1972 Ford F250 CrewCab

[gump1376]

So I figure I'll add what I've done to my CrewCab here as I'm guessing there may be a good bit of info from everyone here on where I'm thinking of going next with it.

Just as the Rona Plandemic hit I drove over to Cali from NM and purchased this thing. Here are a few pics of it from the Craigslist add that I found it in. It looks great from these photos. I could see a few things wrong with it, but I didn't know it was as bad as it was (electrical, not body wise). So I paid too much for it, but I now have my dream truck. A 1972 Ford CrewCab.

Side view of the truck.

Front drivers side inside the door panel.

Inside the rear door panel.

Engine bay.

The truck was originally a 2wd with an I6 and C6. One of the previous owners did the 4x4 conversion using a 91 F350 drivetrain and axles. So a 351W, C6, BW1356 mated to a Dana60 Kingpin HP front axle and a Sterling 10.25 rear axle. It looks like it's on a 4" or 6" lift. There is 4" blocks in the rear and the front leafs are pretty high. It currently sits on 40" tires. It's fun to try and get into even with me being 6'2".

When I got to see it, the transmission was completely shot. So if you added any fluid, it would imediatly end up on the ground. So the transmission needed to be replaced. I was able to get the guy to ship it for me. Here is a picture of me getting it home after needing to tow it about 2 miles to my house from where the transporter dropped it off. The FJ cruiser is on a 3" lift and 35" tires and this thing has it's headlights looking through the back window. I love it! I was happy to know it would go into reverse after filling the transmission up with fluid until the next day when it was on the ground. So I was able to pull it back into my yard for a bit until I cleared out my RV garage where I could work on it.

Getting the truck home so I can start working on it.

 

[gump1376]

A few more boxes arrived as I was ripping out all the interior of the truck.

In order to get the wiring and vintage AC put in I had to remove the front passenger fender and grill.

While working on the wiring I decided to also to a 3G alternator upgrade. It took me three alternators to get the correct one from Amazon, but it finally worked out. I'm glad this 351W has the serpentine belt system as it makes it so much easier to work with. Here's the new alt in place.

Okay, so this wasn't the correct one if you really look at it. But I got the correct one at some point. HA!

I also decided to look into the B-pillars to see about how I was going to wire in some curtesy lights for the back. I'll have to bring the wiring in from the bottom potentially. But I did find out Ford reinforced the area for 3-point belts. Sweet!

I ended up getting the PVC firewall cover and started working on the install of it. Wasn't too bad and I do recommend it. Just don't cut as must as they say from Vintage Air... it's not needed.

I ended up cutting quite a bit of the firewall cover in order to install the Vintage Air AC. I regret it as this cover is $200. Oh well, nothing a bit of spray paint can't cover if needed. HA! Here's how I cut the cover as the instructions stated...

And this is what it looks like with the AC installed.

Well, It's mostly installed. Next step is wiring. Oh Boy!

 

[gump1376]

After getting the AC unit it I started getting the wiring done. As it was my first time doing something like this, it took quite a bit longer than it should. But it worked out well in the end.

You can see in this last photo I got the correct Alt hooked up. You can also see that the AC compressor fits on the serpentine belt systems and it's useable on the Vintage air system. No old looking brackets here.

So I pretty much got it wired in at this point. Now to start putting things back together. But first, I need to replace the ash tray. Let's paint one out of my parts truck to match. I also need a good glove box door. Let's paint one I got off of fleabay.

That's my restomod bumpside in the background. Let me know if you're interested in that one and I'll point you to where it's build thread is.

Glad the glovebox and ashtray match. It'll look 10x better with those installed.

Next on the list is getting the windshield wipers working. Getting the old motor out as it didn't seem to work was a pain in the butt. I was finally able to get it out and get the new one back in and working. Here's the old one pulled out and on the floor.

After getting the working wiper motor back in I had to search for a ground issue. I ended up finding it and the wipers work as they should. Now it's time to get the transmission put back into this thing.

 

[crispins]

More please!

Awesome truck, fully love it!

 

[gump1376]

First thing to do in order to get the transmission in was make some bolts into pins that I could slide the transmission along. This will help in making sure the torque converter stays on and doesn't slip off as you're pushing and shaking the transmission every which way.
Here's the pins I made.

Making three bolts and grinding the heads down

Then loosly putting them into the block so they'll unscrew by hand once the transmission is in place.

Once in the block, slide the transmission on making sure the flywheel hols and torque converter bolts are aligned.

