Just got an email from ORU tonight and they're offering 15% off straight axle kits and free shipping on orders over $500.
CK5
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what should be stock on a 73 ford 1 ton?
- Thread starter blazin_blazer
- Start date
Wasatch K5
1/2 ton status
Well, my "knowledge" has come at significant expense....
I too have a love for the High boy trucks and growing up in northern New England they rusted out fast. The later versions had plastic wheelwell liners which went a long way in keeping road salt from lodging in the nooks and crannies and rusting the bejesus out of the trucks.
I was stationed in AZ in the USAF and found a '73 F-250 4x4 with zero rust. I had to have it and spent the next two plus years and many thousand dollars making it "perfect".
I swapped a blueprinted and balanced 428 with Cobra Jet heads and intake manifold for the stock 360. I had the whole frame axles, springs, etc, etc powder coated and installed all new mouldings. I had the body chemically stripped and painted it black.
Beautiful truck!!! I still have it and I'm about to start version 2. The 428 never ran nearly as well as it should. The current plans are to install a 460. Also, the '73-'75 F-250's had a Dana 44 closed knuckle, drum brake front axle. (In '76 they went to front discs.) I bought a Dana 60 HP front axle from a '79 F--350 4x4 as well as the integral power steering box. Those three modifications should make the truck a much better driver.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, there were a bunch of changes in 1977. An early 1977 truck was a High boy, but it had the 351M and 400 engines. My understanding is the frame mounted engine towers from one of those trucks will bolt in to an earlier High boy and allow one to use those towers to install a 460 (you still have to purchase the rubber mounts ). I found one of those trucks in a junkyard and got the towers. Of course that was the 17th yard I went to!
I too have a love for the High boy trucks and growing up in northern New England they rusted out fast. The later versions had plastic wheelwell liners which went a long way in keeping road salt from lodging in the nooks and crannies and rusting the bejesus out of the trucks.
I was stationed in AZ in the USAF and found a '73 F-250 4x4 with zero rust. I had to have it and spent the next two plus years and many thousand dollars making it "perfect".
I swapped a blueprinted and balanced 428 with Cobra Jet heads and intake manifold for the stock 360. I had the whole frame axles, springs, etc, etc powder coated and installed all new mouldings. I had the body chemically stripped and painted it black.
Beautiful truck!!! I still have it and I'm about to start version 2. The 428 never ran nearly as well as it should. The current plans are to install a 460. Also, the '73-'75 F-250's had a Dana 44 closed knuckle, drum brake front axle. (In '76 they went to front discs.) I bought a Dana 60 HP front axle from a '79 F--350 4x4 as well as the integral power steering box. Those three modifications should make the truck a much better driver.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, there were a bunch of changes in 1977. An early 1977 truck was a High boy, but it had the 351M and 400 engines. My understanding is the frame mounted engine towers from one of those trucks will bolt in to an earlier High boy and allow one to use those towers to install a 460 (you still have to purchase the rubber mounts ). I found one of those trucks in a junkyard and got the towers. Of course that was the 17th yard I went to!
Yep, those '77 towers are exactly what I'm trying to find right now, too. I don't want to spend the coin on the custom made ones from L&L. $125 for the rubber mounts is enough to spend. I saw the fenderwell headers priced at $580 and about crapped my pants. But regardless, those are the headers I'm going to run.
Do you know of, or have you found another set of these towers? I'd buy them off you if you do.
I'm ditching the slave-assist cylinder crap steering stuff off my '75. I'm still trying to find that perfect setup for the power steering box. I'm not real thrilled or keen on cutting, welding or any type of butchering on the frame. I bought a kit off eBay to convert these HB's to power steering but not planning to use it because I read about using the 2wd gear boxes puts too much stress on their long shafts. I want a 100% bolt-on kit for this conversion. Good luck with that, eh?
I live in the middle of the wheat state of Kansas and there are tons of HB's used by farmers here. Problem with finding that perfect truck is that most of them have flatbeds and where flatbeds are involved, most are welded to the frames. I got lucky finding my '75 which had a regular bed on it but was still a farm truck. I could only save the cab of which still needs some work. The frame is immaculate! It was the whole reason I bought it.
Right now the '75 is a roller in the shop with the cab, 205, D44 and D70 all on 4" Skyjacker front and rear lift springs. I'm trying to find the HPD60, 460 and C6 along with a rust/dent free bed, doors, fenders and hood. I have an NOS tailgate I got off eBay and its got the XLT trim on it. Best damn 'gate I've ever seen.
Do you know of, or have you found another set of these towers? I'd buy them off you if you do.
I'm ditching the slave-assist cylinder crap steering stuff off my '75. I'm still trying to find that perfect setup for the power steering box. I'm not real thrilled or keen on cutting, welding or any type of butchering on the frame. I bought a kit off eBay to convert these HB's to power steering but not planning to use it because I read about using the 2wd gear boxes puts too much stress on their long shafts. I want a 100% bolt-on kit for this conversion. Good luck with that, eh?
I live in the middle of the wheat state of Kansas and there are tons of HB's used by farmers here. Problem with finding that perfect truck is that most of them have flatbeds and where flatbeds are involved, most are welded to the frames. I got lucky finding my '75 which had a regular bed on it but was still a farm truck. I could only save the cab of which still needs some work. The frame is immaculate! It was the whole reason I bought it.
Right now the '75 is a roller in the shop with the cab, 205, D44 and D70 all on 4" Skyjacker front and rear lift springs. I'm trying to find the HPD60, 460 and C6 along with a rust/dent free bed, doors, fenders and hood. I have an NOS tailgate I got off eBay and its got the XLT trim on it. Best damn 'gate I've ever seen.
