diff cover section I will brace the back of that with another piece that bolts on. Hopefully it doesn't warp too much and everything still lines back up after welding and I hope I won't have to remove it very often in the future since I know it will not be that easy to reinstall, but it will be doable.

This is the original truss design and I'm sure it would have worked with through bolts and sleeves but i'm happy with the new design.

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New center removable truss design started

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OK added more to the rear removable section of the truss to tie in the upper link mounts to it as well. I will be removing the middle box in piece tomorrow to add a billet fill plug so I can inspect the ring gear and add a gallon of oil easily. Also I drilled out the stock vent hole and tube I welded in above it to 1/4" NPT to add the -6AN fitting I got to vent this axle.

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yeah got 12pts with the Motobilt Diff cover. And even got some 12pts for the steering box, because full race. Lol

Added an overlay to the truss since it looked a little boring without anything on it.
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OK got the lower link tabs welded on, before I add more weld washers and gussets to them. Also got the uniball pivots for the lower links tacked on at the correct calculated 8deg and it worked out perfectly. Then bolted the links and rear axle in and got it under the truck. Will lower it down to ride height and square it up to do the upper links. Then cycle back to bump to get started on the fuel cell area , rest of backhalf, and shock mounts.


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Looking bad ass if I may say so.... :smokin:


Any concerns with the rotors and calipers on the rear axle being vulnerable to rock roost because they are mounted so far in vs the wheel flange?
 
I am not since the front end is wider PLUS i am running 5.5" BS wheels so it doesn't stick inside the wheel too far. Calipers are on backside of the axle anyways. This is a dually rear axle which is why they are so far inboard looking. The front WMS width is 81" and rear is 72". I would like a wider rear axle to better match the front BUT getting fiberglass that is wide enough to cover it would cost lots of money and have to be custom made.
 
Rotor height is around 4.5" overall, I would guess around 7.5" of so from WMS to inside edge of rotor. They are inside the wheel by an inch or 2 but the bulged of the tire should keep it protected. This isn't a rock crawler or I would get different rotors and make new mounts for different calipers. Figured these should work for a while plus I'm hoping to hook up the parking brake like originally to keep that function just incase I brake a driveline or something.
 
OK not much progress today. Had physical therapy this morning working on getting my shoulder back to as close to 100% as possible from the right broken collar bone and scapula from the accident. Tacked in the second floor pan patch AND added a couple tubes to gusset the seat mounts together as well.

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Well didn't work on this truck today. I helped a friend install new control arm bushings on his 1956 ford car. So I pressed out the old ones and pressed in all the new ones. Luckily he had them all removed from the vehicle so it was just shop work for myself. I finished that up and then I finished making my bead roller into a power bead roller.

 
OK got my rear upper links set once I got more heims for that this morning. Cycles great on pinion change and over 30" of travel has 2.5" of drive line plunge which is perfectly acceptable. Everything clears as it should except the rear axle vent hits the bottom edge of the bulkhead so I will cut the corner of that and weld in a piece of round tube to cap it back off.

Now I need to find a driveshaft shop that can make me a 1410 driveshaft to my dimensions, I will get more measurements and call high angle for a quote, but anyone else that's worth a crap I should compare prices with? Local drive line shop is horrible.


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I'm surprised you don't make driveshafts in house yet. Seems well within your capability and eliminates another party to potentially fuck things up or who won't be available on your schedule.
 
OK got my seats all mounted up today. The middle seat is a PRP Pre Teen Seat so it's slightly smaller than the normal ones but with limited foot room is fine since someone 6' tall can't fit anyways.The middle seat also is on a a bracket that can be removed leaving the floor flat as well with 6 bolts.
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