Project update and new photos!!

[hesutton]

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas!

I got home last night from a little vacation down to Kentucky to visit with family, marry off my brother, and work on the project IDI. With the wedding and the Holiday celebrations and all, I didn't get all I wanted to get done on the truck. But, it was a great time.

The Dana 60 is on the truck and was able to get the old TTB Dana 44 onto the donor F350. I havn't worked out the front driveshaft problem yet, but I will likely just swap the F350's tranny crossmember on the the project truck to solve that problem. I also have the Skyjacker 4 inch lift on the truck. With the 2 inch body lift, that gives me an extra 6 inches of height. There is plenty of room for those 37's now. The only problem is............I don't know how I'll get the truck out of Dad's garage now. She's too tall, even with smaller 31 inch tires!

I will use the sway bars and track bar off the F350 on my project truck as well. I will need to get them cleaned up and painted. I will replace the dead stock bushings with polyurethane bushings. I also found a broken rear tank strap while crawling around under the truck. That will have to be replaced as well.

The Dana 60 now has new brake calipers and a new master cylinder. I will have to do a brake job on the rear as well. I need to get some small wiring stuff done in the cab (gauges and whatnot), and I need a Tach from a '83-'86 IDI. The one in the truck is from a F650 with a 8.3 Cummins. The RPM range is only to 3500 and I think that is why the tach isn't working correctly.

Eventually, I will get a set of wheels, a LS rear diff, and the undercoating/Rhino liner done. It is slowly coming together and it will be a great truck.

On a side note........I took a trip to the Darkside! My good friend bought a 2006 F350 Superduty Crewcab SRW 6.0 PSD with the ZF6. It is basically the same exact truck as his '99 PSD, just with a 6.0 under the hood. Man that thing makes some turbo whistle and impressive power. :Sly

Sorry this was so long.....I'm just excited and wanted to share the updates.

Click my webshots link in my signature for the new photos......they start on page #3.

Heath

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Heath,

That rig is gonna be sweet. Looks big enough that Trooper is gonna need a step ladder to get in there.
Keep up the good work there.

 

[The Warden]

BEAUTIFUL looking rig!!! You have every right to br proud!!

If I only had the time, space, and $$ to get my truck looking that nice...

 

[F350camper]

Nice to hear from ya over in these parts Heath. Truck is looking good as ever, keep up the good work.

 

[Russ]

I don't know how I'll get the truck out of Dad's garage now. She's too tall, even with smaller 31 inch tires!

Just let the air out of th etires that sould give you about 6" drop
Lookin' good Heath. Thanks for the update.

 

[highest_vision]

Nice! How much clearance do you need to get out of the garage? You may be able to 'weight' your way out.
Good luck
James

 

[Darrin Tosh]

That is gonna be an awesome truck! The Polly Bushings look great!

If you have to, take the tries off the rims and bolt the rims back on and roll it out on the rims.

Sounds like the time the I built an entertainment center in my basment wood shop, and it was too big to take up the stairs to the living toom. I had to dissasemble it and finish it in the living room,...banghead...DOLT!

Keep up the good work!
Darrin

 

[beretzs]

Heath, be very careful with airing down 16.5 in wheel/tires, they will come off the rim very easily. I let some air outta my truck tires to get the truck a little lower when I was working on the fuel tanks, well two of the tires, let go and they were a sonofagun to get back on the rim.. Truck looks awesome though. Scotty

 

[hesutton]

Thanks for the comments guys. I cannot wait to get it done! I should.......I stress should............be driving it to the IDI rally in July! Hopefully, I'll be driving it a month or so before the event to work out the bugs. Once I get it on the road...........Other mods may come........

Any word if Chatty, Tn is the spot for the Rally? Havn't heard if the place will take the group of not.

Catch you later guys.

Heath

 

[6point9diesel]

Heath,

Really nice looking work. Nice clean up on the D60. She's a sharp looking rig!

I'm still in the middle of my project and have my D60 in the same state of affairs. I've just been planning on using the late model driveshaft. Isn't it thinner hence it will clear the F250 crossmember? If not I'll have to go the same route with the crossmember.

For your front shock towers it looks like you are still using the original F250 towers with the single hole in the top. Is that right? If so did you think about mounting the towers from the F350?

Did your lift kit come with a front spring pack? new block for the rear spring pack? Does your F350 rear spring pack have a 3" wide by 4" tall block?

Don't know if you can tell, but I've been waiting for someone to be going through this. I've got questions.

