1974 2wd crew to 4x4.

i did a little work on the rear end the last few days. i cut the front spring mounts off and lowered them down a little (1 3/4”) to help get the spring a little flatter.

i also cut the perches off the 14 bolt along with the shock mounts so i can role the rear end in order to get the pinion angle set right. cutting the perches off was a huge pain in the butt just incase any one was wondering.

now i have to get the box back on in order to finish setting the rear end angle and i can weld the perches back on.


also got my tool for doing nutzert the other day so i was finally able to mount my twin stick setup for the 4wd

 

Also, the K trucks have an "L" shape bracing on the portion of the hanger that is below the frame. If you want some pictures, I can take some for you.

 

i welded all the way around the hanger, even down the “v” in the center. it should be more that strong enough. it has lots kore area holding it together this way. have a friend here that has fixed/stiffended a few trucks up by welding all the crossmembers/hangers buy welding them up so they don’t move at all.

i added a brace under the frame to the bracket, i just didn’t have it on yet when i took the pic.

i added a few pics to show what i did

 

haven’t done much interesting stuff recently. i did get the new carpet and seat in though. i’m in the process of figuring out shocks right now. these pics are with the front/rear 30” off the ground. The front tire is about 1/4 from the fender when bottomed out and pointing straight ahead. the boxing the frame helps a ton to keep the bed from hitting the cab when things flex. It still has 1” between them.

 

thanks, i dont know much about how much flex is good, i was just trying to figure out what my max extention and compression are for getting a set of bilstein 5100s ordered

 

ya it’s surprising what a little boxing in the frame does

 

I can't recall if you bought the shock mounts. ORD has F-250 mounts for the front for $58.
http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/F250 Shock mounts.pdf

 

Articulation is your friend! And you have plenty of it. When will you get to do some real-world testing? Looking great!

 

not sure when i’ll actually get the truck done. it’s close, but still lots of little things left like drive lines, wiring, get the fans mounted, ac and powers steering lines made, and figure out what i want to do with the fuel door.

i was happy with the articulation, i really didn’t know what to expect on the front since we changed so many things from when it was a 2wd.

 

i didn’t know they made mounts like that.

in the front i’m just using the factory shock mounts. in the rear i’m making my own mounts. i did a qick mock up with some tabs just to get some measurements. once the shocks get here i will make some real mounts for the axle tubes and on the frame cross member

 

cab and box are removed, motor/trans are out. few more thing to strip off the frame and it’s off to get sand blasted so i can paint it.

 

A thing of beauty right there. I like the custom y-pipe and routing, too.