Then bolt the transmission and torque converter on. And you're done! Make this a much easier one man job.

In order to shift this thing I went with a Lokar shifter as I'm using a manual steering shaft from my parts truck. Will look like it's manual, but it's not. Here's what the shifter looks like almost installed.

As you can see from the above photo, there is no transfercase shifter hole. I gotta make one. I also need to work on getting the transfercase shifter modified so it'll fit on this truck with a C6 and BW1356 TC. Here are a few pics of how I did that.

Cut and then bent into position. Now to weld it.

Weld isn't too bad. Now to work on the linkage.

Needed to reduce the length. This should work.

 

[gump1376]

Here's the linkage welded back together.

After getting the linkages to size, I went and got em installed and tested. They work great. Now on to getting the interior put back together. Carpet was put back in.

After getting the carpet in, I went a head and worked on getting the bucket seats from this era put in. They work great and look great.

After getting the front buckets set in for a bit, I wanted to pull the fuel tank forward to clean it out from behind it. I'm glad I did. There was a rats nest back there that needed removing.

I cleaned it up and it's only surface rust there right now... Thank goodness. I put what the Previous owner had as the front seat in the back and I also added some 3-point harnesses. Looks okay. It'll do until I can get some bucket seats back there.

I decided to take a picture of what the front looks like so far from the back seat. Not a bad view. And my knees don't smash into the rear seats either.

On the Dash, I ended up sending the Amp meter off to get converted over to a volt meter. Looks great and works good, too.

It's basically a sticker over the original painted surface, but behind the plastic on the dash, you can't tell.

Getting the interior mostly buttoned up.

I also went and re-hung the rear doors as I took them off for a while in order to get things in and out easier.

 

[gump1376]

After getting the interior buttoned up I was able to start the truck up and check all my connections for lights, blinkers, etc. I did everything correctly! Yay! But as I was sitting there in the garage and trying to turn the wheel side to side, it became abundantly clear I needed to add hydro assist to this thing. But I wanted to get this thing moving, so let's drive around my yard a bit just to see how it runs.

Pulled out of the garage for the first time in several months after tearing it down. Lots of crap in this garage that I need to start to clean up a bit.

After doing some research I found out that there is a saginaw power steering pump for the 351W serpentine system. So off I went to search and found one on fleabay. So out came the ford pump which is known for it's issues.

I got the new to me saginaw pump installed.

Now it's time to rip out the old steering box and plumb it for hydro assist, but before that, let's get my ebrakes attached and working.

E-brakes are now functional... to a point. At least they're on now. Time to get the steering box plumbed.

steering box looks to be off the 91 F350. Which is good. I'll be poking holes in the red dots for the hydraulic lines to go. Let's rebuild this thing as well.

Holes are drilled and tapped and the box is rebuilt. Now to get it hung.

steering box is hung and ready to be re-connected.

I also noticed I needed new wheel bearings. So let's get that started.

Good to see the previous owner added cross-over steering. I just wish they upgraded the tie-rod as well. Let's get these axles maintained.

 

[gump1376]

Still a lot more to go. I'll work on updating this thread a bit tomorrow. It's past my bed time. HA!

 

[gump1376]

While getting the wheel bearings re-done, I noticed the axles also needed new U-joints. So I decided to do all new joins on the driveshafts (front and rear) and axles. I also noticed the kingpins needed to be re-done. It looks like this axle never had any maintenance done on it, so brakes will also need to be done at some point.

Let's start tearing into these axles. The front locks seems to be okay, just need cleaned and re-greased.

Got the axle out. I'll show you the U-joints shortly. Let's just say they need replaced and why I was probably not driving very straight and I was hearing some knocking on full lock during some turns.

Got the axles out. Time to get the spindles off so I can replace these kingpins.

The carnage from getting the axles out. I should have replaced the front brakes at this point, but I wasn't looking at those. This is what I was looking at.

This is one of the axle U-joints. It's basically a gonner. This is what both of them looked like. These Def. need replacing. I also need to get these kingpins out. But how to do it?

Let's weld a piece of steel to these kingpins and knock em out with a 4lb hammer that you can see under my hand in the above pic. This works a treat on getting these things out.

Sorry for the blurry image, but you get the idea. Basically cut a hole in a 6"x3" piece of steel. Weld it to the kingpin and before it cools smack it a few times and it spins right out. Now let's get those Axle U-joints out.

Blech... those things are toast! Glad they're getting replaced. Let's start getting everything back together with the parts I got from ECGS.

