2000 F450 4WD AXLES

BigRigTech

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I have a chance to buy a pair of 2000 F450 4wd axles from a friend with 6 19.5" rims and tires included. The are disc brakes HUGE on these things, would they be Dana 80 axles?
 

towcat

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the rear would be a dana 110 if it has a rear cover. if it is a 3rd member pumpkin style, it would be a dana 135.
personally, I don't see the value in putting on the later axles. there's a ton of fab work and you don't get a justifiable improvement for the work involved. the front axle is also extremely problematic as well as costly on the parts.
of course that's just my opinion.cookoo
if you are looking at going 19.5's, a set of a chev HD3500 of the same vintage as your f450 will fit with minimal mods.
 

BigRigTech

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It has a aluminum rear cover so it must be a 110. I mostly want them to convert my F450 to 4x4, not so much for a percieved upgrade. The D80 in the rear of my truck will handle all I need but I'd love to make it a 4x4. The axles will probably run me $1000-$1500 if I buy them unless we barter for some of my parts. The tires are all good on the 6 wheels, I'd rather have the stock 16" wheels because both of my trucks can use the same tires....We'll wait to see what he wants for them before I buy them, I may take them to trade for the correct axle for my truck.
 

94f450sd

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1st problem is there is no correct axle for your truck.well there but i think its huge money.IIRC only places like the telephone companies and such had them converted to 4WD.i believe that info came from calvin cuz i wanted to do the same.

2nd problem,you will lose your parking brake and in wich case you will need a 99-up rear axle with the parking brake in the rotors.

3rd problem,i measured a dana 60 front axle from center pin hole to center pin hole,then did the same to my spare 450 axle.and they were different measurements.if you look under the 450 and a 4WD250/350 you will notice that the f450s springs come further out away from the frame than the 250/350 so a dana 60 aint gonna fit.

4th problem is that if you do get an axle under the front your gonna raise the nose about a good 6-8 inches just from taking the drop out of the 450s front axle and replacing it with a straight axle.remember the 450 has a hell of an arch to the springs as well.and i think the 250/350 front springs are too short to fit but i may be wrong about that part.

to be honest its not worth the trouble.if you want a 4WD your better off to go buy a cab/chassis 4WD F350 with the 11,000 GVW.slap a bed on it and be done.i dont know what you plan on using the truck for but if your not gonna use it to its full potential its honestly gonna be too much truck for you as they are not very cheap to fix when they break.only thing they share with the 250/350s is the cab,wireing,motor and tranny.everything else is different and more expensive.just one caliper is 150 bux,set of pads are almost 200 depending on what you get a rotor is another 150.the rubber hoses are ford only as far as i know cuz i needed one and nobody but ford could get it for me.i dont even remember what they wanted for it.one thing i like about the 450 is all the brake parts except the rubber hoses are interchangeable front to rear and all years from 87-97 are the same.
 

94f450sd

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if you are looking at going 19.5's, a set of a chev HD3500 of the same vintage as your f450 will fit with minimal mods.

i was wondering how to get 19.5s on mine.i seen a 450 at a friends yard with 19.5s on the back but the owner didnt know where the wheels came from cuz he bought it that way.i like the look of 19.5s better than the 16s.think the wheels off a bread truck thats built on the HD3500 chassis would work?they are the skinny 19.5s but i think i can get a good deal on them.
 

94f450sd

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oh and if you do take that dana 80 out let me know what youre gonna do with it as i would be highly interested in just the ring and pinion gears out of it.id even swap you with a set of 5.13s so you can sell it if you wanted.
 

BigRigTech

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I see a ton of 99-up F450/550 4wd's through my work....Very common around here. I have some front springs to use for the swap, they don't have the massive arch of the 450 2wd front springs and I could move the spring perches if needed......The trans is a 4wd trans now because it has the e-brake setup, I can put the e-brake setup on the back of the transfer case - I have one with a flange on the rear or I could fire a divorced 205 in there....Doing the swap is straight forward from what I see....Buying the parts is not too bad as I can get smokin good deals on the brake stuff through work. The front axle looks bigger than a D60, I think it's a D70 atleast. Still waiting for a price on the axles anyhow.
 

towcat

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i was wondering how to get 19.5s on mine.i seen a 450 at a friends yard with 19.5s on the back but the owner didnt know where the wheels came from cuz he bought it that way.i like the look of 19.5s better than the 16s.think the wheels off a bread truck thats built on the HD3500 chassis would work?they are the skinny 19.5s but i think i can get a good deal on them.
rich-
there's two different generations of 19.5's on GM trucks. the early ones took pinner rubber and the later ones uses the modern stuff. the rim width will tell you which it is. stay away from the older stuff the tires are ungodly expensive.
 

