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Super Duty 4wd conversion?

Gatorgrizz27

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There were a couple threads I found on the old site, but it damn near unreadable with ads every other post and I didn’t find anything conclusive.

A buddy of mine has a 2005 F-350 SRW that he will sell me for $500, it’s 2wd though. From what I’ve found, swapping a Super Duty front axle under it is pretty straight forward. It would be the coil sprung/radius arm front end, can anyone confirm that the coil buckets and arms are the same? Steering box the same and track bar bracket will bolt onto the crossmember? Trying to run no lift so just fabbing stuff to work can get cramped quick.

It seems a divorced cable shift 205 was a popular choice for the T-case, but it might be a wash once you figure in having driveshafts built/modified. Anyone know if a junkyard electric shift Super Duty T-case can be converted to manual easily? Either with factory parts or a cable setup? The manual one I had was a bit finicky. Same question on the trans, does the tailshaft housing swap over or is going divorced a better option?

Realize these are somewhat newbish sounding questions, but my experience is with the older leaf sprung versions and most of the info you find relates to those. I can fab, weld, etc, I’m just looking to keep this from turning into a multi year project like they tend to when you go off the deep end. :flipoff2:
 
Well I knew this place was basically just chit chat, and nobody wheels any more, but damn. :laughing:

Here’s what I’ve found on the 2005+ coil sprung trucks, I need to go back and look under this one again to confirm. Coil buckets are different but the 4wd ones should bolt on. Radius arms are different but it appears the frame brackets are the same and have 2 different holes. Track bar bracket bolts on and steering box is the same, pitman arm just needs to be swapped.

The big bonus if this truck is the same is that the 2wd transmission has the mounting flange for the transfer case, you just pull the yoke and bolt the case right on. That would be badass.

https://youtu.be/8brnx-KzMg4
 
There's a guy that took a 99-04 2wd and bolted in 05+ 4wd front suspension, he had to cut a ton of rivets, and drill a ton of holes, but there were enough holes in proper locations that everything basically bolted into place and the rest of the holes could be marked.

apparently the 99-04 4wd frames are the same way

if you've got the diesel, or something Wii that 5r110? Tranny, you can bolt a 05+ t case onto it.

my understanding is of you buy enough 4wd parts it's a bolt in swap
 
Not saying don’t do it, but why the headache? Is the 15 year old truck worth the pain?
do you plan on installing all the 4wd associated brackets with oem rivets, bolts or weld?
 
Not saying don’t do it, but why the headache? Is the 15 year old truck worth the pain?
do you plan on installing all the 4wd associated brackets with oem rivets, bolts or weld?

When I was looking into it, I wanted to buy a 2wd gas excursion and swap in the coil 60 and a Cummins, lots of guys want the coil front end and a 7.3, clean older 4wds are pricy and scarce, but there's still grandpa 2wds getting turned out, so while I'm pretty quick to tell people not to waste their time on poorly planned projects, this one can make sense

bolts. Lots of F'N bolts
 
Not saying don’t do it, but why the headache? Is the 15 year old truck worth the pain?
do you plan on installing all the 4wd associated brackets with oem rivets, bolts or weld?

Imagine that there was a time when people used to build trucks and buggies from scratch! :eek:

As to the “why”, because it’s a 2005 1-ton truck is pretty decent condition with a service body on it for $500. It needs a few things, but would be a good bit more useful to me in the future if it were 4x4.

Used front axles go for $500, assuming a T-case can be found for $300 and another couple hundred in various brackets you’re at $1,500 for a truck that would cost $6-7k to buy otherwise.

The reason for the thread was how much work is involved determines whether it’s “worth it” or not. If you have to source a ton of hard to find parts, fab a lot of brackets, machine things to adapt, etc, it’s probably not. If it’s primarly torch off some rivets and bolt the new parts on, then yes, at least to me. But I do tons of shit the hard way. :flipoff2:
 
In the video I linked in my second post, the guy has the 2wd parts out in 1.5 hours and the 4wd front end under it in 4 hours. Not bad at all, plus bolting the t-case and driveshafts straight in if it’s that easy. Will probably buy this truck either way but it will turn out differently depending on what I find when I go look again.
 