 

[gump1376]

I got the new kingpins in. I have an electric impact wrench that I used that can turn up to around 600 ft-lbs. The torque needed on the upper king pins. I also used to red locktite which should help hold em in there quite tight. Now that those are in, let's get these wheels back on.

Drivers side is getting there. Kingpins done and spindle back on.

Back together. Now to get those wheels back on and take her for a test drive around the yard. Hopefully that noise that I was hearing at full lock is now gone. You can also see the mount on the tie-rod that I finally found. It's the only one that would fit a 1 1/8" tierod. It's from Fox. We'll see how long it holds up.

Getting it pulled out and driven around in my yard a bit.

That's me next to my truck. I'm 6'2" and the hood is just over my shoulders. This thing rides okay for how crap all the bushings on the springs are and how old the shocks are. I'll need to get new shocks and bushings at a minimum if I'm going to start driving this thing a lot. But after a quick test drive I noticed it was wandering around the road quite a bit. No death wobble that I could see which is good, but it def. needs the hydro assist installed. Let's get that done. I got a 8" PSC cylinder for this thing. so now it just needs to go on.

Axle mount welded on.

Cylinder mounted up. Let's get it filled up and tested. The first time I hooked up the lines I had them backwards. Glad I tested the cylinder with one end not connected. I would have had a bad day. After getting the lines correctly installed.

After getting the cylinder installed, I took it for a test drive. This thing is a blast to drive.

That speedo is def. not correct. I had to get a cable that would attach to the BW1356. I believe it's the cable for the 2wd for an automatic, but now I need to find some gears that work for this trans and tire setup. From my research it's a 9 tooth for the speedo and 16 tooth for the trans gear. But then again, I'll be regearing this to 5.38 from the 3.54 gear ratio at some point.

 

[gump1376]

When I was driving it, it was wandering all over the place which tells me the alignment needed to be set. Instead of using the tiny OEM tie rod from the 91, I decided to upgrade to a 1 ton tierod. I got the kit from Ruff Stuff with better tierod ends and also replacing the tierod ends on the crossover steering which should help with the wandering on the road. Let's get the old crossover steering link out.

I'm not sure how old those tierod ends are, but they def. need replaced. Here's the difference between the OEM tierod and the new upgraded one. I like the difference...

You can def. see a difference in diameter here. I gotta cut the bar down to length and then weld em up. This thing worked out great!
Now let's clean the carb up as it seems like it may need it. I also need to re-jet it as this came from Cali and I'm in NM at 6K ft elevation. Parts arrived.

Damn this carb was nasty...

All cleaned up and re-jetted. The drill bit you see there was used for getting the float height correct.

Now that the carb is done let's just confirm the caster angle before getting this tierod in. Hmm... almost perfect.

In order to get the tierod in I needed to drill out and install these inserts. Worked well.

Now let's get it all back on and aligned. From what I see and calculated for a 3 deg toe in, I needed about 3/16" toe in on 40" tires. I got that done using some aluminum tube stock I had laying around and then got the steering wheel centered. Here's what it looks like now.

It's a blurry picture, but there are some nice shiny new parts in there. TIme to take it for a drive and see how it is.

 

[gump1376]

After driving it, it doesn't wander and it's supper easy to maneuver in a parking lot. It drives well, but seems a bit underpowered. I was able to get in contact with the second owner (I'm the 4th) and he installed the 4x4. He put in a RV cam, intake and headers and converted it to a carb setup. So I'm guessing from Jegs website he used the edelbrock top end kit with a cam. The cam shows about 350 hp/tq which isn't too bad considering. I also want to swap this over to a manual transmission. I have an old school NP435 and I was looking for the Ranger Torque splitter. Unfortunately Adanced Adapters stopped making them last year. So the look for one started.

Here's proof I'm driving this thing now.

After getting gas and heading back home.

Rides pretty good. There are a few things I need to address on it. Brakes and a new fuel tank. The brakes are okay, but the front drivers side rotor has a huge grove in it. So I'll need new rotors and pads. I also need to just do the rear drums as I'm not sure of the maintenance on this thing and get new e-brake cables. This should help with braking. I'm also having some issues with it seeming like it runs out of fuel while I'm driving. If I let it sit for a few min it'll start right back up. My guess is there is a pin hole in the fuel pick up tube, or rust is clogging up the pick up tube. either way I need to replace it. I have another tank that is in good condition that I took out of my other truck. I'll throw that in for now. I also need to make a new hardline that stays away from the engine and insulate it. The truck only seems to do this when it's hot out so I may be vaporizing the fuel before it gets to the carb. Which isn't a good thing. I have some aluminum line I can use for this already, so I'll just re-route the line from the frame to the back of the firewall and over to the carb with some insulation around it. Hopefully that will keep some of the engine heat off the line enough to make sure it's not vaporizing the fuel line.

