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Need help converting the 1980 F-150 to a F-350.


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I'm currently working on some "new" emergency vehicle builds and I've hit a snag.  I'm using the recently re-released Monogram F-150 Ranger for an ambulance (4x2, 84" CA) and mini-pumper (4x4, 60" CA) build.  I like the look of the 1980 seventh generation Fords, but I'm having trouble figuring out what suspension parts to use to convert the F-150 from the 4x4 to a 4x2 and 4x4 F-350. 

My search through a couple of brochures on the seven generation F-series, but I didn't find a lot of specific information about the suspension/axle setups used.  I've discovered that Ford used a twin I-beam front suspension for the 4x2 chassis cabs, which I'm assuming I can use the front suspension out of the Monogram Ford F-350 dually kit, even though it is a ninth generation kit.  I'm not finding much information on the rear suspension, and most photos I've found looks like a Dana 60 or 70 for the rear axle with various leaf spring combinations based on chassis application.  Could I use the rear axle from the dually, or should I use a Dana 60 or 70 for the 4x2? 

The 4x4 seems more straight forward, I need to swap out the Dana 44 TTB for a Dana 50 TTB, but where do I find the Dana 50 in scale?  The only other TTB I know of is from the AMT Firestone F-350, but everything I've ever read about that kit says it isn't a Dana 50, but a Dana 44 TTB.  Is it worth the effort to cut out the F-150's Dana 44 and swap in something else?  Even though I'm going for a 1980 rig, could I just use a solid axle Dana 60 as a customer option and just make up some leaf springs? 

Thanks for any help you guys can provide.

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The Revell early 80s Bronco has the wrong front end set up. It has leaf springs and the axle looks too large to me. I have used this set up to convert a 90 model F150 4x2 to an F250 4x4. If you wanted detailed accuracy, the front end would need to be modified some, possibly by molding in a Dana cover. My personal preference is the solid Dana 60 approach, although that may not be completely accurate. The later F350s had solid front axels. as did the 79 and older. B-N-L sells axles on Ebay regularly, I am using them on my 71 Ford. Leaf springs can be made from styrene strips pretty easily or even metal strips. I know that the 79 and older F350 4x2 had coil spring front ends very similar to the F150 and I'm pretty sure that the 84 F350 would have been the same. These would probably be very similar in scale, and may not need much if any modification other than possibly changing the ride height some, but this set up can also be sourced from the Monogram 90s model F250 or F350 dually.

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The 87-92 Monogram front end is correct for the 4x2, that design stayed pretty much the same until it was phased out completely. For the 4x4 early 350's had a leaf sprung TTB setup that was replaced by a leaf sprung solid axle. BnL does have good stuff, it's just deciding which direction you want to go. The grill is incorrect for a later model solid axle truck so it will need some attention if you go that route. It would be fairly easy to modify the kit front end to leaf springs for the early setup, the springs are almost completely flat and possibly even reverse arched a bit. There are some visual differences between the Dana 44 based 150 unit and the Dana 50 based 350 piece but it's nothing some strip styrene and putty can't fix.

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For a 4x2 go ahead and use the front suspension from either the Monogram F-250 or F-350 (the '87-'91 8th gen kit). It is the same type used from 1980 to 1997, you're 100% correct there. 

The axle in the '87-'91 Monogram kits is NOT a Dana, it is a Visteon "Sterling" 10.25, but with a few tweaks it could easily be made to resemble a 60 or 70. The 10.25 replaced the Dana axles for the 1985 model year. That's still the axle Ford uses in the Super Duty, but now it has a 10.5" ring gear and has disc brakes. It is often mistaken for a Dana unit, even in 1:1, because it so closely resembles a Dana design in appearance.  

