87 Crew Cab Project

freebird01

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Well since Ive moved I needed a truck to be able to make some long trips back and forth.... after the fiasco with another CCLB i bought I ended up with this truck...

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I bought it from Tjsea's dad. its an 87 CCLB DRW 2WD had a 7.3 swapped in and was converted to a ZF5. body has some minor issues and after a bit of brake and wheel bearing work on the front I had a great running truck. It did well for about 10,000 miles when the motor started making a thumping noise. still don't know what it was... it wasn't an exhaust/intake chuff... haven't pulled the heads to looks on that engine.

I decided to swap it out for another one I had (http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?63593-What-not-to-do-to-an-idi&highlight=) and it went bad right out of the box. immediately after start up it has an exhaust chuff noise. The only thing i can figure is there was a valve partially open and the valve/seat must have had some rust on it and it not allowing it to seal properly. I had all the lifters out...checked to make sure none of the valves were stuck...and that all looked good. should I have pulled the heads? yea probably... I decided to take a chance...it didn't work... that's life...

so now on to the next step... this time I decided to go all out and just completely go through a motor and be done. Means i wont have my truck back for awhile but what it will mean is when I get it back i should be good to go for a long time. a few things transpired with parts swapping that has yet to be done so I'm keeping quiet on the engine for now...but i managed to pick up a slant nose idi core support in good shape so i decided to do the 80-86 front clip swap right away as well as put my D60 and 4x4 ZF5 in the truck while I have it apart.

so after this weekend this is where I am at...

front clip off...

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engine out...

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2wd axle out

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a few brackets removed from the frame

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all but the radius arm brackets removed

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racin460

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I did the the front axle swap about 5 years ago, very easy upgrade. You need to cut the bottom of the frame horns for the shackles all the rest just bolt in, with 7/16 bolts (fine thread and locktite). Keep in mind the location of the rear spring hangers, if there off the truck will dog leg real bad.
 

freebird01

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Yea im not worried.... ive been building 4x4's since before i could drive... will be much easier then the coil swap i have planned for the samurai
 

LCAM-01XA

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I did the the front axle swap about 5 years ago, very easy upgrade. You need to cut the bottom of the frame horns for the shackles all the rest just bolt in, with 7/16 bolts (fine thread and locktite). Keep in mind the location of the rear spring hangers, if there off the truck will dog leg real bad.

Those darn rear hangers, none of their holes will line up for you. It's like Ford intentionally made it so! Thankfully the 2wd frames have these pins that used to locate the frame on the racks on the assembly line, those make for excellent reference points. Can't even use crossmember for that cause its shape is weird - those locating pins worked best for me, well and the cab mounts, but pins are just easier than trying to measure around the angles of the cab mounts. I'll give you a distance number to shoot for later tonight, hopefully it will make your work a bit easier. At least front top hole from the coil buckets should line up with top hole on your 4x4 shock towers... Unless you're special and your front axle is 1" forward of its factory location, hooray for yet more speed holes I gotta make! LOL And yes Jon, I have pics of that mess I'm still dealing with, just hadn't had much time to UL for ya.
 

LCAM-01XA

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Aight, I got 18.5" from the center of the rear spring bolts to the center of the locating pins for the assembly line frame rack. But like I said my axle sits 1" forward from the factory location, so you should be at about 19.5" distance between centerlines.

Where are you getting the rear hangers anyways? Last I checked Ford had discontinued them for years now, and noone aftermarket had picked up the stampings... Which is odd considering every other imaginable bracket is reproduced, some by multiple companies.
 

LCAM-01XA

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Ah, cool, I didn't have a donor frame, so I had to improvise, and my improvisation usually involve 1/4" plate steel and lots of sparks flying LOL
 

freebird01

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yea i have 1/4" and 3/16" plate i just havent got my plasma cutter up and running again yet. still need to run a new service to the garage. it wouldnt be hard to make those mounts, but why when i got a frame i can use...(just sucks its my cleaned up and painted ext cab frame...but that project is DOA at this point)
 

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