drivetrain complications

NAFLASH · Post by **NAFLASH** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:51 pm

ok so first off im new to the board. i just bought two trucks. a 78 F350 camper special supercab and a 69 F250 camper special. My goal is to completely swap the suspension and drivetrain from the 78 to 69 seeing as the body on the 78 is a piece and i like the 69 better. I've already put the front suspension on and put the bigger brake booster in. now the problem i have is replacing the dana 60 with the dana 70. the leaf spring setup is totally different. not to mention im probably going to have to have a custom drive shaft made. my question is has anyone ever done this before? keep in mind im putting the 460 and C6 in too. it had a 390 with a C6 before but it had a bolt in tail shaft unlike the slip yoke that is on the C6 for the 460. Please help!
any advice is appreciated!!!

fordman · Post by **fordman** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:55 pm

i have never seen the brackets for the 78 f350. but my first guees is that is what the difference is. so if you can change brackets and all would that make it work?

NAFLASH · Post by **NAFLASH** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:55 am

well i go the motor mounted and the tranny. its just figuring out the driveshaft and how to put the dana 70 in. the f350 is a standard setup (leaf spring with regular shackles) however the setup is totally different on the 69. so im wondering if i should just use the rear end only and keep the stock leafs in.

Wes · Post by **Wes** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:22 am

What is your 69 250 rated at if it is the heavy I would just put the axle and not worry about the springs.
If your going to haul f350 loads around continually you might want to look into putting 69 f350 springs in.

averagef250 · Post by **averagef250** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:52 am

The F-350 springs sould bolt in. You probably have the shackle overloads on your F-250 and the F-350 has real springs, real shackles and real overload springs. You will need to cut the overload brackets off the F-350 frame and bolt them to your 250 frame.

AustinTom · Post by **AustinTom** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:50 pm

I think the spring perches are wider on the 78 axle and will need to be cut off and rewelded in the correct location for it to bolt into the 69 truck

averagef250 · Post by **averagef250** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:16 pm

AustinTom wrote:I think the spring perches are wider on the 78 axle and will need to be cut off and rewelded in the correct location for it to bolt into the 69 truck

The F-350's should have the same narrow frame as all 67-72 trucks and 73-77.5 highboys.

NAFLASH · Post by **NAFLASH** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:59 pm

this is what im talking about...
69 F250

78 F350

totally different shackle setups.

fordman · Post by **fordman** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:56 am

you will have to swap the entire bracket with the springs from one frame to the other. also note that the 78 spring is wider than the 69 spring.

NAFLASH · Post by **NAFLASH** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:58 pm

Are those rivets hard to get off?

Edit: i just noticed that the mount that is riveted to the frame is exactly the same. So i should be able to unbolt the shackle from the mount. no?

390Nut · Post by **390Nut** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:04 pm

Not really, no, just a bit of time involved, really. If you can get to them from the other side of the frame, just drill the center of the rivets until you just make contact with the frame underneath (you'll need a drill bit almost as big as the "head" of the rivet to do this). Then just chisel off whats left of the rivet cap, if anything, and drive the rivet out the other side with a hammer and punch.

The alternatives are grinding the head off, or using a cutting torch, and then punching the rivets out.

edit: to answer your edited-in question, if they are the same, yes. Just remember, old rusty bolts don't like to come out easily. Use lots of wd-40 or PB blaster, or heat it with a torch. Using a torch you'ld likely destroy the bushings though, so you would need to replace them.

390Nut · Post by **390Nut** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:09 pm

Oh, and the reason for the difference in shackles is that the F250 suspension shown above has the "Flex-o-Matic" springs, available from the factory as an option. It flexes as the load increases, but keeps the spring rate mostly the same to help give the same ride characteristics as an empty truck. For the most part.

fordman · Post by **fordman** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:23 pm

you can also chisel off the riets. i did it to a disc brake front end to get the radius arm brackets off the frame. it went pretty good. i had a sharp chisel.

NAFLASH · Post by **NAFLASH** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:33 pm

OK. Im pretty i can just unbolt the shackle and spring and swap them without having to change the mounts.Well see how it goes...
Thanks guys

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