Alright, so I picked up two trucks about a month ago. A 93 ram 350 with the 12 valve cummins and a 90 f150 extended cab. I picked them up with the intent to do swap the motor from the dodge to the ford. Both trucks run and drive but the dodge's body is rotted completely away. Wich is why im swapping the motor. Plus a ford with a cummins beats a dodge any day. I have a 5 speed tranny from an F350 460 gasser. I picked up a adapter plate from fordcummins.com - Increase Horsepower with Ford Cummins Diesel conversion kits along with an install kit and manual to convert everything. No biggie. The only problem I am forseeing is the IFS (independent front susp.) Is the weight of the 12valve too much for this? I want to swap both front and rear axles to 8 lug. and run 37s. What are my options? What sort of fabricating am I going to be looking at as well as what axles would be good for this?

 

is it 2wd or 4? Everybody always craps on the ford twin i beam, i think its the best independent front end a 2wd truck could have, mine is holding up so far, just use 3/4 ton f250 springs. If you wanted to affordably run 8 lugs go with f250 axles that will bolt right up to the f 150, but if you want to clear 37's just do a sas with f250 solid front axle with leaf springs.

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alot of people love to get on forums and say stuff wont work, its easier than trying it and seeing if it actually does. my take on the cummins in a half ton is this: I think most half ton trucks can physically handle the weight of the engine, with some minor modification and larger springs, but a half to truck that has 600 lbs of torque needs to still be treated like a half ton truck, in other words, just because your engine can pull a 50 foot Donzi out of dry lake bed, dosent mean the rest of your truck can, just use it like a half ton, and enjoy having more power than you need. Im pretty sure trucks are over engineered to some extent for safety. The problem i see at our shop for example, is say a guy with a one ton dodge, turns his motor up, then decides to tow a 30 foot drop-deck goose neck with a freightliner FLD 120 on it, because the engine will pull it. the 5th gear nut in his nv4500 was never designed to handle that much torque, but it did. That dosent mean you should do it.

 

What about the collapsible part of the front of the frame wouldn't the sas plus the diesel weight put stress on it?

 

It's 4wd. But doesnt the weight of the truck ride on the wheel bearings on these IFS? It is a good system and if keeping it is an option than Im all for it. ITs already lifted 6 inches and im clearing 37s but what the guy failed to tell me is it eats rear diffs. I tore it up yesterday and now have 2 bolts from the carrier guide sticking through the pumpkin. Hah.

 

Swap the dodge axles under the ford, using the coil spring setup in front. The only thing is you will have to up the spring rate to support the 12v motor.

 

I dont think the 90 had the crumple zone front, if it did, just cut it off and build from the solid frame out. All truck axles ride on the wheel bearings, he's saying if you did a sas with leaf springs, and you put your front spring hangers on that section of frame, it would probably bend it. However i dont think they started that crap until 93. you cant just stuff the dodge axles under your truck as the dodge coil buckets are different, and the dodge uses a 4 link, the ford used radius arms. I think the easiest thing for you to do is going to be either leave the truck like it is and beef up the front coils, or swap in a front ttb and rear axle from an f250. But since you have an after market lift on your truck, i have no idea what will happen, i would suggest taking the dodge axle cut all the dodge brackets off of it, buy some weld on perch pads and build a simple front leafspring suspension, then bolt it all up, get the pinion angle right and then burn it in.

 

I found this on another forum hope its ok to post it My shortbed - PowerStrokeNation There is guys swapping the super duty axles under the older body style trucks,Or even the 05+ super duty which has coils in the front but that takes some welding to pull off.

 

this was my initial thought, only thing it, transfer case on ford has output shaft under drivers side. Dodge is under passenger side.. i'd have to run the getrag360 tranny and the transfercase out of the dodge, cut holes in the floor pan for the transfercase ontop of worrying about the axle swap. So long as the IFS will handle the weight, I'll just buy a new lift kit for an F250 suspension and stuff that under there... that should work right?

 

If you swap to the f250 front suspension it should be fine it held up to the weight of a powerstroke.

 

Any year? Also, rear end on the ford is shot as of yesterday.. It literally blew apart. Now i have bolts sticking through my rear diff cover. and about 8 holes. I suspect the tires are too much for the rear end or the angle because of the lift. I dont think its the first rear end in it either.. The diff cover had the marks of a local U-pull it yard near me.