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WTF am I doing... 4x4 conversion. Take 3.

35K views 62 replies 32 participants last post by  blthomas 
#1 ·
I've been here before, contemplating what goodies might fit. Bench racing and spinning my wheels.
First go round was a VW westy but I ended up coming to my senses and just selling it off because it didn't really meet my needs.
Second go was a massive cab over diesel but the heavy duty parts I would have needed to complete the project ended up being far more rare than I originally thought and the zeros that come after rare where too much for my wallet...
So either I like spinning my wheels or just like to abuse my ego when I have to give up...
But... I still am after that elusive "perfect" (for me) expo/adventure rig.
This time I picked up this beast.
Not rare (at least the truck part), not unique and the camper checks all of my boxes. Shower, head, furnace, frig and more.


But... It's not a 4x4.
It's an 88 E250 2 wheel drive with coil spring IFS and leafs in the back.

What my needs are:
Not a off-road jeep trail rig but an explorers rig.
Desert gravel/sand washout
Mountain FS and Fire road/graded but sometimes muddy
Mountian pass snow and mud.
Far north gravel/muddy roads
Maybe some Ice roads.
Nothing too rocky/boulders and not too far off camber. Mostly graded, albeit long ago and poorly. Just needs to not get stuck... In sand or mush.
Yes, I'm looking for something shiny.

I think I'm probably out of my mind but 05-10 F350 super duty dually axles would fit the bill. The front has coil springs so it looks easier to fit to me than leafs. The radius arms, steering box, etc look like they land in similar locations as my current IFS.
Big dually axle out back with some fender flares.
Don't want to get too tall but I do want lots of floatations. 285's maybe? My GVAW is 3250/5300 currently and the super duty Dana super 60 an Dana 80 are rated at 6k and 10k+.
So gross overkill or just enough crazy to be a very solid gravel traveler?
Would a 60/70 combo be better?
Or even a TTB 44 and a 60? If leveled correctly it might handle well... Or not.
Or a TTB 50 with coils and 70 out back (dually conversation 60 hubs?)
I'd really like to hear from someone with some experience but we're just bench racing at this point so throw in your two cents.... Scotty, you lurker you.
Anyway, if I do dually or single I'd be keeping them all the same so I would only need one type of spare... Although I'm planning on carrying two.
What say you?
 
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#33 ·
Yeah, i'd say that it surely looks at most
$500 expensive :laughing:

:grinpimp:
 
#39 ·
Ok, so I asked them to keep my old sway bars and brake bias valves so that I could reinstall them later if I felt the need....




Big fat nope.
This beast drives freaking awesome. It's unbelievable how well mannered it is on the freeway. It's completely planted, tracks curves with only a little input. It's nothing like its former self. I can drive it one finger and it's absolutely predictable. Before it was sawing back and forth and damn near anything would upset it.
I found a few (spots) of interest as well... I don't have the 4wd hooked up yet as the transfer case is still sitting on the floor of my garage but I hit a few bumps and holes at pretty good speed just to get a feel for it. It just mobbed over some shit that I would never had even attempted to tip toe through before.
I have to admit that Agile knows wtf they are doing. Spring rates and shock valving are spot on.
Very pleased to say the least.
 
#49 ·
Well fuck you photobucket!
Anyway, it's done. Used a push button BW1356 and it's great.
Been working on the interior lately and will probably be doing the engine pretty soon. Runs fine but it could use a freshing up.
Probably going to change the trans to an E4OD for the overdrive as this this sucks gas and really revs out on the freeway.
I have a E4OD wiring harness and the ECU form a 91 F150 so I can keep the SD injection, and control the trans with all stock ford parts.
I'll find a new photo hosting site at some point and post some pics to show off.
 
#52 ·
I wouldn't call it plug and play but so long as you are competent doing wiring it's not too bad.
You will need to write your own complete pin out of the ECU and you may run into some differences in the emissions equipment between model years that you will.have to address to get the idiot lights off.
 
#55 ·
I had posted this on another forum.
The one thing I can say is to go through both pin outs and check each circuit one by one for different equipment.

