powerstrokekid
Active Member
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2012
- Messages
- 52
- Reaction score
- 111
- Points
- 33
- Location
- New London, Ohio
- Vehicle Year
- 1988
- Make / Model
- ford
- Engine Type
- 2.9 V6
- Transmission
- Manual
- 2WD / 4WD
- Solid Axle Swap 4x4
Honestly I didn’t know there was a category for this truck but it’s the main reason I haven’t finished a ranger project yet. I’d really like to make a build thread about it before all the pictures get lost or something. Also it’s out here on the forums where people from all over can see it, maybe even my kids one day. I absolutely love reading people’s build threads so I hope you enjoy mine. Thanks for reading. Here is my 1996 f-superduty which a lot of people don’t seem to know exist. It’s basically an f-450 but ford called it a f-superduty. They only came cab and chassis and the wheel bases and frames weren’t the same as a the other trucks so you couldn’t put a pickup bed on them. They only came with 7.3 or 460 and were 2wd unless you can find a rare 4wd conversion one. I bought it as my first truck back in 2012. It was a service truck for a local construction company its whole life with 340k miles on it at the time of purchase. The truck has a 7.3 powerstroke, e4od, Dana 80 rear axle
this is pretty much what it looked like when I bought it except I immediately tinted the windows and made some stacks for it with the addition of a TS chip. Eventually my grandpa convinced me to put 19.5 wheels on it from a Chevy. This requires having the hub bore machined larger on the wheels.
I drove the truck for several years, eventually the torque converter in the e4od went bad and that’s when I decided to zf5 swap it. I swapped it late 2014 I believe. Here’s a few pictures I found, that was awhile ago.
I made a custom crossmember for the zf5 using square tube and poly bushings from Barnes 4wd
Around that same time I did a homemade e-fuel/fuel bowl delete on the engine. I also rebuilt the stock turbo with a wicked wheel gen 2 and homemade EBPV delete buy tig welding up the turbo pedestal.
so I drove the truck all winter 2014/15 and in the spring I thought it would be a good idea to take my truck and coworker from Europe to the local drag strip since he had never been. Well that didn’t end well.
Basically this was a turning point as I had always wanted to turn the truck into a pickup. I decided to tear the truck apart.
next I shortened the frame to single cab long bed wheel base. I think it’s around 137”. For reference the truck currently had a 12’ bed on it so a lot of frame had to be take out. I did it right behind the cab in the straight section. Cut it on a 45 and then fish plated The inside.
welded in a rear crossmember
Then sandblasted and painted the frame.
and then it sat…..for over 3 years.. in this time I started a tdi ranger build, bought a house, got married and had a kid. I felt like I was never gonna finish it. That’s when I sold off the ranger stuff and drug the truck home.
I built some traction bars for it using poly bushings and square tube and made my own brackets.
I tore the front end apart to finish the front half of the frame.
At some point I made a gooseneck hitch
I think at this point we are in 2018. The truck looked like this and say that way for a little while
then in 2019 I started doing body work and painted the cab.
Then it sat like this for awhile
In 2020 I parted out a Jetta and was gonna start a tdi swap ranger again and then my wife convinced me to sell everything and finish the dually finally. So I did. I’m thankful for her. I started reassembling things with new parts.
I redid my fuel system
new one piece driveshaft. 1410 joints 4” tube.
Retinted the windows
At this point it has been so long I just wanted to drive it some before winter so I just drove it like this for the next month before they salted the roads.
way lighter than it used to be.
after winter, in 2021 I started doing body work on the bed and painted it. I also installed new stacks and a fuel tank tool box combo giving me 1,000 miles of range.
So here we are, 2021 and the truck is “done” the nicest it would ever look. I’m gonna stop this post here and 2021- current I’ll add onto later because the truck gets big changes.
this is pretty much what it looked like when I bought it except I immediately tinted the windows and made some stacks for it with the addition of a TS chip. Eventually my grandpa convinced me to put 19.5 wheels on it from a Chevy. This requires having the hub bore machined larger on the wheels.
I drove the truck for several years, eventually the torque converter in the e4od went bad and that’s when I decided to zf5 swap it. I swapped it late 2014 I believe. Here’s a few pictures I found, that was awhile ago.
I made a custom crossmember for the zf5 using square tube and poly bushings from Barnes 4wd
Around that same time I did a homemade e-fuel/fuel bowl delete on the engine. I also rebuilt the stock turbo with a wicked wheel gen 2 and homemade EBPV delete buy tig welding up the turbo pedestal.
so I drove the truck all winter 2014/15 and in the spring I thought it would be a good idea to take my truck and coworker from Europe to the local drag strip since he had never been. Well that didn’t end well.
Basically this was a turning point as I had always wanted to turn the truck into a pickup. I decided to tear the truck apart.
next I shortened the frame to single cab long bed wheel base. I think it’s around 137”. For reference the truck currently had a 12’ bed on it so a lot of frame had to be take out. I did it right behind the cab in the straight section. Cut it on a 45 and then fish plated The inside.
welded in a rear crossmember
Then sandblasted and painted the frame.
and then it sat…..for over 3 years.. in this time I started a tdi ranger build, bought a house, got married and had a kid. I felt like I was never gonna finish it. That’s when I sold off the ranger stuff and drug the truck home.
I built some traction bars for it using poly bushings and square tube and made my own brackets.
I tore the front end apart to finish the front half of the frame.
At some point I made a gooseneck hitch
I think at this point we are in 2018. The truck looked like this and say that way for a little while
Then it sat like this for awhile
In 2020 I parted out a Jetta and was gonna start a tdi swap ranger again and then my wife convinced me to sell everything and finish the dually finally. So I did. I’m thankful for her. I started reassembling things with new parts.
At this point it has been so long I just wanted to drive it some before winter so I just drove it like this for the next month before they salted the roads.
way lighter than it used to be.
after winter, in 2021 I started doing body work on the bed and painted it. I also installed new stacks and a fuel tank tool box combo giving me 1,000 miles of range.
So here we are, 2021 and the truck is “done” the nicest it would ever look. I’m gonna stop this post here and 2021- current I’ll add onto later because the truck gets big changes.
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