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1974 F100 4x4 Heavy Half Ton Build

17K views 32 replies 8 participants last post by  AKCCF350 
#1 ·
Since I sold my 97 F350 Powerstroke in February I have been collecting trucks and parts to do my "new to me" daily driver build.

In the end it should turn out pretty good, but will be no beauty queen. This build was inspired by the truck my dad drove me around in when I was a kid. He is now fighting a nasty lung illness and we are not sure how many years he has left, so, I thought I would build a truck close to what he had a nd I can now drive him around in it.
He had a 1973 F250 4x4 XLT Ranger with a 429 and a 4-Speed manual transmission. I searched far and wide for a truck that I could afford and came close a couple times, but the deals were never sealed. After that, I decided that I would just build one. You all know how that goes. In the end, I will have a truck very close to what I was looking for, but it will not have the 429 to start with. It will however have a few luxuries that he did not have.

Major components:

1974 FE 360 Engine
NP435 Manual Transmission
NP205 Divorced T-Case
HP Dana 44 Front Axle with Power Disc Brakes and Power Steering (3.54 gears for now)
Dana 60 Rear Axle with Drum Brakes (3.54 gears for now)
1975 Highboy Front Springs (Not sure on rear springs yet)

Pics to follow.

:( I miss my 97 F350 bad.
 
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#2 ·
We stripped 3 trucks (so far) and are putting one truck together out of the parts. I wish I had the space and time to part out the other two trucks worth of parts, but I'm using someone else's garage/shop to do the work and can not leave any parts laying around. It killed me to haul a couple grand worth of parts off to the scrap yard. We got about 40% done putting it back together. The engine/transmission/t-case is in, the body is setting on the frame (not bolted down). We were just starting to hang the doors and get them adjusted (what a pain) when I had to head back to work for a couple weeks. The engine/transmission/t-case for now are 360 / NP435 / Married Dana 21, this combo will work for now, but will change in the future. It's not the best looking or best running, but it'll go down the road when finished.

More to come....







 
#5 ·
Going back together for some test fiting. Ran into trouble with the back of the engine too close to the firewall. Move the engine a bit forward and now there is betted cab to engine clearance.







 
#6 ·
Back apart she came. Time to make more adjustments and some upgrades.

Highboy springs installed
NP205 Divorced T-Case installed
Mid and Front Drivelines installed

This is how she currently sits. Patiently waiting for me to get home in a week or so and give her some more attention.







 
#8 ·
Thanks. I have been supprised at how many parts from different years have gone into this truck. Not very many have been "Bolt-On", almost all of them have needed a modification of some sort. It should work pretty good in the end.
I started getting quotes to have the exhaust done and about crapped my pants when I got the prices. I called 4 shops and it varied between $500-$800 to do 2-1/2" dual exhaust from the manifolds to exiting behind the rear tires. Thos quotes were all with me supplying my own mufflers.
I'm not a real good welder, but I "may" give building my own exhaust a try. Just order up some mandrel bends and start chopping'n weld'n. Well se though, it's still up in the air. I have the money put to the side to do the exhaust, but I did not plan on it costing that much for just straight pipes.
 
#10 ·
I completely paid off a couple credit card. It sucked to sell, but the wife and I should be debt free within about 2 years. (other than a mortgage and maybe a car payment)
 
#13 ·
Thanks, he means the world to me for sure.

The truck has been very fun, trying, diaspointing, rewarding and oh fun project I have done in a long time.

It's especially great to get my father and father-in-law out there working with me.
 
#15 ·
Correct, when he bought it new it had a 360 and then swapped a 390 to a 428 and then when the 428 blew while towing, he swapped to the 385 Series and went for a 429. That truck haulled a$$. 429 / 4-Speed / 4.10 Gears and 35" Tires. He sold it up here in Alaska in the very early 90's. In the beginning, while I was looking for a truck to buy, I thought I found his actual truck, but when I checked the ownership history, he was not on it.
 
#18 ·
I never rode in the truck (that I can remember) while it had the 360 in it. He bought the truck a year before I was born.

His 360 ran ok (he said it was pretty gutless) untill it was turned into a boat anchor. He was pretty hard on his truck back then and was power hungry too.

I have driven a couple trucks with a 360 in them and I had no real complaints. My truck will just be a daily driver and will not be towing anything real heavy, so the 360 should work for a while. Once I'm done with it, if it runs and drives like I think it will, I might buy a running 390 and do a 410 build-up in the long term future. I have heard that the FE's have a unique sound, good torque, but are expensive to build.
 
