Just bought this for 1500, Any thoughts?

[jakedaniel]

I've always wanted a 67 through 72 Ford Ranger. Always thought they were damn good looking. Found this about three hours away from me and we're hauling it back down here in two weeks. He's got the running motor and 4 speed transmission out right now but that'll be back in before I get my hands on it. Got the frame blasted and painted and the cab ready for paint.

Anyway I'm not that familiar with these trucks. I've never seen a 3/4 ton shortbed 4WD before.

[heep70]

Thats probably a F100 with F250 suspension and axles.

Whats the vin3 on the door jam tell ya?

[67f100]

The reason you've never seen a 3/4 ton short wheel base before is because Ford never made one. (except in crewcabs). I think it's cool and would like to have one in my garage.

[FORDification]

I saw that listing on E-bay for that truck and even saved the pictures, because I've got thoughts about converting my '68 F100 4WD to F250 specs. All the previous owner did was replace the front end and rearend with 3/4-ton parts...it's a simple bolt-on, although it's still not a 3/4-ton truck. They had slightly thicker frames than F100s, so it'll never have the cargo or towing capacity of a true 3/4-ton...but it's still a very cool rig IMO.

[67f100]

The big difference in two wheel drive vs. four wheel drive bumpside Fords is the factory boxed the frame from the firewall forward on the 4X4's. If you wanna wheel it hard twisty problems could happen!

[jakedaniel]

Yeah, I got it off Ebay. The guy couldn't get anybody to bid up to his reserve, (2000) by the way. I was watching the auction and got in touch with him afterwards. I'm only 3 hours away and he's got a trailer and we worked out a deal. Someone said there was a frame difference between f100's and f250's. Is there any way to reinforce my frame? Now's the perfect time before I paint it up and put every thing back together.

[FORDification]

Yeah, you could box in the rear portion of the frame, which would significantly strengthen it. When (if) I do a buildup on mine in the future, that'll be one of the first things I do.

[jakedaniel]

The first thing I'll do when I get it down here is take an a**load of pics and post them up. How much lift, what kind of axles, what's on the door jamb plate. This thing is going to be fun, I can tell you that. I just think it's cool that this website is up. I don't even have it down here yet and it's already been useful. I hear you about trailering it. There were a couple of guys who were wanting to pay 2000 for the truck but they were way too far out. I don't know if you could use one of ebay's auto shippers on something that big and I'd hate to pull that cross-country. The whole reason he's selling it is he just got his hands on a big-block Fairlane convertible project. He was finishing up on this but he had to make a choice and picked the Fairlane. I just happened to be there to grab this up.

Oh, and if you do box your frame, do a writeup. I plan on using this truck.

[averagef250]

Personally, I wouldn't worry one bit about the frame. While the 65-79 2wd twin I-beam trucks are pretty common with frame cracks, I have yet to see or hear of a 4x4 frame with problems that weren't caused from a serious accident. In fact, the only ford 4x4 frame problem I've seen was a lifted '73 F-250 4x4 that hit a concrete median divider at 65 or so. The block hit just below the front bumper on the drivers side of that spring perch crossmember that hangs down. The drivers frame rail cracked just forward of the steering box. I welded the frame back together and the truck was back driving great in no time. Just goes to show that Chevy's may be like a rock, but a 6000 pound Ford can take on a 6000 pound chunk of reinforced concrete and the Ford will win.

Looks like a pretty cool truck. Looks like it's gotta be a cut down F-250 4x4. Appears it has leaf springs in the front and a divorced T-case. For an F-250 4x4 with no engine or transmission in it I would say that truck has absolutely no lift at all under it. Should clear 35"s with stock springs in good shape.

Expect alot of obstacles before the truck is a good running and driving machine. F-250 4x4's don't get along with shortbeds. The chassis just isn't designed for such a short wheelbase.

Good luck with the project! It will be a very nice old ford when finished

[jakedaniel]

I was thinking it might have been cut as well for the reasons you mention, also because the guy I'm getting it from swears it's a stock F 250 highboy. I figured if worse came to worse if it is cut back or if it is a 1/2 ton with the axles and susp swapped it's still a badass truck for 1500. I don't really know what I've got right now but I know I've got a lot of work ahead of me on this. Just too good of a deal to pass up.

So have you seen someone make a 3/4 ton shortbed like this? What kind of problems did they run into. Give me a heads-up.

[averagef250]

I've seen quite a few of them and helped one friend cut down his F-250 and another friend cut down his F-100 longbed. The F-100 was cake because it was mated T-case and already had a high pinion front axle. The F-250 4x4 was a 64 that we fit a 65 shortbox on. We tried making the divorced setup work, but eventually got tired of scattering drivelines over and over again. He had a 700+ horse 427 high riser in it and 38" tires. He ended up buying a 78 F-250 4x4 parts truck and swapping in the high pinion 44 front and mated 435/205. Everything worked great after that.

The stock highboy rear driveline is 38" long. Cut another foot or so out for the shortbed and you're pushing the limits of a non-CV driveline.

I prefer a divorced T-case myself, but it just doesn't work well with a short wheelbase.

Might want to check on how the frame was shortened. I've seen some real hack jobs.

[jakedaniel]

I haven't gone away. I went out there and bought it. Couldn't get a camera but I'll have one when it gets down here next week. This things got a load of spare parts and extras as well. I'll clean everything up and maybe try to sell off what I don't need.

This truck looks even cooler in person

By the way, it's a cut down 69 3/4 ton with a 69 ranger shortbed body, cab and bed. It looked like a good job to me. The driveshaft hasn't been cut yet so I see exactly what people meant when they said I might run into problems with that. Is there any way to make this work and keep the stock transfer case? I'd hate to spend money on something new if I can get some good use out of the old one.

[basketcase0302]

jakedaniel,

Good find indeed! Does it have the divorced transfer case?

Drove and built Ford 4WD's for 25 years. I also wouldn't "box" the frame, (you want it to flex and bend or it will break like the inherit "chebby" 4WD frame breaking issues at the steering box area)!

Basketcase

[jakedaniel]

The guy I bought it from mentioned The CV joint. That's the way I want to go with it. Can you give me any more detail on what it'll take? Should I have this done, or try it myself? After the paint work and the motor/trans are back in I'll probably go have the driveshaft work done. I'm doing everything else, but I'm guessing I want a shop to take care of this.

By the way, He's towing it down next week so I'll finally get some pics up.

[averagef250]

You must have CV driveshafts made by a driveline shop. The other concern would be making a CV shaft work with the likely Dana 24 case that's in the truck. I don't know what kind of hoops you'd have to jump through to get a CV style T-case yoke. You can always swap in an NP205 case and run CV yokes on it.

I'm not a fan of CV shafts. They're like a band-aid in a way. And an expensive one at that. High angle driveline is always hyped in magazines and on pirate4x4. Might try them or just ask a local driveline shop. I piggyback off a friends business account with a local driveline shop and get jobber price. They can make anything the heavily advertized places can and with the discount, it's about 1/2 the price of buying it from the fancy place.