Ford front axle?????

[manimal]

I have tried this question elsewhere without real luck.
Has anyone here ever put a 1/2t Ford front axle,radius arms/track bar in a chevy? I think it would be VERY easy. Bolt on the front spring bucket,radius arm brackets,make a track arm bracket and put it in. The only draw back is the transfer case. I am looking for a SMOOTH ride. I just want this thing for toolin around in with my boys(fishing,small game hunting,camping). Thanks in advance.
-Lance

[maximum destruction]

hey there. i would say it could be done easy enough as long as the width of the frames are close to the same at the spring buckets & track arm brackets. it would be much easier if u're truck is currently a 2wd. that way, u could use a divorced 205 case from a ford as well. then u have to consider all the little things like 5 lug front with 6 lug rear. it's easy enough to have the axles re-drilled but it all takes money. as far as my memory serves me from my mud bogging days, the fords did ride a little smoother but they bounced down the road as if u were on a pogo stick. i would consider a chevy front with a 4 in. soft ride spring. they ride great & as long as u don't punish them off road, they hold their arch fairly well.

[1969 GMC]

what truck? the pre 1980 Fords have spring spacing very close to chevy. I have seen a few Chevy's over on Pirate that have Ford Hi-pinion dana 60 front axles out of 78-79 fords.

for transfer case, you could either go with a divorced ford case (they also used a dana divorced case, and some even had divorced NP203's if you maybe forsee a doubler in your future) or get a later model chevy transmission with the round pattern...the Ford round pattern is very close, but I believe if you make one of the holes oblong it will bolt up. then you can use any Ford round pattern t-case, provided you have an adapter that will work, and the proper input gear.

[vtblazer]

Originally Posted by manimal

I have tried this question elsewhere without real luck.
Has anyone here ever put a 1/2t Ford front axle,radius arms/track bar in a chevy? I think it would be VERY easy. Bolt on the front spring bucket,radius arm brackets,make a track arm bracket and put it in. The only draw back is the transfer case. I am looking for a SMOOTH ride. I just want this thing for toolin around in with my boys(fishing,small game hunting,camping). Thanks in advance.
-Lance

Seems like less work to invest in some better spring packs and high end/good quality shocks IMO.

Alcan will set you up with whatever style suspension your looking to create and a set of Bilstein's can handle it from there.

Always interested in seeing a new twist though, give it a shot and let us know how it works out.

[manimal]

Sorry, I was talking about converting a 2WD 75 C10 to 4x4. I dont think I made that clear.
-Lance

[maximum destruction]

it would probably be in u're best interest to buy a complete 1/2 ford 4x4 for the conversion. u'd get all the brackets plus axles but u would still need the divorced case. u might as well just use the whole ford as u're driver & save u'reself the aggravation & time. of course, then u have to deal with the humility & embarassment which to me, would be worse. lol

[62 short step]

Originally Posted by maximum destruction

:well just use the whole ford as u're driver & save u'reself the aggravation & time. of course, then u have to deal with the humility & embarassment which to me, would be worse. lol

[68K20 x Drill]

I saw one in a magazine years ago. if i remember right, he welded Ford arm mounts to a Chevy front axle. The truck had a coil sprung rear, and looked very nice.

[72 CustomCamper]

The Ford front has a drivers side drop where the chevy has a pass side drop...


Chuck

[vtblazer]

Originally Posted by 72 CustomCamper

The Ford front has a drivers side drop where the chevy has a pass side drop...


Chuck

Easy fix, change out the t-case at the same time.

[Jtrux]

Cool people drive Fords

[72 CustomCamper]

73-79 was my favorite ford truck body style...


Chuck

[Jtrux]

Me too!

[earl87gta]

here are some pics of a Chevy van I took with a ford front end. sorry i dont have pics of the uper spring cups. Its not the cleanest job in the world but it will kind of show you what they did. they did use a divorced ford NP205 to.

[b454rat]

OMG, that is scary!!! And it's a Dodge van. I would get a truck that is all together, this way you have all the pieces that you need. Measure, then measure again, then after you measure, measure again so you only have to do it once. I was gonna do this to be different and have a nice ride, but got lazy and put leaves on....

[maximum destruction]

the man who built that needs to be tied to a tree & beat with a dried-up rose bush branch until he passes out from shock!!! that is deadly in soooo many ways. i especially like the s shaped drag link & upside down shocks.

[earl87gta]

Its not as bad as it looks I think if he would have not used the multiple shocks and centered the transfer case more it would have been a decent ride. I’ve seen swamp buggies in Fla. that made this thing look like an engineering master piece. They did do a good job at making the brackets and the welding looked good. The s drag link is no big deal there are brand name lift kits for jeeps that come that way. I think if it wasn’t so high in the air and the brackets were closer to the frame it wouldn’t look so crazy. The only thing that is totally goofy is putting that transfer case to the rear like that and having almost no rear drive shaft it’s like they spent all this time fabbing the front and then just threw the rest together. I stopped and looked at to see if it was worth buying for the rims and tires. It wasn’t.