Again nice job,

Paul

 

[sle2115]

Front Drive Shaft

Did your donor truck have the double ujoint cardon type joint at the front of the transfer case? When I did the swap to the D60, that solved my problems. I don't have a 4 inch suspension lift (body lift should have no bearing on this) but did use an add a leaf which gave me at least 2.5 inches in my configuration. When I went to the other (F350) driveshaft, the I had to change the yoke on the transfer case, then the cardon joint pushes the pivot point forward as well as allowing for more deflection. In any case, I could let the front drive shaft sit on the ground when connected only to the transfer case, that is how much angle I could get. It works great and the D60 is so much of a better drive than the D44, you won't believe how much better they drive.

Looks great, would like to do a truck like that myself someday. Now that my daily drive is going from 110 miles to about 25, it may just be feasible to get away from a daily driver mileage car and drive a fullsize truck.

Keep up the good work and pictures.
Scott

 

[hesutton]

Heath,

Really nice looking work. Nice clean up on the D60. She's a sharp looking rig!

I'm still in the middle of my project and have my D60 in the same state of affairs. I've just been planning on using the late model driveshaft. Isn't it thinner hence it will clear the F250 crossmember? If not I'll have to go the same route with the crossmember.

For your front shock towers it looks like you are still using the original F250 towers with the single hole in the top. Is that right? If so did you think about mounting the towers from the F350?

Did your lift kit come with a front spring pack? new block for the rear spring pack? Does your F350 rear spring pack have a 3" wide by 4" tall block?

Don't know if you can tell, but I've been waiting for someone to be going through this. I've got questions.

Again nice job,

Paul

Thanks Paul and Scott. I have just changed the crossmembers out. This has given me the clearence I need to get the stock F250 shaft off the crossmember. I have about an inch or more of clearence now. The F350 driveshaft has a double cardan joint that moves the joint foward like sle2115 says. But, to use that, you need the front yoke off the F350 T-case. If all goes well, I just use the crossmember only and run with that setup.

I changed the shock towers to the F350 style. They are not beefier, its just that the F350 lift came with the double eye shocks. My '86 F250 had the "eye" bottom shock mount and the single top mount. They are now on the donor F350 along with the TTB 44.

The Skyjacker lift I ordered was SKY-F840MKS (4 inch lift front and rear springs). The shocks are not included. Neither was the pitman arm. The rear blocks are off the F350. You don't get the block with this particular lift. You have to use the stock blocks off the F350 rear.

Heath

 

[6point9diesel]

Heath,

Did you have to drill holes for the shock towers or the crossmember? The rear blocks that you used off your F350, are they 3" wide? Did the skyjacker kit come with poly bushings, or did you have to buy those separate? Does the spring pack that came with your kit have more or less leaves than the stock F350?

Seems like the F350 crossmember may be the cheapest way to go. Is that 1" at full extension or at rest?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm just curious.

Paul

 

[hesutton]

Heath,

Did you have to drill holes for the shock towers or the crossmember? The rear blocks that you used off your F350, are they 3" wide? Did the skyjacker kit come with poly bushings, or did you have to buy those separate? Does the spring pack that came with your kit have more or less leaves than the stock F350?

Seems like the F350 crossmember may be the cheapest way to go. Is that 1" at full extension or at rest?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm just curious.

Paul

Paul, the shock towers and crossmember all just bolt right in. There was not drilling. I 'm pretty sure the 350's blocks are 3" wide and 4" tall. They have a "lip" (I don't know what else to call it) to catch the rubber bumper on the bottom of the frame rails.

The Skyjacker kit comes with the polyurethane bushing for the front springs, and the shocks have poly bushing top and bottom. The spring pack for the front has more springs than the donor F350 and the same number (minus the overload on top) of rear springs.

The clearence with the crossmember is a little more than an inch with the truck just sitting there. I'll likely jack the front on the truck up to extend the suspension and see what it will take to hit crossmember. I may shim the crossmember a bit if it looks like a little extension will send the shaft into the crossmember.

Heath

 

[6point9diesel]

Heath,

Thanks. It sounds like you got a pretty thorough kit. Good idea to get one with all new springs.

I don't know if you've figured out how you're going to get it out of the garage yet or not, but I can offer you a suggestion. My fiancee's dad built a tractor in his garage and once he got the wheels on, he couldn't get it out. So, he took the wheels off and rolled it out the door using a couple of floor jacks. Just a thought,

Thanks again,

Paul