For the front end on a 4x4- the AMT is not a TTB, it's solid. But the kit axle is more like a blob and has a coil-spring setup... so that's no good. You need a leaf spring setup. The Revell '77 GMC would be about the closest kit-based unit I can think of, but the diff is on the wrong side. Ford had a driver's side drop. You could cut out the GMC diff and glue it in the other side. I'm not a GM guy, but I think the Revell kit has what were called "corporate" axles, but as is the case with the Visteon in the Monogram Ford F-350, you could rework it to look like a Dana. The Revell axles could stand a little help in the detail department anyway. My listing does show a Dana 60 front axle being offered on the F350 beginning in 1979, thing is, I've seen other info that verifies that as fact, and other sources which contradict it. That being said, more than a few early Fords (and other makes) have been retrofitted with Dana 60 front axles, so you'd not be out of the realm of reality if you went that way. 

For the TTB- the only difference between the 44 and 50 are that the 44 has slightly longer axle housings, in addition to a five-bolt hub pattern and coil spring mounts, while the 50's axle housings are somewhat shorter, and have eight-bolt hubs and are set up for leaf springs. You could get away with using the existing TTB- nobody is going to notice the difference in 1:24 scale. Even with a TTB, the front end should have leaf springs for a 3/4 or 1 ton application. 

Calnaga castings makes a Dana 44 kit which can be built as a driver or passenger-side drop unit. You'd still need to figure out a leaf spring suspension, but that's the easy part. That being said, again, you could rework a Monogram F350 rear axle to look like a Dana front axle if you had a spare one handy. 

 

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When mixing and matching parts with the available Ford pickups in scale, please keep in mind the following compatibilities:

  • The Monogram Bronco (no flares, removable top), Monogram F-150 Ranger, and Monogram F-250/F-350 kits are all 1:24 scale and parts swap easily. The 87-92 kits have better detail and represent rear-wheel drive trucks with the Sterling rear axle. The front suspension on these will swap readily as long as you swap the engine crossmember as well.
  • The AMT 73-79 F-350 kit is 1:25 scale. The rear-wheel drive suspension setup would be representative of 61-79 pickups. The four-wheel drive suspension would be representative of 61-79 pickups as well.
  • The Revell Bronco (wheel flares, one-piece body) is 1:25 scale and is based on snap-kit tooling and has a leaf-spring TTB front suspension, incorrect for a Bronco and F-150. To get the appropriate coil-sprung TTB suspension, you need to source it from either the Revell snap-kit pickups (a flare side, style side, and dually; all 4x4) or the MPC Bronco. For rear-wheel drive suspensions, the beam axle from the AMT 73-79 kit may work for F-350 or use the TTB from either the AMT 92-96 F-150 or the Moebius 67-72 series (TTB front suspension was basically the same from 65-96).
  • The Monogram 1:24 Dodge Ramcharger kit has Dana 60 axles front and rear.

The Monogram 1:24 Bronco and the Revell 1:25 Bronco are completely different kits with different proportions. The Revell kits look closer to the actual truck, IMO, than the Monogram kits. All of the Revell and Monogram kits represent 80-83 trucks. The MPC Bronco did have the appropriate blue oval grille for 84-86 trucks in some versions. 

Personally, if I was trying to do the projects you are doing, I would track down the Revell snap kit pickups. They need a bit of work to look right, but they look that much better when they tweaked. YMMV. B)

Edited by kataranga
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Maybe a few pics of the greasy bits underneath this may help out. 

It has the Dana 60 solid front axle and the 10.50 unit in the back, which I think someone mentioned (and if not, I will :lol:) is the rear axle in the Monogram F250 and F350 kits,  not a Dana that it is commonly confused for. This truck, and especially the pics of the rear suspension, should help you in the conversions you'd like to do too, because even though I do not know the full history of this truck before I bought it, I do know it was built as a chassis cab and is equipped with an 8,000 lb rear axle weight rating. It's total registered GVWR is 12,000lbs. If you do use pieces from the F250/F350 kits, you could use the kit rear springs as the front for a 4x4 like mine. :lol:

 

Rear 10.50 axle and passenger side spring.