This last year I've been on the lookout for a ranger torque splitter... Well, look what arrived in the mail. I found one. The guy only used it for setup and never ran it. Basically brand new from what he said. I'll replace all the gaskets and see how it runs.

So the idea is for this truck, run it for a bit and enjoy it. Then I'll swap it over to manual and throw in a NP205 transfercase instead of the BW1356. This way I can twin stick it and also add in a doubler so I have a really low crawl gear. After doing that I'll work on the axles and suspension. I plan on regearing the axles to 5.38's and adding lockers front and rear. I'm still considering either OX or ARB. I'm not sure yet which ones I'll go with. I also recently found some 05+ superduty axles for $1100 for both front and rear axles. Seemed like a good price as I'll basically be trimming em down, adding trusses and all new bearings, gears, and seals. For suspension I'm looking at the following options:

Front: either radius arms or 3-link. I'm not sure which one yet. I'm going to need a trackbar reguardless, but I'm still deciding which will be better for my application. I'll be driving this on the road quite a bit and off road to some remote areas for camping. No trailer, while off road.
Rear: either triangulated 4-link or parallel 4-link with trackbar. I'm not sure which one will have better on-road manners. Especially if I do haul a trailer every once in a while.

So right now I gotta replace the fuel tank and do the brakes. Then I just need to drive it and enjoy it until my restomod is done. Then I'll get back to this thing.

 

[gump1376]

I also forgot to mention I'm thinking of doing a hydroboost setup. I'm sure Ill do this when I do the new axles. Should be good for braking when I do that. Hope everyone likes the truck. I know I sure do.

 

[What?]

Sweet truck. Good timing to get these parts replaced.

 

[jhama78]

Awesome Rig, looking forward to more updates.

 

[350TacoZilla]

Sweet find for sure. Deciding factor for me with front suspension would be height you plan to end up at and what your going to be doing with truck. For a typical DD I like the radius arms and if you stay at a reasonable height you might get away with stock superduty parts for mounts\coil buckets etc.

 

[lagunaMS]

Awesome truck

 

[gump1376]

Sweet truck. Good timing to get these parts replaced.

Thanks. Yeah, the previous owners didn't seem to take care of this thing very well. I'm glad I was able to catch it all before I really started driving it. The front end especially. It tracks really well now and only one finger is needed on the steering wheel.

Awesome Rig, looking forward to more updates.

Thanks. Updates wont be for quite some time, unfortunately. My other truck needs to get done and it's almost to the bodywork stage... ugh. I also like my other hobby of the things that go bang/boom. And the last two years the prices on everything have skyrocketed.

Sweet find for sure. Deciding factor for me with front suspension would be height you plan to end up at and what your going to be doing with truck. For a typical DD I like the radius arms and if you stay at a reasonable height you might get away with stock superduty parts for mounts\coil buckets etc.

I'm starting to think more radius arms. I'm thinking of keeping the current height, so stock superduty parts most likely wouldn't work. Either way I was thinking of doing the ORI struts for it instead of coilovers. But that idea can change as well. For the rear, I'm still not sure what is the best way. I could also stick to leafs in the rear as long as I can get rid of the blocks and the springs are decent.

Awesome truck

Thanks! Glad you like it.

 

[holdmypocket]

Love the truck, looking forward to more.

How is it with 40's, 3.54 gearing and a C6?

I'm wondering if I can live with running around town with 40's, 3.73s, and a C6 when I do my super duty axle swap.. until I save up to re-gear after the project.

 

[gump1376]

Love the truck, looking forward to more.

How is it with 40's, 3.54 gearing and a C6?

I'm wondering if I can live with running around town with 40's, 3.73s, and a C6 when I do my super duty axle swap.. until I save up to re-gear after the project.

around town, it's not bad. But if there are any hills or long stretches of hwy, you're gonna run out of gearing if you need to go over 70 mph. Also, I'm getting 7.5 mpg. It's fun...

 

[rattle_snake]

Awesome you made it over here and started a thread Gump!
Scrolling though it seems easy to get where are are but I know it was a lot of work and time.

