I've got a '96 F150 with a 5.0 and auto, crew cab shortbed. I really want to convert the truck to 4wd and was wondering how costly this would be, or if it was even achievable for a reasonable price. The truck has 116,000 on the clock, and I don't want to just sell for another 4wd pickup as I've owned it for most of those miles, and am kind of attached.

 

Well to make it a 4x4 you're going to need alot of parts. First off you gotta lose your tranny for a 4x4 unit. You could I suppose keep it and then try and find a divorced tcase like an NP205, but thats gonna run you $350-450 in decent condition, then you'd have to get a driveshaft made up to run from your tranny to that. Plus then you'd need another xmember to support the new tcase. If you go with a married setup, which I'd reccommend, you'll need to dump your tranny in favor of a 4x4 one with a married transfer case (this is the way the stock setup works). Then after this you're going to need to get the front D44TTB. This may need to have the engine crossmember changed out. I don't remember for sure if the F150 one is the same between 4x4 and 4x2 (I know the Rangers are different and that the Bronco IIs and Explorers are the same). Then if you're lucky enough for that to bolt up you'll most likely have to change out the front coil buckets. After all that you get to put the radius arm xmember on (don't worry thats simple). Then you install the driveshafts, steering, brakes, and rear block and you're done. Now the good side to all this is its pretty much a bolt on deal and all this can be gotten from a donor truck. The bad side to all this is now you have a sucky front suspension that will have constant camber issues and doesn't always ride the best (especially after being lifted). Now since you're doing all this work I'd do the swap and just instead do a soild axle swap up front instead. This will give you a slightly rougher ride, but it will hold up alot better and you won't have camber issues. It will take slightly more fabrication work than just doing the 4x4 swap, but you'll have a better truck when you're done. If you want to do this grab that tranny/tcase/axles from a donor truck the same age of yours. For the front axle get a 78/79 F150/bronco D44. You would also want to grab the radius arms, radius arm mounts, coil buckets, steering, and trac bar from the 78/79. You can usually find these axles with either 3.50 or 4.10 gears in them. Oh yeah, you'll also want to find a truck that has a manual transfer case so that way you don't have to deal with trying to hook up all the electronics in the cab to make it work. All you'll have to do is run the lever up through the floor and you're done. I'm going through and doing all this stuff on my Ranger (well kinda the same stuff) so I've been getting info on prices. You can probably score a 78/79 F150/Bronco D44 complete for about $200, maybe $300 for all the suspension parts. Also the last thing you'd have to do with a SAS is depending on how much lift you're going to run with it you'll probably have to cut away parts of the engine crossmember by the diff. What I'm doing on mine is making a modular crossmember where it will be a low profile so it doesn't interfere with the diff clearance but I can pull 4 bolts and the center section comes out so I can quickly change oil pan gaskets since I'm running a 2.3L and they blow constantly. Anyhow thats my $.02.............give or take.

 

Whoa... More like $1.50. Why not get a solid axle from a truck the same age as mine? The super duty stuff doesn't bolt up? Maybe I'm confused. In any event, I do know that I want manually locking hubs and a manual transfer case... Don't want to fiddle with the electrical stuff like you said.

Are the problems with camber adjustments on a stock F150 4wd setup inherent to the design, or can they be worked out? I wouldn't mine the slightly rougher ride of the solid axle but it also seems like it would have a few more off road limitations, clearance, etc. I don't plan on lifting the truck very high, I just want a slightly higher than normal stance, one that offers some reasonable clearance. I'm tired of grabbing my shovel and a bucket of rocks for traction, tired of worrying how fast I'll have to hit a sandy road to get through.

So if I chose to find a married trans/transfer case, and all the parts to do either swap, what total price range are we looking at here just for parts? Any idea?

Thanks a ton for the input!

 

Solid axle is WAY better than the junk TTB plow offroad. You get a way better ground clearance, flex, and strength out of it. You can't grab a solid axle out a truck the same age as yours. The only way you could would be if you got a D60 from an F350. If you thought the other would be alot of work and expensive you ain't seen nothing yet. The front axle out of an F350 the same age as your truck is gonna run you a minimum of about $1000, then it would need to be reconditioned most likely. On top of that its an 8lug pattern so you'd have to convert the rear axle over to a D60 or 10.50. Then not to mention that the D60 front is going to run leaves which would be more work than coils would given your current setup. The camber problems with a TTB are inherant to the design of the setup. What happens is coils sag a little causing the one side to toe out. Its pretty much a given that this is going to happen. Tranny/tcase would run you probably $800 give or take, kinda depends on bone yards around you. The only thing to be careful of is buying a junkyard auto tranny. This is where a divorced tcase would be good for you since you don't have to even touch your tranny, just make a new crossmember and mount the divorced case in there. A divorced NP205 is about $350-450. Then all you gotta do is the front axle swap and have driveshafts made. You can probably get a complete 78/79 F150/bronco chasis minus the engine /tranny/transfer with everything you'd need to do the SAS for about $400-500. I actually know of a 79 chasis that has everything you'd need for this. Has both the D44 & 9" with 4.10 gears and a LS carrier in the rear and its already got 3" lift coils (crappy lift coils, just cause they're stiff), all the steering, trac bar, etc. Guy was asking $350 for it with the coils $300 without. I think he's still got it anyhow. He was trying to get me to buy it but I don't want the 78/79 because I want to keep it fullwidth but I want the rad arms moved in to match my Ranger frame.

 

You could just buy a 4x4 of the same year from a wrecker and swap out the parts you need. Seems like an easier and cheaper solution.

Ian

 

Hence why I mentioned how to do it in my first post
Only problem is then you've got a sucky suspension that you'll have to continually dump money into to keep it aligned and driving right. But what do I know, I only own 2 trucks with that suspension.

 

Well I took my truck into the local Ford dealer, I had them flush the cooling system, since it's a PITA I don't want to try tackling here at school. While I was in there I asked a couple guys about the 4wd swap, after having read what you guys said about it... They pretty much laughed in my faces and told me to buy a new truck, that it was way too expensive, etc. One of the guys even told me it wasn't possible because I needed a new frame. Even without knowing what you said I knew that wasn't the case.

Snow is still coming down here today, going to put sandbags in the back of the truck and hope I can actually go somewhere.

 

Brings back memories from when I was in college with my 91 2wd Ranger. Now that its starting to snow here I'm half tempted to get the old Ranger out and go play some..............nah, I think I'll stay inside where its warm.

 

Stupid double post

 

Brings back memories from when I was in college with my 91 2wd Ranger. Now that its starting to snow here I'm half tempted to get the old Ranger out and go play some..............nah, I think I'll stay inside where its warm.

 

Considering it's age and mileage I don't know what you could get on a trade-in or selling it out-right but I can't imagine trying to convert it to 4wd. If you're that attached to the truck then keep it for general driving and go buy a good used or new 4wd.

 

Well I am kind of attached to it, but the greatest thing about it is that it's paid for. I'm considering looking into a newer PSD right now so if I go that route I'll have a couple different trucks to play around in.