A few better pics of the rear spring pack and overload stops on the outside of the frame rails.

Front

Rear

Hopefully these will help you with your conversions. :)

 

Oh, and I'm just wondering why there are some of you calling the 80-86 and 87-91 trucks different generations. The 80-96 model years are all the same generation of body style with these trucks, just with styling updates in the 87 and again in the 92 model years, but they stayed the same truck behind the front clip for all of those 16 years. Yes, there were some changes and upgrades in mechanical and running gear as well during those years, but they are all the same generation of truck. In fact, I have considered long and hard about clipping my F350 with either the 80-86 clip or the 92-96 clip, because of all the trucks I could buy, it had to be the only front end of those 16 years I didn't like!:lol: It looks like a brick trying to be aerodynamic to me!:lol: 

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you got that right, only the face a mother or a strait line drafter would like!

my boss has been running ford 1 ton 4by's in his company since 1980. prob had at least 40 of them (ford dealer loves him...) current fleet is 7 SD diesel 4by crews from '03- '014.

 he also had one of fords other ugliest trucks, temporarily got stupid & tried running his company with a '97 f150, triton motor was nothing but a headache & the styling.....looks like a melted brick that got whacked in the back of the cab....other than his personal '010 SD, (everyone calls it the dope dealer truck, got about 10 g's in chrome & stainless on it), his fav was always his '84 1 ton 4by with the 460, last of the classic ford trucks

Yeah, the 97 F150 is one that is worse than mine LOL!:lol: At least I can live looking at the front of mine, but an ex's dad's 97 parked next to mine made mine look like a supermodel!:lol:

Highway, if you backdated it you would need to a switch the rear flares too since the wheel arches are different.

I Googled some early F350 pics and I don't really see the difference Brian. They all look the same to me, just like the old early 80's stepside fenders look the same as the dually fenders. And if you really wanted to get technical, I would also have to pull the 7.3L diesel out and drop in a 6.9L since the 7.3L wasn't offered until 87.;)

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I Googled some early F350 pics and I don't really see the difference Brian. They all look the same to me, just like the old early 80's stepside fenders look the same as the dually fenders. And if you really wanted to get technical, I would also have to pull the 7.3L diesel out and drop in a 6.9L since the 7.3L wasn't offered until 87.;)

On the 80-86 models there is a recess around the wheel arches while on the 87-96 trucks they just blend into the body. I wasn't trying to be pedantic, I was just noting they were different.

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On the 80-86 models there is a recess around the wheel arches while on the 87-96 trucks they just blend into the body. I wasn't trying to be pedantic, I was just noting they were different.

I think I see what you mean now Brian, if these are the correct fenders and this pic I found is actually an 86 as it is marked in Google images.....

....compared to the ones on my 1:1.

That is something I have never noticed before, but I see that they match the front also on the 86. 

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Gentlemen, I want to thank you all for your help on my projects. 

I already dug out the Monogram Ford dually kit and have started to adapt the front suspension to the Ranger kit for the ambulance.  I will have to "strengthen" the front Twin-I beams to make up for the 6 mm difference in the engine crossmember heights ('91 is deeper than the '80, which is to be expected for RWD vs AWD) and the added weight of the ambulance box.  I'm not too worried about the rear suspension, as I will have to use a solid metal axle due to the added weight of the ambo box, which gives me the option to play around with a resin Dana 60 in my stash and some other parts. 

For the mini-pumper, I think I'll update the kit to an '85, which won't require much modification, other than removing the FORD letters from the hood, changing the grill pattern, and switching to a Dana 60 front axle with leaf springs.  While many might call me on not putting a blue oval in the grill, I'm reminded that Pierce Mfg placed their builders badge over the factory badge in the grill for mini-pumpers of that era, and since it this build will be a Pierce mini-pumper, I'm right on target for that build. 

Thank you.

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