CK5
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sorry guys....

what makes that 70 a Highboy? or the 73+'s for that matter.....


I like the 67 to 72 sheetmetal the best..
 
I think the Hi-boys were a aftermarket term used by enthusiats, nothing Ford used.
It had something to do with raising the truck to give more clearance because of the divorced t/c mounting in the narrower framerails of the 250.

And I always dug the old Stude's, being made in South Bend IN, there were a few of them around when I was growing up.

But none of them looked this good:

stude.jpg
 
what makes that 70 a Highboy? or the 73+'s for that matter.....


I like the 67 to 72 sheetmetal the best..

I think the Hi-boys were a aftermarket term used by enthusiats, nothing Ford used.
It had something to do with raising the truck to give more clearance because of the divorced t/c mounting in the narrower framerails of the 250.

And I always dug the old Stude's, being made in South Bend IN, there were a few of them around when I was growing up.

But none of them looked this good:
What Zim said.

Highboy was never a coined term by Ford. It was made up by regulars like you and me. And it stuck ever since they started in '67.

The frames on them are straighter and don't go up and down like a GM frame does. The HB springs have more arch in them almost like 4" aftermarket springs for GM.
HB's ran from '67 up to '77 and then mid-year of '77 they phased out to the Lowboy of which used different frames and flatter springs, much like a stock GM truck.
The downfall of the HB is the lack of power steering since they used a slave-assist which looks like the hydro assist we use on our trucks. Rebuilding this system on the HB's is very expensive so most people convert the HB steering over to the '77.5-'79 F250 power steering box of which mounts on the inside frame rail. It takes some custom work to get it bolted to the frame though.
Then theres the HB's divorced, or remote, transfer cases. Using a short d-shaft after the tranny to the t-case, its almost a plus to use this setup since you could use any 2wd tranny to mate it to the engine.
On a final note, Bigfoot the original monster truck started out as a '74 Highboy. Today the truck still utilizes the HB frame and they incorporated the same frame into #2 and #3. By the time #4 started construction, they used a straight channel iron frame.

More questions? Ask away! :thumb:
 
Pics below are of my '75 Highboy. It's got 4" Skyjacker front and rear springs. With these amount of lift, it would be more along the lines of 6" on a GM truck. The HB in stock form has arched springs that put it in the range of 2" over stock hence the HB moniker its got.

You can see the front d-shaft mounted to the divorced NP205 t-case. Also notice the frame in front and rear of the cab. Its almost straight with no bends up and down like a GM frame. The lack of the bending up and down gives the frame its strength that they're known for.

If you notice the front shock mounts, I added an extra set to make a quad shock setup. Not trying to fool anyone here. Rearend is a D70 removed from an F350 Super Camper Special. I'm trying to locate an HPD60 front so I can change the fender emblems to F350 to call the truck something that was never made nor offered by Ford in the Highboy. Front axle is still the factory low pinion D44LD.

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The truck behind this one is a '79 F250 Lowboy. Its got the D44 and D60. The frame is more comparable to a GM frame and has the flat front springs. The t-cases on the LB's are married exactly like all the GM's.
 
Wes my brother had a 79 250 with a 60 in front and back, any chance they were stock? It had a 351M and a C6 w/ married 205 I believe.
 
Wes my brother had a 79 250 with a 60 in front and back, any chance they were stock? It had a 351M and a C6 w/ married 205 I believe.
Yep, D60 fronts came in F250's in the Sno-Fighter package. It was a customer option. They were standard on the F350's but were optional on F250's.

The thing I never understood about Ford and their axle choices in the F350's was why some had D60 rears and some had D70's. Lots of them were 60/60 rather than 60/70.

lots of supercab f 250s had d60 fronts

Lots of regular cabs got the D60 option, too.
 
yeah his was reg cab with the 60 front and rear. He never said anything about a snowfighter package, and it was a NC truck!
 
I haven't learned yet on how to identify the Sno-Fighter package whether its on the VIN tag, an RPO code, or whatever. The only thing that I know about the Lowboy F250's with a front D60 is that its the SF package. They never came that way other than that package. D44's were the standard for 250's. Unfortunately my Super Cab has this one. Damn.
 
I had a real good friend that had a baby blue 72 highboy back in 1995. He bought it after he totaled his S-10. That truck was a beast! He didn't know how to drive it right and we ended up digging him out of almost every mud hole there was in Nevada. He sold it to buy a 91 Eddie Bauer Bronco, it broke my heart to see it go away.....:doah:

My uncle in Reno has a 1960 Chevy Apache stepside with the original 235 and 4 on the floor. I used to drive that thing all over the hills of Washoe county. He's been telling me for years he wants to throw the body on a K-10 frame but the poor girl is just sitting in his back yard dying a slow death of neglect.
 
May have seen this elsewhere on the forum but, here is the '62 that I have inherited. Not a ford guy but can't seem to part with it. It's complete, runs and drives.


Jim

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That would be a '66. The '65 had the same fender badge but it was up on the side of hood and the '64 had a different badge in the same location as the '66. That's how I generally tell the years apart if the badge is there. Prior to '64 the vent window in the door has the widest part at the top.

I would love one of those. I had a 2wd '64 through high school and a couple years in the Navy. Bought it for $900 at a garage sale, 1 owner low mileage truck. Would love to have one again.
 
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