:beer:I think it’s a reasonable idea provided the truck is near mint, otherwise I’d just buy it with 4wd. As you said, people used to build trucks.
Get the truck, keep us posted and 4 wheel drive it.
 
:beer:I think it’s a reasonable idea provided the truck is near mint, otherwise I’d just buy it with 4wd. As you said, people used to build trucks.
Get the truck, keep us posted and 4 wheel drive it.

“Mint” is a bit of a stretch, but for a work truck it doesn’t smell like a combination of sweaty balls and an ashtray, aside from a tire that blew and dented the fender and some faded paint there’s not much wrong with it.

The 4x4 conversion won’t happen straight away, but it needs some front tires and if it’s plausible in the future I’ll put some mud terrains on it rather than something like Michelin Defenders. There is an OX locker available for it, which is appealing to me. The majority of my pickups have been diesel and/or longer than the Titanic, so they enjoy getting stuck in 2wd just about any damn place.

This is one is a regular cab, and with the service body or an eventual flatbed it might do better than I expect in slippery stuff. It won’t be a wheeling rig, but I’d like to be able to pull trailers around some land without worrying if it’s rained this week or there is a 5% grade.
 
You posted this on the 4th of July and are upset with the response? Should have waited till Tuesday :flipoff2:.

I​​​​​‘ve looked into these conversions before and couldn’t make it make sense. I bought a 2010 5.4 4x4 with 5.9 p-pump Cummins in my pocket. When I realized what it takes to convert a gas truck to a diesel in the process it wasn’t worth it. So I sold it complete and made money on it. Also bought an E-150 luxury conversion van with a 5.4 and 5R110 wanting to convert it to 4x4. Again, by the time it all shook out I couldn’t tear it down and do it even with superduty Axles and t-case in my hands. It’s lot of work when you can buy one ready to party.
 
You posted this on the 4th of July and are upset with the response? Should have waited till Tuesday :flipoff2:.

I​​​​​‘ve looked into these conversions before and couldn’t make it make sense. I bought a 2010 5.4 4x4 with 5.9 p-pump Cummins in my pocket. When I realized what it takes to convert a gas truck to a diesel in the process it wasn’t worth it. So I sold it complete and made money on it. Also bought an E-150 luxury conversion van with a 5.4 and 5R110 wanting to convert it to 4x4. Again, by the time it all shook out I couldn’t tear it down and do it even with superduty Axles and t-case in my hands. It’s lot of work when you can buy one ready to party.

Yeah. I figured with stuff still shut down most of y’all were doing the same thing I was, babysitting the smoker and here hiding from your family.

I hear you on the “project feasibility” thing. With two kids, a business, and remodeling a house I’ve gotten much more realistic about the amount of free time I have and whether I want to spend it swearing at rusty junk while getting burnt by sparks. If this is primarly a weekend, bolt on deal it still seems worth it to me though.

Its generally the little crap that takes forever and keeps things from being wrapped up. I guess I need to verify if the front ABS sensors are compatible, otherwise the hole is already in the cab floor for the T-case shifter, I don’t care if the 4x4 dash lights operate or not, I’d run manual hubs, and the speed sensor is off a tone ring in the rear diff if it’s still like the older ones.
 
If you're going with a manual case and no dash indicator, it'll be easy. If you want it look factory, you'll need to swap harnesses and modules in the cab.
 
Went and looked at the truck again, unfortunately it’s got a standard 2wd tailshaft on the trans. Still going to pick it up, and will probably just put it on 33” mud terrains as it needs tires, and add a winch. If it ends up getting stuck all the time down the line I’ll mess with converting it then.
 
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