#17 ·
The 360's were just truck motors and the 390 and 428 came out later. 428's just came in cars and 390's were in cars and 2 wheel drive trucks. the 360's were ok but i think all of them were fairly low compression and 2 barrel carbs. the 390 truck motors were basically the same except more cubes. The better ones came from cars some had higher compression and 4 barrel carbs. the 428 was more of the performance one of them all and only came in certain cars. They are all pretty good motors in my opinion some just had better stock components than others.
 
#20 ·
Thanks Paul.

I get home from work tonight and should be able to make some decent progress over the next couple weeks.

:peeman:
 
#22 ·
Well, we got quite a bit done on the truck the last couple weeks. The cab and front clip are installed, the radiator is in, the alternator and power steering pump are installed. The transmission and transfer case shifters are installed.

We converted an automatic transmission w/ tilt steering column to a manual transmission w/ tilt steering column. We tore the column appart, removed all the the auto shift stuff, filled and smoothed all the holes, then re-assembled it. I am real happy with how it turned out.

I'll get pictures posted in a few days of all the progress.
 
#23 ·
As promissed....

The cab and front clip installed.






My crappy grille shell. I am currently looking for a better one locally.
 
#24 ·
The automatic column converted to a manual. The tilt steering is going to be nice.


I had a couple cans of rubberized undercoating laying around and I figured what the heck. It has a couple weeks before I get back home to air out and dry real good. Then I am putting a layer of insulation down before putting the rubber floor mat in place.


 
#27 ·
Thanks., It's been a blast to work with my dad and my father-in-law on this project.

Keep the photos coming, that truck is going to be awesome. I haven't had a look at a 74 in many years, I liked those front grills, seems like Ford looked back on them when they did the new superduty's with the lower headlights.
When I was a kid and into my early 20's, I thought the 78-79 Ford's were the best looking trucks around and I absolutely loved the grille and square headlights. Now, I really lean towards the 73-77 style with the turn signal above the round headlights and the split grille. This truck will be no real beauty queen, but should be very functional.
 
#29 ·
They are R85-16 Buckshot Mudders (an old bias tire)

When they were new, they were about 37" tall. Now they are between 35.5 - 36 inches tall. I ran them on my 97 F350 for a while before I sold the truck. I have owned these tires for 5-6 years now. They are a tall skinny tire size I use to run on my 85 F350 Plow truck and I fell in love with the tire size. They are getting hard to come by these days.
 
#31 ·
A bit of progress over the last couple months.

I ordered the floor and kick-panel carpet, rounded up more parts for the stereo system, cleaned up some of the messy cab wiring, and started building my custom shift knob extention.

33 Gallon Bronco Fuel Tank
Rear shackle flip
Relocated rear shock mounts

Before the tank swap and shackle flip.



After the tank swap and shackle flip.




Relocated the rear shock mounts.



Now I am back at work and can not wait to get back home on February 3rd to start working on the truck again.
 
#32 ·
Not much progress on my 4x4 project. Other "more important" things keep taking priority. No big deal though, it'll get done soon enough.

I did add another truck to the stable though. I found a 2wd 1976 F250 on craigslist while aI was at work last hitch and convinced the wife I "needed" it. I had her go look at it and she approved, bought it and drove it home for me.

This is how it looked when she brought it home for me.


I gave it a bath and put a set of 1996 F250 wheels/tires on it. Not quite sure what direction I am going to go with it, but it will all be on a strict budget, because it was not meant to be another project. I was bought with the intent to have a driver while I was building the 4x4.

This is how she looked after the bath and bolting on the wheels/tires.


Should be a good little driver once I work a few bugs out.
 
#33 ·
It's been a while since I have posted about my little project, so here's an update.

A week ago she actually was driven out of the shop under her own power. There are still a million things to do before she id road ready, but this was a big step for me.

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Automotive tire Pickup truck


Land vehicle Vehicle Car Automotive tire Pickup truck


Land vehicle Vehicle Car Tire Automotive tire


Land vehicle Vehicle Car Steering wheel Classic car


There is a major vacuum leak at the base of the carb, I need to get the idle mixture screws adjusted, set the fast idle and adjust the timing and she'll be running a little better.

After the engine is up and running I need to tackle a few drive train issues , then move onto the interior.
 
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