We'll, I got around to getting the transmission in. Haven' touched the motor yet.
The E4OD over drive really helped out. Getting 11 mpg at 65 mpg. Might be a bit to be had just yet as the tires are a bit low and the idiot light is on for some emissions codes.
I had to use the computer from a 91 F150 with SD to get the transmission to run and the 91 has a canister purge valve where the 88 doesn't. Lucky for me I have the parts from my pile to address this. Just need to install it and clear the codes again.
I was more focused on getting the transmission sorted out and running. Now that is done I'll fix the other little stuff and see what happens.
I'm really impressed with the C6 to E4OD swap though. Shifts a little soft but the timing/load is spot on. No hunting between gears or undesirable behavior.
Not an easy swap though... I had to a lot of harness surgery to make it work which requires writing my own schematic and pin out as ford changed the color code in 90 or 91.
I used the transmissin harness from a 93 F150 that I took apart at the ecu plug, the OD cancel switch, etc... I ended up ordering a bunch of ecu pins and some custom striped wire to pull it off. It turned out really well, its all factory quality wire with no indications that it didn't leave the factory that way.
The linkage was a bit of a pain too but as the two use different systems but I was able to figure out the right travel ratios in the linkage to make it play nice. The tough part is that the C6 and E4OD have different gear location through the sweep. It' the degrees between the gears that is slightl different but the total sweep is the same. So, the solution was to alter the linkage at both ends of the shift rod to build in an exponital. In a nut shell, the first bit of sweep between park, neutral and drive moves the selector fewer degrees than at the far end where drive, second and first are which it moves more.
If you've ever played with model airplanes You'll know what I'm talking about with mechanical exponital. Electronic is just soon much easier...
Anyway, it's not a weekend swap but in my application it's totally worth it.
I'll probably start building a new engine in a few months. Expensive and slow going but I'm pretty sure that it' going to be a fun project.
 
#56 ·
And...


I just did a 88 351 C6 to E4OD. This is not an easy swap...
Mechanically its not too bad but the linkage is completely different and I had to make some linkage hardware, not too tough if you can do fab work. The C6 has a shift Rob, the E4OD was cable actuated.
It's the electronic parts... I took a computer from a 91 F150, the transmission from a 96 Bronco and then most of the harness from a 93? (I forgot...might have been a 94) F150. Did a complete pin out for the two and repinned my original plug with all the stuff for the E4OD harness. Had to get some custom printed wire (color and stripe) and make a few splices on the original harness.
For the most part it was pretty straight forward but I did have to add a canister*purge*valve*to satisfy the Check engine light... my 88 didn't have one, although that plug did exsist in my original harness, the computer wasn' looking for it. Not so with the later computer and it actually has to sense the coil in the valve as a dummy plug wouldn't work either.
I believe the 460 version is nearly the same as far as wiring to the factory computer. Get both pin outs and go through them both, you may get lucky as well. All of the different ECC pins used by the E4OD wherent occpied on the original ECC in my case. You will have to very, very carefully trim out the blue plastic plug plate that goes to the ECC plug unless you want to swap that too, which would require a complete disassembly of the ECC plug.
Good luck! It's totally worth it and doable with nothing but factory parts.
 
#57 ·
And.... so with the C6 I averaged 8mpg.


Well, trans is sorted... sorta... tires aired up I got 11-12 mpg between sacramento, CA and Camp Verde, AZ.*
There be some pretty good hills between the two. It's safe to say, needs more torque.*
A little more punch at 1800 RPM and it'll pull those hills without downshifting out of the overdrive.
I have a little front torque convertor seal leak so i have to pull that SOB yet again. And I'm gonna put the shift kit in. The slip between gears while climbing really heats the trans up fast. Other then that I'm really pleased with the E4OD. The ratios are spot on for my set up.
 
#58 ·
Sweet! So did you provide the rear diff or not? What gearing did you go with? I have the same van ('90 Fiesta) but have the E40D already. Would like to see if Agile will do the same for me. They had no issue doing just the front end fab work for you? The wheel pattern is the same on the 50 TTB and the van right? 8x6.5, so you could have left the old rims on it for you trip to SD? How much cross member mod does it take to clear with the TTB? Did you clock your t-case for more clearance?

Oh, BTW. There is a google chrome patch that allows seeing photobucket photos, at least for now..

Thanks for sharing. Awesome!
 
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