F-250 Sport Trac?

Could i increase the towing cap of the first gen sport Trac by putting the drivetrane and powertrane from the 250 in it?

Just covered a similar subject in another thread.

Short answer, no.

Slightly longer answer, the vehicles capacity cannot be changed, it's tied to the VIN, set my the manufacturer and registered with the government.

Even longer answer, No matter how much swapping is done, the only real way to increase the capacity is to swap everything over from the 250 (and it still won't be particularly legal). In other words, drop the Sport Trac body onto the F250 frame. A sport trac is a smaller truck. It will never have the stance, weight, and control the F250 offers. Sometimes you just need to go bigger, and by that point, why bother body swapping, and just keep the F250 as an F250.

First off: I don't care if it's legal right now. After all I'm putting a 6.0 powerstroke and one ton running gear In the dam thing after all. The f250 is roled and has a twisted frame. The sport track has a poped motor. Both are two wheel drive.

I'd like to be able to tow a fully build off-road sport trac on a 5th wheel.

I wouldn't be concerned about pulling the load, I'd be concerned about stopping said load.

Will you be swapping over the axles and brakes? What will you do about the frame? It'll just get twisted itself once you apply that much torque to it. Not to mention stability issues at speed from such a short wheel base.

My personal opinion is that with swapping the running gear [axles] and using a 5th wheel, there would be no problem. As long as the 5th wheel is placed properly. Actually, if the 5th wheel was used on the regular sport trac running gear and there was brakes on all the trailer axles, I don't see a problem. Tractor/trailer units are short wheel base comparing tractor to trailer. However if you ever got in an accident you would be liable because of towing over the legal limit of your vin [like Capt. Ledd said ]. So don't get in a accident.

alwaysFlOoReD said:

My personal opinion is that with swapping the running gear [axles] and using a 5th wheel, there would be no problem. As long as the 5th wheel is placed properly. Actually, if the 5th wheel was used on the regular sport trac running gear and there was brakes on all the trailer axles, I don't see a problem. Tractor/trailer units are short wheel base comparing tractor to trailer. However if you ever got in an accident you would be liable because of towing over the legal limit of your vin [like Capt. Ledd said ]. So don't get in a accident.

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DOT will see a problem and fine you to the point that you see it too.

Swap all you want, you don't have the frame or wheelbase to properly run a gooseneck. If nothing else the rear window is on borrowed time with that tiny box.

Ok, I should probably refrase my question for better help. I'm looking to add 1-2k in towing cap. I have an 05 f250 that has been roled. I'm taking the running gear out(motor,trans,rear axle, and front outers) and putting them in my 05 sport Trac. Will it help with a 5th wheel? I'll be towing a nother sport Trac that will be modified for off road. It will be on a custom trailer made for this combo. The axle is a drw I'm taking the brakes over from the f250 and upgrading it as well. Can it safely to that extra 2000lbs?

Maybe we should rephrase our answers for better understanding:

No amount of parts swapping will increase your capacity. The Sport Trac's frame is insufficient to carry that amount of weight, regardless of engine, transmission, suspension, or axles. Sorry for being a bit harsh but there's no way around it. It simply won't work.

Again, as stated earlier, your only "option" is to body swap the Sport Trac onto the F250 chassis. Some states the title stays with the frame, some states it stays with the cab, others may want some other titling process, some may flat out say NO. Check your local laws.

Captain Ledd said:

Maybe we should rephrase our answers for better understanding:

No amount of parts swapping will increase your capacity. The Sport Trac's frame is insufficient to carry that amount of weight, regardless of engine, transmission, suspension, or axles. Sorry for being a bit harsh but there's no way around it. It simply won't work legally.

Again, as stated earlier, your only "option" is to body swap the Sport Trac onto the F250 chassis. Some states the title stays with the frame, some states it stays with the cab, others may want some other titling process, some may flat out say NO. Check your local laws.

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I added one word to Captain Ledds' post. What everyone is pointing out is that while it may be possible to increase the capacity it will not be legal. Unfortunately the government has no way of knowing your, or anyone's, skill level and has a blanket restriction on modifying the capacity of a vehicle. There may be legal ways around it, perhaps an engineers report, but that's probably more expensive than just buying a suitable vehicle. I've never checked what a engineers report would cost.
All that said, no one on site can stop you. While I've towed loads well over the capacity of my truck, I wouldn't recommend it.

F-Trac said:

Ok, I should probably refrase my question for better help. I'm looking to add 1-2k in towing cap. I have an 05 f250 that has been roled. I'm taking the running gear out(motor,trans,rear axle, and front outers) and putting them in my 05 sport Trac. Will it help with a 5th wheel? I'll be towing a nother sport Trac that will be modified for off road. It will be on a custom trailer made for this combo. The axle is a drw I'm taking the brakes over from the f250 and upgrading it as well. Can it safely to that extra 2000lbs?

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The general consensus, and I tend to agree with it, is that with what you are proposing your frame will be the weak point. Since a 5th wheel hitch bolts to the frame, you are extremely likely to twist your frame the first time you have to make anything more than a gradual stop.

Thank you AlwaysFlOoReD, that does improve the post overall and add clarity.

With the local DMV I can get a modified title. I've done it. I have to show what's been done and why(photos and show the car). The two trucks are both RWD only. The F250 has a twisted frame (not worth saving).

With all that you have said I need to do other then doing the part swap is make a frame that can handle the extra pounds. With that being said do you think 2×3 box tube with .160in wall will increase the strength?

I have almost every thing to make the trailer rounded up. The 3×2 tube is what the trailer is being made with.

I think boxing the frame might be easier and accomplish the same thing. Up to you. I'm not sure if the DMV has any authority on capacity, but I definitely don't know the legalities.
Good luck.

alwaysFlOoReD said:

I think boxing the frame might be easier and accomplish the same thing. Up to you. I'm not sure if the DMV has any authority on capacity, but I definitely don't know the legalities.
Good luck.

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Got the can off any way. Then I can make sure the motor/trans fits perfectly in there.

There are easy modified titles and not so easy:

Easy: F-Trac's installation of F-350 ?front? and drw axles/springs/brakes onto F-250 frame.

As the F-250 and F-350s have the same frame/cab/engine/transmission, if you swap all the 1 ton parts over, you can get a modified title allowing you to have the higher gvwr/gcwr over the 3/4 ton. And DMV (at least when I did this) was accommodating (the guy on other side of desk could see it would be harder to tell me why I couldn't have the new title than allow it).

Medium: We purchased a Ford Louisville Class 7 truck, only to find the long wheelbase (to provide smooth ride) resulted in too much weight on the steering axle (limiting payload to basically nothing; local elevator closed so historic running on back roads was no longer an option). So, we installed a pusher lift axle. The good part - the frame on the Class 7 L-800 was the same as the Class 8 L-8000 (tandem), similar to F-250/350 above. The bad - the hydraulic brakes on the L-800 needed to be converted to air to work with the lift axle. (But it was cheaper than a new truck and winters are slow on farm, so time was available). Paperwork was PIA, but there really wasn't an alternative that didn't cost a fortune.

Neither of which help F-Trac as he really needs to increase gcwr.

Boxing the frame doesn't completely help. The Explorer frame where the springs mount to is only .160" steel, while the '05 F-250 frame was .264" thick. So, you need to add the equivalent of an additional .104" (and 2 separate pieces of steel aren't same as one homogeneous one; I have no idea how to calculate the requirement).

And how do you strengthen the front which is already boxed.

p.s. Apologies for missing the fact that both vehicles were 2wd in our offline chat.