1969 Ford Crew Cab / Cummins Project

[460 crew]

Wonder what the hole in the pass side of the engine crossmember was for?

[HRDROKN]

Wonder what the hole in the pass side of the engine crossmember was for?

I have no idea...

[averagef250]

That sucks to find the PS hacked like that.

The highboy frame rails are the same from 65-77, you might get lucky and find another piece of frame you could just graft on. I'd keep the frame if you can, the factory frames are plenty stout. You'll atleast have to do some work on that crossmember though.

You've only had yours for a few weeks and you're beating my progress on my '70! This is serious motivation!

Like Patrick said, that's a strange hole in that crossmember.

[theskytoucher]

Next time i see the guy that used to own that truck (probably did all the shady work to it:lol: ) ill ask him what the hole is then slap him upside the head on the frame job!!!!

[Wes]

Slowly progressing, but moving forward none the less.... Look at the hack job some previous owner did on that frame rail where the steering box mounts

I have decided to fab up new frame rails from 6"x3" and maybe fab up a new x-member while I'm at it.

Hard see but looks like frame was box and cross member/frame corner was reinforced. What kind of steering box was on this one? I'm alway curious to see what other people have tried and how well it worked. How is the rad support ?

[460 crew]

[/quote]

Hard see but looks like frame was box and cross member/frame corner was reinforced. What kind of steering box was on this one? I'm alway curious to see what other people have tried and how well it worked. How is the rad support ?[/quote]

Looks from the 4 bolt patern a 78-79 4x4 F250 box, thats my guess.

[HRDROKN]

Here are a couple pics of the steering box.... being that this is my first Ford, I have no idea what year truck it originates.

[HRDROKN]

Speaking of steering.... who has a link or write up on setting up crossover steering for our trucks?

[71 LONG BED]

Looks like two cross members stacked together...
Since the frame is all hacked up, maybe a whole front clip would be easier for the diesel swap?

[averagef250]

That is the 78-79 box.

I don't think anyone here is running crossover steering. You'd have to get pretty crazy with the lift to need it. One setup I did run on my '70 for awhile was an 86-97 F-350 tie rod which allowed me to steer off the drag link like the 1/2 tons. It worked OK, but I like the knuckle steering better myself.

The crossmember isn't two stacked on each other. That's how they look. The crossmember doesn't really matter, it won't fit with the 6BT anyway. For the life of me I can't understand why people will hack highboy power steering so badly.

I wouldn't lose the stock frame myself. To build a tube frame and have it look good and work right is 100 times more difficult than just fixing the 8" of bad frame rail yours has right now.

[460 crew]

I have crossover on my crew. All that was needed was the draglink and a hi-steer arm for the Pass knuckle. Oh and turning the pitman arm a 90 degrees. In the pics the draglink is mounted under the pitman arm which with only 4in of lift the bolt would rub the leaf under flex so now it is on top with the bolt trimmed just a bit and barely clears the crossmember. I'd recommend at least 5-6in of lift to start bothering with it. otherwise leave it original on the driver knuckle. I plan on a coil/extended radius arm suspension eventually, guess that was kinda the reason I did mine, besides the fact I can't just leave anything the way it is.

[HRDROKN]

Nice setup on that one! I will go the same route as I already have 8" + of lift. I have to see if that steering box is keyed for the pitman arm....

[460 crew]

Here is where I got my draglink and then my "extreme" Pitman arm after I crushed my stocker. This pitman you can index at any degree and also you can order it with a custom angle on the attaching point for the draglink. I did 3/4in rod ends.
http://bulletproofsteering.com/main.html

[Wes]

I'm not sure where that box came from but the 76-78 f100/bronco box 4x4 bolts on outside, that 1 bolts on the inside. looks like a 2 by box, doesn't seem tall enough thou.

HRDROKN, I'm doing cross over as well, I went a little different way then 460 crew. heres a link not finished yet bust foot has slowed me down.
http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... hp?t=15700

[averagef250]

it's the 78-79 F-250 4x4 box, not the F-150 box.