1978 Crew Cab F250 4X4, 7.3 POWERSTROKE Conversion

[1killerz]

creature comforts continued...

Not sure how I will make these fit and work in the 1978 properly, but obviously I am a gluten for punishment...:morons:

 

[1killerz]

creature comforts continued some more...

little dude's pretty excited about the TV's.

Going to need to find a cover for the rears, as our dog goes on our trips with us.

 

[1killerz]

spaghetti

I have been sourcing and tracing the internal wiring harness all this winter, when I have the time and my nipples don't try and fall off from the extreme temperatures


I am still looking for a shop diagram/schematic for the donor, boy that would make life better. But in the interim, I am doing it one block at a time off the fuse block. Yea me!!!


Good news, half way there.
Bad news, its ****in cold.


Pictures to come. and much work to do. Hoping for this spring for it to be running under its own power.

 

[gfulton]

Nice and clean install.......

 

[1killerz]

Nice and clean install.......

Thanks. Wish I could take the credit on that aspect...but sometimes its worth it to let a pro do some stuff.

 

[1killerz]

D60

Tired of looking at spaghetti (wires).
So I decided to take a night...or three, and clean up the D60.

Even managed to find the factory stamping...

 

[1killerz]

D60 drama...

So the good first:
* The Dana 60 is being done professionally (explain that in the bad news)
* The Full float sterling 10.25 axle in the crew cab when I bought it, is correct with a 4:10 gear ratio
* The engineering of the Sterling axle will make the swap of the disc brake set up on the donor sterling axle to my existing sterling axle easier than originally anticipated
* My buddy discussed temperatures created in axles under load and thusly talked me out of rhino lining the axles. Will be sticking with the chassis gloss black paint

The bad:
* The donor sterling has 3.53 gear ratio, and is weld locked. So I will not be using that axle but will instead be selling it once the disc brakes are swapped off.
* The donor D60 to replace my stock 44 has at he same 3.53 as they came off the same rig. This obviously necessitates a gear change in the D60.
* The previous owner had an issue with the lock hub on the D60, so he welded the internal clip. We had to get it off, and the outer shaft is no longer good.
* Some of the internal seals are bad, so essentially a full rebuild is coming.

 

[suprhlr]

So the good first:
* The Dana 60 is being done professionally (explain that in the bad news)
* The Full float sterling 10.25 axle in the crew cab when I bought it, is correct with a 4:10 gear ratio
* The engineering of the Sterling axle will make the swap of the disc brake set up on the donor sterling axle to my existing sterling axle easier than originally anticipated
* My buddy discussed temperatures created in axles under load and thusly talked me out of rhino lining the axles. Will be sticking with the chassis gloss black paint

The bad:
* The donor sterling has 3.53 gear ratio, and is weld locked. So I will not be using that axle but will instead be selling it once the disc brakes are swapped off.
* The donor D60 to replace my stock 44 has at he same 3.53 as they came off the same rig. This obviously necessitates a gear change in the D60.
* The previous owner had an issue with the lock hub on the D60, so he welded the internal clip. We had to get it off, and the outer shaft is no longer good.
* Some of the internal seals are bad, so essentially a full rebuild is coming.

If you need someone to set up the D60 give me a shout

 

[gwunter]

Perhaps a king ranch badge to accent the body??

 

[1killerz]

If you need someone to set up the D60 give me a shout

I appreciate the offer. Got it done locally. Now all I need to do is wait for this last weather push to go away so I can install it.

 

[1killerz]

Perhaps a king ranch badge to accent the body??

I thought about that. Not sure yet though.

 

[1killerz]

rear axle disc brake conversion

So I sent the D60 out for a rebuild. They did all the innards, re-geared it to 4:10 to match the rear, and took care of the outer shafts.

While it was away at the shop, decided to convert the rear sterling axle to disc brake.

