1993 F-350 tow rig

[BrandonMag]

I have been away for awhile and just yesterday re-entered IDI ownership: a regular cab 1993 F-350 XLT 4×4 with an E4OD. I'm not a fan of autos and the tranny is bad. I'm strongly considering replacing it with a ZF 5-speed. Here's the only pic I have at the moment:

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The maroon F-250 doing the towing is a truck I picked up about two weeks ago. I was in a bind and needed a way to haul my fifth wheel. (The F-250 was a single-owner and runs and drives okay, but it has a 351W. That combined with only having rear wheel drive meant I needed to find what I wanted: a regular cab 4×4 F-350.) The white truck on the trailer is my new (to me) F-350. I just got it home from almost 300 miles away. It was a long 24 hours, so I'll post up some more pics and info tomorrow.

 

[Farmer Rock]

Congratulations on the new truck! Both trucks look like solid American steel to me

 

[BrandonMag]

Congratulations on the new truck! Both trucks look like solid American steel to me

Thanks.
They are definitely both work trucks. After owning a fancy-pants King Ranch truck, I'm ready to get back to owning a truck I can dent and not mind. (After all, a truck is a tool and if you use a tool long enough it will get worn.) I'll be selling the F-250 once the F-350 is appropriately upgraded.

 

[BrandonMag]

Curiosity got the best of me, so I just walked out to the shop to see what gear ratio the axles have. According to the door sticker they're 3.55. Not ideal for towing with a truck that has 315/75R-16 tires. I guess that means I'll just have to put out moar power to make up for it.

 

[frankenwrench]

You could always find a rear end or at least a ring and pinion from a junkyard pretty cheap with the ratio you want. I recently found 4 rear ends with disk brakes and paid 150 a piece for them. Was hoping for a deal when he said he would sell one for 150. But oh well. All were 01 to 03 rear ends. That's a few steps above just a bolt on plug and play, but that is my preference. The rear ends like what was on my truck was only $100 from 82-97. The 4wd trans was only $375 with transfer case. Surely with some shopping around at junkyards and on fb marketplace or craigslist you can find what u want fairly cheap.

 

[Farmer Rock]

If you are really serious about lower gears, than why not swap rear ends with the 351w truck. That has got to have 4:10 gears in it, and it should cost much if any money to do since you have it. Put the 3:55s in the gasser and sell it. Of course this all depends 3whether or not the gasser does have 4:10s



Rock

 

[BrandonMag]

If you are really serious about lower gears, than why not swap rear ends with the 351w truck. That has got to have 4:10 gears in it, and it should cost much if any money to do since you have it. Put the 3:55s in the gasser and sell it. Of course this all depends 3whether or not the gasser does have 4:10s



Rock

Not a bad idea. Unfortunately, the eff too fiddy has 3.55s as well. If I can scrounge up a rear axle with 4.10s for a coupla hundred bucks, that's what I'll do. (Which means re-gearing the Dana 60... but one thing at a time.) I hope to have the 7.3 on an engine stand by this evening.

 

[BrandonMag]

. . . All were 01 to 03 rear ends. That's a few steps above just a bolt on plug and play, but that is my preference. . .

@frankenwrench
I was planning on using a RuffStuff rear brake kit to upgrade whatever 10.25 axle I threw underneath it to get rear disks. What is involved with a 10.5 swap into an OBS? Can you swap it in such a way as to keep the OBS 8×6.5 lug pattern?

 

[frankenwrench]

Well I had to mess with 3 things to make the 10.5 work. Parking brake cable had to be adjusted, brake lines had to be altered for the new rear end, and I've heard others say that their hubs had to be altered in some way to keep the old 6.5x8 lugs. I just kept the rims that were on the rear axle to avoid that expense and hassle. Although rotating tires is the new hassle

 

[BrandonMag]

I'm taking a break and thought I'd throw up some more pics.

How it started out this morning:

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And now:

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Of course, there's been some bumps along the way. Exhibit A:

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I think I'm going to need a new radiator. (It has more bad spots, I just didn't want to post redundant pics.) Anyone in the area have a good one they'd be willing to part with?

Also, I was told the reason the transmission went bad is that the serpentine belt self-destructed and took out the tranny cooler lines. The kid that owned this was 18 and didn't realize what had happened and continued to drive it until the tranny had no fluid left in it. (The little fluid that I drained out of the tranny cooler doesn't look good.)

Here's how close one of the lines was to the crank pulley:

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There's about 1 1/4" clearance there. It's no wonder the tranny cooler lines got cut.

Continued in next post...

 

[BrandonMag]

I'm not sure what to do about the AC lines. I checked the schrader valve at the compressor and the system is full. I'd like to pull the engine complete with the compressor. What do you guys recommend?

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I will say this: I'd forgotten how easy the old Fords are to work on. It's actually enjoyable.

 

[SLC97SR5]

I unbolted the AC compressor from the engine and gently flopped it over to the driver's fender and zip tied it to the battery tray.

It was never in the way during my engine swap and had enough slack to re-position it.

 

[BrandonMag]

@SLC97SR5
I was planning on completely removing the core support to make the removal of the engine as simple as possible. The condenser is bolted to the core support in front of the radiator; on the driver's side a line is connected to the compressor and on the passenger side a line routes up to the evaporator. To my brain it seems like the condenser would be in the way once I get the engine unbolted from the E4OhNo if I leave the components of the AC system in place. Maybe not?

 

[SLC97SR5]

I missed that part that you wanted to remove everything. I need to re-read your thread from the beginning.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

@SLC97SR5
I was planning on completely removing the core support to make the removal of the engine as simple as possible. The condenser is bolted to the core support in front of the radiator; on the driver's side a line is connected to the compressor and on the passenger side a line routes up to the evaporator. To my brain it seems like the condenser would be in the way once I get the engine unbolted from the E4OhNo if I leave the components of the AC system in place. Maybe not?

You should be able to lay the compressor over to the side, unbolt the condensor, and then lay it down somewhat flat. Then you just lift the engine over the top of it. Although removing the core support sure seems like a lot of extra work just to keep something simple. Why are you pulling the engine out? I thought you are just wanting to swap to a ZF5.