94f450sd

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I see a ton of 99-up F450/550 4wd's through my work....Very common around here. I have some front springs to use for the swap, they don't have the massive arch of the 450 2wd front springs and I could move the spring perches if needed......The trans is a 4wd trans now because it has the e-brake setup, I can put the e-brake setup on the back of the transfer case - I have one with a flange on the rear or I could fire a divorced 205 in there....Doing the swap is straight forward from what I see....Buying the parts is not too bad as I can get smokin good deals on the brake stuff through work. The front axle looks bigger than a D60, I think it's a D70 atleast. Still waiting for a price on the axles anyhow.

99-up 450/550s were meant to be 4wd.you can even convert them from 2wd to 4wd with ease.all they need is a donor truck for the front axle,transfer case,drive shafts and electrical parts.dont even need to change springs or anything on a 99-up.they use a tube straight axle for the 2wd.

also IIRC the 99-up 450/550 uses a wider axle than the 87-97 450s.dont qoute me on that though.

with all the money youre gonna spend and all the time youre gonna put into it youd be better off just buying a 99-up 450 cab and chassis and tossing a bed on it.around my area you can get them for under 4,000.00 if you know where to find them.

but hey its your time and money.do what you want with it.i just hate to see people waste money.im willing to bet that halfway through the project youre gonna say you shoulda just bought something that was 4WD.i only made it as far as measureing things and figuring out what i needed.didnt even figure out the costs and said it wasnt worth it.when it comes time for me to need a 4WD im just gonna go get a 99-up,cut it in half,stretch it and take the bed off my 94 and slap it on it and keep on rockin.ill have a truck thats worth an easy 15-19,000.00 and only spend maybe 5,000.00 on it.right now i have a truck thats worth maybe 10,000.00 if im lucky.to make it a 4WD if i can get it to work and look right would cost close to 4,000.00 most likely if not more.id rather throw an extra 1000.00 in and end up with a better looking,faster,more comfortable truck thats worth more.
 

94f450sd

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rich-
there's two different generations of 19.5's on GM trucks. the early ones took pinner rubber and the later ones uses the modern stuff. the rim width will tell you which it is. stay away from the older stuff the tires are ungodly expensive.


the newer 19.5s aint much better at almost 400.00 each.
 

94f450sd

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I think it's a D70 atleast. Still waiting for a price on the axles anyhow.

oh and you cant use a rear axle out of a regular pickup.it will be way to wide especially a dually.it has to be from a cab/chassis as it will be a narrow rear axle.

and yes the 99-up rear axle will be too wide.another friend has a 99 f450 2wd wrecker with a wrecker body off of a 96 450.they had to add i think it was 3 inches on each side of the body cuz the tires were sticking out too far.i just remembered that cuz he got hit by a garbage truck and is still fighting the insurance company cuz the sides of the body have to be hand made and they dont want to pay for it.
 

94f450sd

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oh i have my spare front axle sitting on the ground if you need any measurements from it.
 

BigRigTech

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Both are from the same cab and chassis truck, my only cost would be to buy the axles and redo the brakes on them...The 6 rims and tires are all good to go as well. I have a flatdeck on my 450 so width is not an issue. Putting 4wd axles under a truck with leaf springs front and rear is easy....been there, done that....I've already done a 2wd to 4wd conversion and it was from coils to leafs....Much more work....I have several t-cases, driveshafts and etc here...As a bonus my buddy with the axles is a wicked fabricator who works for a business with a driveshaft shop. We already eyeballed my 450, nothing seen there that torches and a welder wouldn't change. He might keep the axles for his 96 F350 4x4 and sell me the D60 that's under his F350 now.
 

94f450sd

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then why not just swap axles with the 350?unless of course its a SRW pickup.be much easier as he would be going to 2wd and youd be going to 4wd.youd lose the rear disk brakes wich on mine i dont really care for.but youd be gaining the parking brake back.youd have 8 lugs instead of ten.this is how i was gonna do mine,all f350 parts.but for me its too much time,money and headaches to do it.if i need 4WD cuz of snow i just load a car on the back and off i go.dont need 4WD that often to even make the swap worth it to me.keep good tires on the back with some wieght and youre good to go.but if i get stuck in mud i have my bed to push myself out with or my winch to pull myself backwards out of the hole if i can hook to something behind the truck.
 

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His F350 is a dually 4x4 with 8" of lift and 38's. He made the rims himself to mount the tires. I only need a front axle, I could replace the gears in the rear axle. I use my trucks for hauling my firewood, plowing and etc so I prefer 4x4's. I have a M12000 Warn winch setup for a hitch reciever to use on all my rigs. My 450 is a toy, I only have $2000 invested in it so far so spending some money on it is not an issue for me. I sunk $3000 into my F250 for the 4wd conversion and I paid for it with money I made stripping/selling F-series parts on Kijiji.
 
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