Thanks again for the radio bezel, going to get it put in some day with a new cluster bezel.

 

[rattle_snake]

I'm wondering if I can live with running around town with 40's, 3.73s, and a C6 when I do my super duty axle swap.. until I save up to re-gear after the project.

I think around town will be fine with that setup. I have 4.10s, 40, c6 and it actually works better than it should with BBF torque. Light up tires from stop and cruises 70 at 2600.
A doubler would be nice, or 6Rxxx

 

[gump1376]

Awesome you made it over here and started a thread Gump!
Scrolling though it seems easy to get where are are but I know it was a lot of work and time.

Thanks again for the radio bezel, going to get it put in some day with a new cluster bezel.

Yeah, I finally got around to posting a bit more. I've been lurking for a bit, but decided this would be a good time to show off the truck a bit.

And no problem about6 the bezel. I sure wasn't gonna be using it so I'm glad it went to someone who could.

I think around town will be fine with that setup. I have 4.10s, 40, c6 and it actually works better than it should with BBF torque. Light up tires from stop and cruises 70 at 2600.
A doubler would be nice, or 6Rxxx

What sort of torque do you believe you have with the 460?

 

[rattle_snake]

I cloned a PPAM 466 build recipe that made 425hp @5000 and 525tq @3400 on the dyno. With 2200 rpm stall converter it assume never makes less than 425 or so.

For same money I could have gone up a cam size or 2 and made another 25-50 hp, but it would have moved Tq curve up and made it softer out of the hole with big tires and 3 speed trans. So kept it a truck style build for a big truck.

 

[gump1376]

Well, I went and swapped out the fuel tank on this thing. I'm glad I did. After getting the better tank in it (it was out of my 71 single cab and didn't have the emissions crap on it) I started to pour out the old fuel. It had a tint of red in it which tells me I'll be changing out my fuel filters after another tank or two of gas. Also, after 4 gal of fuel poured into fuel jugs, the 5 gal started to get really red and then the sound of dirt/rust from in the tank started to roll. It sounds as if the tank if full of dirt. So my guess is the fuel pick up tube has a hole in it, or there's enough rust in this tank that after a bit, the pick up tube gets clogged with rust/dirt as I'm driving and I just run out of fuel until the vacuum on the pick up tube goes away and the particle moves out of the way. We'll see if this helps it run better. I've got 5 gal of fuel in it now and I need to get the brakes changed before I drive it again. And I gotta adjust one of the line ends for my hydraulic steering assist as it's right in the way of the pitman arm. Shouldn't be too hard to do, I just need to go do it, but I've got a lot of other things I also need to just go do... like the body work on my 71 restomod I'm also slowly working on.

 

[gump1376]

Well, I started the brakes today. I was only able to get the front passenger rotor and pads replaced. Next is the drivers side. Went pretty smoothly. Just my first time doing the brakes on a dana 60 front axle. Hopefully I'll get the drivers side done this week before I head out to a funeral and to visit family for a week and a half.

 

[gump1376]

I was able to get the drivers side rotor and pads done yesterday. Went much quicker than the passenger side.

I also was able to re-route the line for the hydraulic steering assist. It was previously getting in the way of the pitman arm off the steering box, so I swapped in a straight AN fitting and 45 deg. line fitting on the hose from a 90 deg. AN fitting and straight line connector on the hose so it would stay out of the way of the pitman arm. Works much better now and I wont be worried about snapping that 90 deg. fitting. Just need to bleed the system and it should be good to go.

Now it's time for the rear brakes, moving the fuel line away from the engine and insulating it from heat and it should be a good driver again. Hopefully the fuel issue is solved after this. I also need to tighten a line on the A/C just behind the glovebox. Hopefully I can get some wrenches in there to tighten it as that's the only area it leaks from that I can tell. Then to re-charge the system and have A/C in the truck for this summer. It's getting there. Just wish I got better than 7.5 mpg with how high fuel prices are.

 

[Penetrode Offroad]

Love the old school crew's. My uncles had a pair of 2wd trucks for hauling snowmobiles when i was younger. Had i known back then i would have got them from em.

 

[350TacoZilla]

I really think to get better mpg your going to be looking for a trans with OD, maybe a ZF5 swap or even a 4r100 if wanted to stay auto. Even with smaller tires the OD would keep rpms down lower @70 than what your currently turning.

Edit: might be ahead money wise after selling the splitter and current setup to then just swap in newer drivetrain at same time as axle swap.

 

[McBastard79]

Cool truck