It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

 

[1killerz]

rear axle disc brake conversion

Like I said, brakes are not my thing. But the shop manuals are usually pretty straight forward...

it even has pictures!

http://powerstrokearmy.com/photopost/data/500/medium/rear_axle_1_.jpg

 

[1killerz]

rear continued...

So step one. Open your beer. Charge up your air compressor. Look at tire....

Step two, remove the tire. Would have taken a picture, but I only have two hands; one for the beer and one for the tire.

Step 3, remove the antiquated drum brakes that barely stopped your truck adequately.

Step 4, charge up air compressor again, open another beer (it's hot damn it). See all these bolts? They need to come off.

Don't lose these bolts, they are kind of important...

Step 5. Get a oil catch pan, it may get messy.
Remove the axle shaft

Treat that shaft like gold. Don't just drop it. Carefully guide it out of the axle tube.

Step 6. Grab another beer


Step 7. There is a hub nut in here. It takes a four (4) pronged hub nut socket, not to be confused with the six (6) pronged hub nut socket found on older Dana 60's.
This is threaded specifically to the side of the truck it is on. Please consult book as I am no expert. But I believe the book set left hand thread for the passenger side and right hand thread for the driver side.

Step. 8 Comment about how hot it is and how much you love the smell of gear lube in the evening.

Step 9. Once its off, inspect the bearings for wear.

Step 10. If you can't get the hub off by hand (as some others have indicated you could do), and you can't find the part number related to the ford service manual for the step and the puller, gentle use of a slide hammer works as well.
I have no pictures here, as I was being careful as to not mar any parts, or damage any threads, etc.

I used the hub nut socket to assist in keeping the balance so as not to damage my threads.

 

[1killerz]

finishing up the rear

Freedom!

almost there...

Grab another beer, grab some primer, grab some paint, and grab a wire brush...

Where the hub was (back part) has some accumulated debris and rust. Clean that off and be sure not to get any of the gunk on the shiny metal...

Final step of tear down: belch loudly, realize you are out of beer, realize you don't have the axle seal outer for the hub to replace the parts that were on there, and you forget to get the donor rotors (in my case) turned prior to re installation.

 

[1killerz]

IDIOT ALERT

So, here's the low down on jumping the gun with purchasing my tire/rim combo BEFORE I bought the D60 and decided to use, the sterling axle that came with it, disc brake conversion:


Rear axle (sterling 10.25) is buttoned up except for the "o'ring" I am still chasing down a part number for.


The disc brakes are on the rear axle (sterling 10.25).


Didn't do the math, my rims are hitting the calipers. Not horribly, but enough it needs to be addressed.
three options:
1. sand disc down the caliper to make clearance
2. get a bigger spacer to push the rim far enough away for no rub.
3. buy bigger rims (hope not)


Dana 60 is done (rebuilt). Picking up and then putting on the new lock out hubs


Found a Baja cage with over roof rack. Hoping to pick up this weekend.


Pictures to come....

 

[1killerz]

sterling O-ring part number

So while I was picking up the D60 from the rebuild shop, I thought this would be the place to answer the mystical question: what is the part number for the O ring? I had looked every where, even called ford parts department. No one had the answer.And he had the answer, plus the part in stock!

Answer: E5TZ-4A331-A


Have I mentioned I love this shop. Old school driveline shop. He built my drive shafts for my Original CC, built the driveshaft for my 72 chevelle, rebuilt my drive shafts (including my trail spares) for my 1979 bronco, and now has built my D60.


If you are in western Michigan, need this kind of work done, this is the shop I would recommend:
D&R Driveline Inc. @ www.drdrivelineinc.com


Anyway, I digress. Many pictures to come as we are buttoning up the front end.

 

[psduser1]

Sharp guys at d&r.
Dts in ionia is another good shop.

 

[521turbo]

D&R is also cheap, and do great work. Its not very often that those are used in the same sentence.

 

[1killerz]

Sharp guys at d&r.
Dts in ionia is another good shop.

Good info. Today's day an age, word of mouth in our groups online is knowledge worth it's weight in gold.