Ford front end manual hub conversion
 

Hey, I'm looking at putting ford spindles, etc onto my '94 dually, and from what I'm hearing, they are pretty much a direct bolt in with the exception of the tie rod tapers being different, and the wheel centering hubs being bigger on the fords... I can machine down the hub centers without any problems, I have the technology, however, how do you work around the different tie rod ends? you can't use the ford drag link since the axle is a different length...

Also, what about brakes? are the ford ones at least as good?

I know many people do this conversion on non dually trucks... are there any differences for the dually's?

im in the process of doing this on my truck right now, i havent heard of the diff. tie rod ends, i have the ford and dodge knuckles sitting the garage and im going to check that out, i believe the drw and srw are the same work just a little different hubs, the ford pads seem to be bigger and thicker than the dodge pads but i know the ford rotors are a bit thinner, im just wanting on 1 more wheel bearing and race and two upper ball joints and im good to go and i will see how well the ford brakes work

there is a post on pirate 4x4 forums of a girl doing this on her 97 but according to her everything bolted on and was good to go, no machining hubs or matching tie rods, she has tons of picks up, there are a few posts on there about this conversion

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im in the process of doing this on my truck right now, i havent heard of the diff. tie rod ends, i have the ford and dodge knuckles sitting the garage and im going to check that out, i believe the drw and srw are the same work just a little different hubs, the ford pads seem to be bigger and thicker than the dodge pads but i know the ford rotors are a bit thinner, im just wanting on 1 more wheel bearing and race and two upper ball joints and im good to go and i will see how well the ford brakes work

there is a post on pirate 4x4 forums of a girl doing this on her 97 but according to her everything bolted on and was good to go, no machining hubs or matching tie rods, she has tons of picks up, there are a few posts on there about this conversion

on the SRW's, the hub centers are the same ford/dodge, on the dually's, I think the dodge's are about 1/8th smaller... I mean I could get a couple ford dually rims for the front too nd be done with it that way.. carry a ford rim as spare so it fits the front

if you can get back to me about the tie rod tapers being different that would be great, as well as a link to that pirate4x4 thread (I'm not on there, I'm not an offroader)

thanks... I'll probably be getting to doing this over winter

stupid computer freaked out when i tried to post that last one thats why its up twice

i could find my mic yesterday but i compared the ford knuckles i have to the dodge ones that are on a extra axle on the ground and the tie rod holes look the exact same, i compared the top and bottoms since the holes are tapered and they look to be the same size, i will try and find my mic tomorrow or better yet i think i have a dodge tie rod end somewhere, i would say they will interchange

i think i remember reading about a guy using 4low and a file to make his drw hubs work now that i think about it, im not sure how to put up a link, tell me how and i will try to get it on here

what year of ford are you getting the parts off of ? I've been thinking of doing this conversion on my 96 4x4 dually as well,,, thanks

I think it's about a '95 ford that has the same front axle... I know its mid 90s but I don't remember the model year change... just check to make sure it has ball joints and looks like your front end and that it's not the kingpin style frontend

Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the '98 + dodges had different front axles (bigger axle tubes) and I don't think this conversion will work on them without also finding a '94-97 dodge front end

I hope I can get this done this winter, but I need my truck for feeding the cattle, so I don't know if I'll get to it... need to find all the parts too... I'll try and keep y'all posted when I get to doing it... maybe I'll even get some pictures

dodge used the same cad axle from 94-01, 02 was the only year they went to a different style knuckle, unit bearing, dual piston calipers, non cad design and 32 spline shafts instead of 30 spline, im pretty sure you could still put the ford spindles on the 02 dodge knuckle, i will have an extra 02 axle housing here in a bit so i could double check that

cool !! i'm gonna start looking to get this done on mine

I just know that my buddy who had a 24V (year?) had to put an older axle into it to do the conversion... lucky for him I had one

he probably had the non cad axle, the ball joints are pressed into the housing on that axle not the knuckles

i was hoping to get my swap done this week but work picked up and im trying to get a vgt turbo fabbed up on my truck so i havent had the time yet