Yeah, the E450 front end might be the easy answer there. At a minimum, you'd want a different axle that's what's under there now.
Maybe stay solid axle and swap the 4wd axle in, knowing that leaves it ready for a 4wd conversion in the future? Just have to add the trans, t-case and driveshaft when the time comes.
The later Ford front ends are a nice beefy Dana 60 with easily available ball joints, disc brakes, etc.
Don't the 4wd axles require a much different height? The current axle should be a drop from centerline. I guess a spring under front axle might be about the same height but then you have a big ass pumpkin poking up into all sorts of mechanical bits.
In reply to mazdeuce:
as long as you have enough clearance for the front driveshaft and pumpkin to no destroy the oil pan on compression it should be fine.
Wait, last time I checked the e450 already had a coward opening front clip, unless you mean keeping the front sheet metal from Sanford? That's gonna be a lot of work to make that fit, if it fits at all.
Gaunt596 wrote: Wait, last time I checked the e450 already had a coward opening front clip, unless you mean keeping the front sheet metal from Sanford? That's gonna be a lot of work to make that fit, if it fits at all.
I have all kinds of detaching and reattaching tools for metal. It'll fit and there will still be room for a party under the hood.
Maybe.
On making adapter plates, do you have a dividing head* for the mill to put the bolt circles on? Sufficiently large lathe? Working with a plate it might be easier to do some/all the turning type operations on the mill with a rotary table, or bore the center hole on the mill and chuck it in the lathe on the ID.
*Though I did once see an old guy do it by scratching the circle on the lathe, center punching for the first hole, then played with a divider until it could be waked around the circle however many steps and land back in the first punch mark, then walk it around again and scratch crosses to mark the rest of the punch marks. This is all true hubcentric stuff so I suppose the stud locations aren't super critical.
In reply to BrokenYugo:
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I think that's enough.
I can build it. I just wonder if I should, and what type of steel I should make them out of.
For your front axle woes I wouldn't bother with the E450 bits. My friend's church has a couple long E450 buses and I don't care for how they drive on the highway loaded compared to a straight axle. Even new they'd get an odd bounce if you hit a good bump. I'd look at seeing how close a front axle from an F550 comes to fitting. They have a 74" track width, and can be had in GAWRs up to 7000 lbs and you'd get modern disc brakes.
I don't think you'd want/need anything exotic, 1018 or whatever would probably be fine. The stock wheel flange appears to just be cast iron so any steel at an inch thick probably would be massive overkill.
Toyman01 wrote:Gaunt596 wrote: Wait, last time I checked the e450 already had a coward opening front clip, unless you mean keeping the front sheet metal from Sanford? That's gonna be a lot of work to make that fit, if it fits at all.I have all kinds of detaching and reattaching tools for metal. It'll fit and there will still be room for a party under the hood. Maybe.
I derped. we have F650's, not E450's. my bad. but its still gonna be really tight, thats a lot of motor in not a lot of space.
The front drums on SanFord probably make more torque than the E450 discs...
New bus is picked up. Runs perfectly. The RTA even filled it up for me.
More to come this afternoon after I get off work.
They always end up bigger than I think they will. This thing almost makes SanFord look small.
The good news is, it runs like a champ. I'm amazed at how much power this engine makes. The transmission shifts perfectly. And it even drives very well for what it is.
The bad news isn't bad since I bought it for parts. The auxiliary rear A/C is low on refrigerant and the compressor is short cycling. The front A/C blower is worn out and needed a smack to jump start it, but it does cool decently once it's blowing. The exterior has some pretty major bubbling going on under the top layer of fiberglass and paint.
This thing is going to donate all kinds of parts to SanFord besides the engine and transmission.
SanFord's driving A/C, solved. The new bus has an auxiliary A/C system, that I can adapt to use in SanFord. It looks like the blower and evaporator coil should fit under the dash.
Side Mirrors solved. They aren't too ugly, nor do they look too modern.
Battery boxes, solved. The new bus has two of them, with slide out trays, and 4 batteries.
That's after a quick survey.
I'm not sure I can used the front suspension. The axle on the new bus is actually wider than the axle under SanFord. It's not a small difference. The track is about 5" different. I'm going to have to take a lot of detailed measurements.
All it, I think it was an outstanding buy. I'm stoked by how well it runs. I'm almost tempted to keep it in one piece and use it as a tow beast for the race car.
BOX FLARES!!!!!!
5" is only 2.5" per side
Eyeballing some of the pics, that may not be a problem. Although adapters will make it wider.
Awesome score!
Some rough, eyeballed, measurements say the E450 front axle, with a 1" adapter, will hang outside the fenders about 1.5 inches to the face of the wheel. The tire will just barely be inside the fender lip. If that's the case, I may just stick with the original axle and see if I can adapt the power steering gear to it.
I wonder if the single rear wheel F350 front hub will fit in place of the dual rear wheel hub.
DRW hub.
SRW hub.
In reply to Toyman01:
Man four batteries for the price you paid and a full tank of gas? There's all kinds of goodness in it.
It looks like the E350 and the E450 use the same front spindle. The E350 uses the same spindle for the DRW and SRW. The E350 DRW and the E450 DRW use the same front rotor/hub. So, I should be able to use the E350 SRW front rotor/hub and then build adapters to place the wheels where ever I want them.
More research is needed to be sure.
This is starting to sound like too much work to go from a stick axle to what I initially failed to realize was a Ford twin I beam setup.
Nice score, glad to see things moving along. Those are similar to our mirrors, you should be able to see everything in them.
Yes the SRW and DRW hubs interchange. I'm 99% sure in this case
java230 wrote: Yes the SRW and DRW hubs interchange. I'm 99% sure in this case
they do. Alot of guys in the 4x4 world will buy DRW axles since they are a little cheaper and then get the srw hubs
BrokenYugo wrote: This is starting to sound like too much work to go from a stick axle to what I initially failed to realize was a Ford twin I beam setup.
I'm not an expert, and I didn't stay at a Holiday inn last night, but wouldn't swap a straight axel for a twin beam on a truck that size either. They are troublesome enough on trucks that were designed around them.
I do have confidence that toyman will ultimately come up with something that checks all the right boxes though, and there seems to a lot of useful booty in this haul.
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